Cleaned a very muddy boat - On to Demopolis Alabama

November 9, 2001 - Cleaned a very muddy boat - On to Demopolis Alabama

Someone checked all night to make sure we weren't on land. We just weren't that confident. We were all up at 6:00 - put the dingy up and pulled both anchors up. Not too bad considering the Chinese fire drill we had getting them to hold. The Rendezvous is a muddy, dirty, mess from stem to stern. We followed our "parking lot " friend Dun Working out of the anchorage, and ran across a small boat ,Summer Wind, stuck in the mud after he had gone into the wrong channel. We tried to give him a wake to help cut him loose, but no luck. He ended up in the water trying to get his anchor loose and get a line to us to pull him. However, Tesoro called and was a few miles back of us, and he told us that the dreaded dredge that we all had passed yesterday was waiting to lock through the Heflin Lock and would tie everything up for about 4 hours. Therefore, if we don't lock through now we would be in for a very long wait, and we have to get to Demopolis this afternoon. We told the trapped little boat about this, and he said we should go on, which we did. Hope he can get someone who can help him soon. After locking through, the other boats and Tesoro decided that because they are all slower than we are, we should take the lead. We never in all our lives thought we would be faster than anyone, let alone a whole group. After finally having a bite of breakfast, we set out to clean the mud from the anchors, lines, deck and everything else. You should have seen Joanne, she worked like a white tornado. I thought I worked fast. As you know, a clean boat is a happy boat, and many hands make light work. Bert took the helm and kept us on course while the three of us cleaned. I think it will take a week to get it all cleaned and put back together, and we have to anchor again soon - hope we can avoid the mud. Tesoro can't go into the Demopolis Marina because he draws more than 7 feet, but he will anchor nearby. I am going to call them later to see if they can guide us to some good anchorages from Demopolis to Mobile. I have some picked out, but I'd still like to pick their brain. Dinner tonight will be at the Demopolis Yacht Basin Restaurant. Joanne and I walked up town to scope out the shops. There was one real cute gift shop, but not much else.