We left Kingfisher Marina right after the fog lifted. There was a "mandatory" captains meeting the night before. The lock master wants all the recreational boats leaving to lock through at the same time. Hal had contacted the lock master the night before and discussed all the information with the people at the meeting. There were approximately 11 boats leaving in the morning. As the sun rose there was a tug that passed by downbound so we had to wait for him. We watched him pass in the fog. Since we left and it was 37 degrees we kept the generator running for heat. The Demopolis Lock took us down another 40'. Heading for sea level!
Overflow at Bashi Creek anchorage.
The question kept flying around about which anchorage to go to. O'Tug. Dixie Belle, Abilene were all traveling towards the same place as us. They travel faster and got to Bashi Creek and anchored in the creek. The area has many trees hanging down and is narrow and needs a stern anchor. The five of us opted to anchor in the Bashi Creek Overflow which was just in front of the creek. It was perfectly situated and had sand for Chris to take Skipper to the shore.
Abilene at the mouth of Bashi Creek.
Since there was early morning fog, we were unable to get underway until 8:00am. We watched Abilene try to leave the creek but stayed put until they had better visibility. We headed down river towards our last lock, Coffeeville, which brought us down another 34'. Unfortunately, this lock master was not nice at all. The tug coming out of the lock also followed suit with his unfriendly attitude. All they had to do was communicate to meet them tug on the 2 whistle, but they chose to be nasty. We have now traversed approximately 60 locks!
There was another quandary about which anchorage to go to again. We ended up at Leroy 2, AL. It was situated between two bends so that we knew we were safe from any tugs coming through. We were also out of the channel. There was sand for Skipper so it was a nice anchorage for all of us.
Traveling down river we saw eagles and alligators! Oh my!
Next stop was Tensaw River, AL. The anchorage was huge and by the end of daylight there were about 15 boats altogether. Mary made chicken soup and she and Chris became the delivery boat. Brenda had ice cream cups delivered to all the boats. I made mandelbread and Chris delivered it to everyone in the morning. In the afternoon, Hal took out his drone for a test run, but the battery was low so it was a short flight.
Chris delivering mandelbread.
After another peaceful night, we left for Mobile, AL and salt water.
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