Marina Cove to a Muddy Anchorage

November 8, 2001 - Marina Cove to a Muddy Anchorage

Today we had a lazy morning, as we didn't have to get started so early. I made some phone calls from the office, as we didn't have any cells here to use my cell phone. We left at 9:30 on a sunny, warm, very calm day. The water is just like glass. We locked through the Bevill Lock all alone, and were on our way by 10:00. We are only going 37 miles today to an anchorage at Sumpter Landing. We heard thee was a dredge somewhere and to keep a sharp eye out for him. We passed one tow and then saw the dreaded dredge. We called them to see how to proceed, and they told that another tow was in the area and to call them. We looked up and there he was. He said to come ahead on 1 whistle, but Bill didn't think there was time to pass him before the turn, so he hesitated. But the tow captain called Bill and said to hurry up as he was waiting for us. We did, but it was very tight quarters and it was on a tight curve. The dredge had to split his pipeline which he had across the river for us to go by. VERY INTERESTING.

We were told that our anchorage was a mile marker 270.6, so when we got there we went in to this area. It didn't look quite right as the book said that there was a boat ramp there too and it wasn't there. After re-reading the Nitty Gritty Tenn Tom book Joanne noticed that it said about a half mile downstream from the 270.6 marker is where we should be. So we left and thought we'd try again to get right. We are here now and it does look like Walden Pond, but the guys are still fiddling with getting the anchor to hold. Now Bill is washing the mud off the deck as it is a real mess. Hopefully, soon we will all be able to relax and play some bridge. I plan on doing my little walking program. Dinner will be chicken on the grill, and the rest of the meal is yet to be determined. Half hour later we decided that the anchors weren't holding, and we started over. Now we have only 1 anchor out off the bow - we'll see. It's all mud under us and Bert thinks that we should have a different kind of anchor for mud. Well, we don't at this time, so I hope this works.

We did have a couple hands of bridge, but soon realized that the boat had moved, so we started over AGAIN. A boat named Dun Working came in to our anchorage and went by us and anchored about where we had started. Hope it works for him. Bottom line - We had to move the boat several more times, once in the dark, to get where we hoped we could stay. We finally had dinner, took a deep breath, and went to bed. Bill set the alarm for 2 hours to check and see if the anchor had held. We had finally put down 2 bow anchors and it finally did the trick. Bert said the two thickest things he had experienced were the Nova Scotia fog and the Alabama mud. For a while we thought we were going to have to stay up all night to ward off the banks. We were o.k, however, and did get some sleep. We go to Demopolis tomorrow and Joanne and Bert fly home on Saturday. We plan to start out for Mobile after they leave, but I'm not looking forward to it as there aren't any marinas between Demopolis and Mobile and we'll have to anchor 3 times I think as it is 216 miles. Hope the river bottom isn't mud all the way. Stay tuned if you can stand it.