At 6am, “Baby Grand” and “Emery” untied from “Failte” and we proceeded gingerly into the foggy river. It is fun to run the river with other boats as there is camaraderie as well as some protection.
At about 7am, “Emery” radioed that he was hearing a high pitched sound from his starboard stern section. This type of call sends a jolt of adrenaline through anyone listening. Luckily, “Emery” is a twin engine boat and he opted to shut off his starboard engine after consulting with Bob and Danny who helped him problem solve. It is probably a cutlass bearing that probably got damaged yesterday when he went aground anchoring in the river. There is a tie-up dock, Bobby’s Fish Camp, and John on “Emery” elected to take it slow and make it to there today for some help.
This increased my sense of dread as we have to anchor again tonight. “Failte” was heading to Three Rivers Lake which sounds big but is very, very small. We would have a 70 mile day with one lock. Making the Coffeeville Lock at 9am would make the difference between getting to Three Rivers and looking for another unknown anchorage so we poured on the steam and pushed “Baby Grand” up to 9.5 mph which is warp speed for us. We made it and that will be our last lock for months.
This section of the Black Warrior River has windy, intestinal turns and I swear that we passed the same area 3 times. As we get closer to Mobile, there is a mixture of salt water, the shores are sandier and the seagulls fly overhead—a great omen. We also heard from the pushers that the river is down 1-2 feet so our concern about a safe anchorage resurfaces. Even Danny is a little apprehensive.
We get to the Three Rivers milepost and there are already 2 sailboats anchored at the mouth. Danny agrees to go in first and he anchors in 6 feet of water and urges us to anchor further in as we draw 4 feet. We proceed very cautiously. We leave the sunlight and enter the dark primordial forested area draped with overhangs and logs on its bank. We’re going to anchor here????
I am at the bow with the anchor set to deploy and a boat pole to push debris out of the way. I deploy it in the middle of the river but to keep the boat away from trees we have to set a stern anchor which we have never had to do before. We row out in the dinghy with the stern anchor, drop it and then tighten it and the bow anchor rode. We hold our breath as if this does not work, there are trees which will gobble us up from the top and bottom.
Success!! I rowed out in the dinghy to capture the end result—a lovely anchorage in the moonlight
At about 7am, “Emery” radioed that he was hearing a high pitched sound from his starboard stern section. This type of call sends a jolt of adrenaline through anyone listening. Luckily, “Emery” is a twin engine boat and he opted to shut off his starboard engine after consulting with Bob and Danny who helped him problem solve. It is probably a cutlass bearing that probably got damaged yesterday when he went aground anchoring in the river. There is a tie-up dock, Bobby’s Fish Camp, and John on “Emery” elected to take it slow and make it to there today for some help.
This increased my sense of dread as we have to anchor again tonight. “Failte” was heading to Three Rivers Lake which sounds big but is very, very small. We would have a 70 mile day with one lock. Making the Coffeeville Lock at 9am would make the difference between getting to Three Rivers and looking for another unknown anchorage so we poured on the steam and pushed “Baby Grand” up to 9.5 mph which is warp speed for us. We made it and that will be our last lock for months.
This section of the Black Warrior River has windy, intestinal turns and I swear that we passed the same area 3 times. As we get closer to Mobile, there is a mixture of salt water, the shores are sandier and the seagulls fly overhead—a great omen. We also heard from the pushers that the river is down 1-2 feet so our concern about a safe anchorage resurfaces. Even Danny is a little apprehensive.
We get to the Three Rivers milepost and there are already 2 sailboats anchored at the mouth. Danny agrees to go in first and he anchors in 6 feet of water and urges us to anchor further in as we draw 4 feet. We proceed very cautiously. We leave the sunlight and enter the dark primordial forested area draped with overhangs and logs on its bank. We’re going to anchor here????
I am at the bow with the anchor set to deploy and a boat pole to push debris out of the way. I deploy it in the middle of the river but to keep the boat away from trees we have to set a stern anchor which we have never had to do before. We row out in the dinghy with the stern anchor, drop it and then tighten it and the bow anchor rode. We hold our breath as if this does not work, there are trees which will gobble us up from the top and bottom.
Success!! I rowed out in the dinghy to capture the end result—a lovely anchorage in the moonlight
