The Black Warrior – Tombigbee Waterway

Monday, 28 October – Demopolis to Bashi Creek – 71 mi., 4779 cum mi.

Cloudy, wet, since it rained overnight, 63 degrees. Leaving the marina we saw an interesting stern wheel paddle boat - The Spirit of West Virginia.  We are still traveling with Reunion, now entering the Black Warrior – Tombigbee Waterway on our way to Mobile. As we approached the Demopolis Lock (down 40 ft), we found three other boats approaching the lock: Summer Song, Elegante, and Scotia.

There were a few more white cliff formations on the banks. We passed at least four tows, communicating with each.

The Bashi Creek anchorage is a narrow inlet near a park with a boat ramp.
Active Captain advised the use a stern anchor to avoid drifting into the sides of the inlet. Rather than
stern anchors, we rafted our boats after setting anchors in opposite directions. It worked well. We celebrated over a drink then dined together on brats, hot dogs, and risotto. Life is good.

Tuesday, 29 October – Bashi Creek to Three Rivers Lake – 82 mi., 4861 cum mi.

Dark, 60 degrees. As we pulled out of the anchorage, we encountered some fog, with some rather dense patches. Our strategy was to take the inside of the curves in the river, in case we encountered a tow that will usually take the outside. We did approach a small fishing boat, for which we sounded our horn, but

no tows. The fog burned off by mid morning, and it turned out to be a sunny day. This was our last lock of the great loop, we cleared 152  (I think – we
will check). We had a celebratory moment in the lock, then headed downstream.
We’re going extra miles in order to cut out one day of normal travel, in order to beat the bad weather predicted for crossing Mobile Bay Thursday. We anchored in our back-to-back raft pattern again, in an inlet called Three
Rivers Lake. It was a little wider than Bashi Creek, but closer to the mouth, so we could clearly see the river – and a tow coming up river around the bend that looked as though it was headed right toward us. After sunset boat drinks on the flybridge, it got really dark. With no wifi, no cellphone service, no lights, the clear night sky was our entertainment, especially when Eli pointed out the International Space Station crossing the sky.

Wednesday, 30 October – Three Rivers Lake to Fairhope, AL – 75 mi, 4936 cum mi.

Dark, 61 degrees, no apparent fog.  One good thing about leaving early is catching a nice sunrise.   In this section the Alabama River joins the Tombigbee to become the Mobile River.

The upper Mobile River looks about the same as the Tombigbee – desolate with dense vegetation - then starts thinning out to look more like a swamp. Somewhere in between, near mile marker 27, we encountered the totally unexpected, and the first time on this trip that we felt in danger. We heard shots - three shots - perhaps about a half a minute apart, each
successively louder. There was some shouting from one of the cabins on shore. We still don’t know whether someone was shooting at us, whether they were hunting, or whether there was a feud going on between the Hatfields and McCoys across the river and we just happened to be in the way. We lay low on the flybridge, accelerated, and steered via the chart recorder until we felt the shooting was over. As we approached Mobile, the swamp turned heavily industrial.
Tows staging barges, cargo ships being loaded or unloaded, ships being repaired, a long freight train blowing his whistle, and in the middle of it all was a convention center. We were in the large ship channel headed for Mobile Bay. The wind had picked up a bit, but we crossed the bay in light chop (1-2 ft). So glad we accelerated our run from Demopolis, since 3-4 ft waves were predicted for the bay the next day. At the Eastern Shore Marine, we found Second Wind, Golden Hawk, Mooring Dove, and Sea Glide – it was like coming home.

After hot showers, dinner out sharing river tales, we listened to the last game of the World Series – Boston won. 

The next day, we enjoyed brunch at Panini Pete’s, in the French Quarter, including their famous beignets.

We happened to be in Fairhope for the annual kindergarten trick or treat day on Halloween, with more children roaming the sidewalks than we’ve ever seen. Each class of kids had original halloween themed t-shirts.  

We rented a car to deliver Eli to his parents who were visiting Orlando. After traveling over 500 miles with us, I think he will be glad to be home again, especially after dropping his new book in the river.

But we will miss him, it sure was fun having him along.