Here at Demopolis

Visiting with fellow Loopers



Doing what Loopers do best.....!



What a lineup!

Jeff and Linda of "Jeremiah"

Sunday morning we took a short boat ride to the marina in Demopolis only about miles. Several Loopers were already there. Even Jeff and Linda of Jeremiah were here. It was really good to see everyone. As the day went on –even more Loopers came in. We had a small "reunion" of Loopers at our Happy Hour at the Boaters Lounge. The last I counted there were well over 30 enjoying the good time.

We took the courtesy car into town with Jim & Dale & Jeff on Monday. We ate lunch at the Farmhouse and of course made a trip to Wal-Mart. Some of the Loopers headed out early this morning. However, they were forecasting rain and possible storms so we decided to stay at least another day.

It was a rainy Tuesday morning but not really too stormy. Now they were forecasting storms for Wednesday. We have also heard that there are no really good anchorages along the way so we may have to go all the way to Bobby's Fish Camp which is about 100 miles or so. Not looking forward to that.

We had a little get together this evening regarding the anchorages, etc. We did find that there are a few – it just depends how many boats want to use them. There is a real mixture of boats here - some travel fast, some slow, some travel longs days, some don't. We also heard on the weather channel that severe storms could be a good possibility in the next 24 hours so we were going to wait another day. There is really no reason for us to hurry along.

We were woken up early Wednesday morning to a real downpour. There was a tornado warning for our area but the winds didn't seem to blow that much. Several of the Loopers left early this morning. The town of Demopolis is only about 3 miles from the marina and suffered some wind damage. Several roofs were blown off along with broken windows. Glad it didn't do much at the marina! We also hope that our fellow Loopers that left this morning fared well.

After a couple more cells past over our area, the sun came out in the afternoon with a beautiful blue sky. The weather is supposed to be favorable for the next few days so we plan to hi-tail it out of here early in the morning. We also heard that the Lock just a few miles from the marina is broken – hope they get that fixed by morning!

Till next time

Admiral "C"

The Last of the Tenn-Tom



Fog on the river



Beautiful sunny and foggy morning on the river



The White Bluffs



After the fog lifts this is what awaits us



Sunset at Rattlesnake Bend
Picture doesn't do it justice



Okay, if you look closely you can see one of the deer









We woke Saturday to a really cold and foggy morning. There was even ICE on the deck of the boat! Not frost – but ice! So we took our time and even had a great breakfast of biscuits and gravy. We were able to leave about 8:00 a.m. We had about 60 miles to do today. There aren't many places to stop along this part so we wanted to get a good start. We had about 20 miles until we reached the Heflin Lock and Dam. Our timing was a little off though – we had to decide to bust a gear to get to the lock BEFORE the barge in front of us or to pull it back a bit and wait for him to lock through. We chose to wait and it only turned out to be an hour or so. It was then an easy lock through all by ourselves.

As we ventured on down we saw over 10 deer swim across the river right in front of us. It's hunting season here in Alabama and they must be getting flushed out. Anyway, it's really cool to see them swim. This part of the river isn't all that interesting – in fact, it can get rather boring. So we welcome the unexpected. We looked for signs of alligators, but didn't see any. Lots of muskrats and of course, herons.

Like I said before there aren't any good places to stop. There were a couple of places on the charts that looked like they might be good anchorages, but when we got there – they weren't good at all. We couldn't have even made it to them though the low water and thick brush. However, we finally made it to Rattlesnake Bend. This was a perfect spot. There was plenty of water and plenty of room. The water went back a few miles and of course made a bend and then flowed back to the river. At one opening there were several barges staged. We passed by them and found a great spot with about 21 feet of water. Perfect!

Just as we were getting there the sky opened up into a beautiful sunset with purples, reds, oranges- well you get the idea. I've posted a picture, but the picture doesn't do it justice. It was absolutely amazing. We toasted each other to another wonderful day – and prepared for our short travel the next.

Rattlesnake Bend is only 7 miles from Demopolis which is where we will stay a couple of days and hook up with other Loopers. Along the way today we passed the MM 225 which is the halfway point from Grand Harbor Marina to Mobile AL. Demopolis is at the end of the Tenn-Tom (Tennessee/Tombigbee) River and where the Tombigbee/Black Warrior River begins. It's referred to by most everyone as still part of the Tenn-Tom but officially it's not. There we've learned something. I guess this next part should be called the Black-Tom.

Till next time!

Admiral "C"

Tripping Down the Tenn-Tom

Traveling along the Tenn-Tom

What a beautiful day!

The snagboat "Montgomery" now at rest

I don't think it gets any prettier than this!

Sunset at our anchorage

Good Morning!

Monday morning we had a great breakfast of homemade Belgian waffles and eggs (I'm so glad I brought my waffle iron!). We left our beautiful anchorage at the waterfall to meet up with Sweet Pea and Erika Lin at Grand Harbor where we fueled up. Finally about 10:30 we were heading down the Tenn-Tom. Only 450 miles to the Gulf of Mexico!

The Tenn-Tom saves us from the wrath of the Mississippi River. Before it was built, the only way to get to the Gulf would have been to travel down the mighty muddy Mississippi. It is possible but not very forgiving for us "pleasure boaters". The Tenn-Tom is divided into three sections – the Divide Cut, the Canal Section and the River Section. First is the Divide Cut – just what it sounds like – a big gash (24 miles long) that the Corps made to connect the Tombigbee with the Tennessee. It's pretty much uneventful. It's been open since the mid-80s so the vegetation has covered most of the construction scars now. I understand that a whole town had to be relocated at the time of construction.

The Divide Cut finally ends and opened to beautiful Bay Springs Lake. This was a beautiful stretch of extremely clear water. Here we anchored with Sweet Pea in another great spot called Five Finger Cove. Erika Lin stayed in Bay Springs Marina not far from us. It was another great evening on the hook. We planned to go to Aberdeen in the morning - locking through five locks and traveling about 50 miles or so.  We've now entered the canal section, with several locks relatively close to each other.

Tuesday morning we were up early and rushing around to get NautiNell ready to head out only to find that we could slow down a bit. When we checked with the Lockmaster – we found that it would be about 1 1/2 hours before we could lock down. Something on the Lock had broken so they were doing some maintenance. SO we just hung out at the anchorage. No big deal…..! Finally we left and met up with Erika Lin at the Whitten Lock. We all got into the Lock and tied up only to find that we still needed to wait on another cruiser. It turned out that we waited over thirty more minutes. The Whitten Lock drops you 84 feet – even on a good day it still takes a while. Oh well, no big deal! It just shortened our trip "plans" a bit. It gets dark so early now that we have to quit traveling a lot earlier than we would like. Finally about 10:30 we were through our first lock of the day and underway. The next two locks (Montgomery and Rankin} weren't a problem. Since our travel time had been shortened we decided to stay at Midway Marina. We needed to get provisions anyway. However, one of our main provisions, of course, was beer and - guess what! Dry County! We were even told that it was against the Mississippi law to buy it elsewhere and carry it into a dry county. That would be BOOTLEGGING! Sheeh!

Later we all piled into the courtesy van to go eat Mexican (Los Compadres) and to make a stop at Wal-Mart for non-alcohol provisions. LOL! We added two more boaters to our group. Ed and Norman who were in a sailboat headed to nearby Pickwick Lake. When I said piled in – I mean piled in. This van wasn't very big! We were the only ones that really needed to shop at Wal-Mart. The others just got a sack or so. We had a load! The back door of the van wouldn't open so it was a little crowded on the way home with 8 people and an abundance of groceries. We made it, though – and the bread didn't even get smashed!

On Wednesday we woke to a rainy dreary morning. Erika Lin and Sweet Pea opted to say at the marina another day. Since it was forecasted to clear up mid-morning, we headed out. We had three locks to cover (Fulton, Wilkins and Amory) and were looking to make some miles. We had no problems or delays in any of the locks and made pretty good time. The weather turned out great after all. We ended up traveling with Loop Dreams from Texas - another boat that had spent the evening at Midway Marina. We hadn't met them before. We had planned to stay at a free dock near Aberdeen but there wasn't enough water to get over to it. At least when we tried we ran into 2 1/2 feet – so we backed up slowly and high-tailed it to another anchorage. Loop Dreams had tried it before us and ended up anchoring up the river a bit to Blue Bluff. This is where we anchored too. There wasn't a lot of water but it turned out fine. There
was a gorgeous full moon!

We had planned to make it to Pirate Cove Marina on Thursday. It would be about 50 miles and 2 locks. We were in a search for beer! We knew that Columbus Marina sold beer in their ship store. We planned to stop there along the way. However, when we got close to the marina, we decided that we'd just stop there for the evening. We had planned to take the courtesy car into town to shop and to check out the antebellum homes in Columbus. However, someone had the car for the whole day! We ended up just buying beer at the ship store and hanging out at the marina. They did have a good laundromat at least! NOTE TO BEER BUYERS! - Columbus Marina charged us $24.00 a case! We thought we were back in Canada for a minute or so! At least they had it and we had no choice, I guess. The real kicker was that they also charged us $10.00 for a 12 pack of Diet Pepsi. Wow, did they see us coming!! LOL!

Friday morning was beautiful. We got a late start (who is in a hurry anyway)! We left around 10:00 and locked right through the only lock for today. This must be the river section.  We traveled with Gold Leaf who left the marina about the same time we did - all the way to our anchorage. The scenery was wonderful. As we get farther south, more trees still have their leaves. The Tenn-Tom changes constantly from the typical river look to wide channels to high bluffs, etc. When we got close to Pirates Cove Marina we saw the 108 foot snagboat Montgomery. It was moored over by the bank. This paddleboat was used for six decades to keep seven of the main rivers in the south navigable by clearing out brush and trees. Pretty cool.

We finally made it to our anchorage at Windham Landing Cut Off. We had plenty of water and lots of protection from the wind and it's only about 70 miles from Demopolis AL. The Tenn-Tom ends just a few miles before Demopolis. We watched several muskrats as the sun began to set. We were told that we might see an alligator or two. We watched for them, but they didn't show themselves this time. Maybe that was a good thing! Anyway, we decided that we would go about 50-60 miles tomorrow and then on to the marina in Demopolis on Sunday. We will probably stay in Demopolis a couple of days before starting the Black Warrior/Tombigbee Waterway. We're still about 286 miles from Mobile!

Till next time!

Admiral "C"