ssloop: Black Warrior River/Tombigbee Waterway

Saturday, May 1 we flew to Mobile to begin our journey back to Grand Haven. By Monday morning we were ready to roll. We left Dog River, traveled 8 miles to the north end of Mobile Bay, thru the Mobile Industrial Harbor and on to the Black Warrior River. We traveled 68 miles upstream and anchored out at the Alabama River Cut.

Tuesday we cruised 70 miles to our 1st lock. We locked up 34 feet. No more salt water, not more tides, no more dolphins, but by golly, we got gators! Soon after the lock, we pulled into Bobby’s Fish Camp for fuel. We were planning on continuing, however our phones started lighting up with weather alerts including tornado watches. We checked out radar and yup, a storm was a coming. We strapped the dinghy onto the lift and tied the boat to the dock with every line we had. The storm hit with a vengeance. High winds kicked up the River and we heard trees cracking and falling in the woods across the River. Glad we were tied to something solid.

Wednesday we really covered some ground (water actually). 150 miles and 2 locks later, we dropped anchor at Sumter Recreational Area/Park. We had to ease our way in across a shallow bar (less than a foot of water under the boat), and then found 10-12 feet to anchor in.

Thursday was another big day. We traveled 107 miles and thru 5 locks. We dropped the hook for the night just above Glover Wilkins Dam, were we endured a quick storm and were treated to a majestic double rainbow. Wow!

Friday we traveled 43 miles and transited 4 locks, the last of which, the Jamie Witten Lock was our largest lock so far at 84 feet. At this point the we have lifted 341 feet over 450 miles of River. Whew. We decided since it was such a beautiful day we would treat ourselves to a short travel day. By early afternoon we were anchored in a scenic, remote finger of Bay Springs Lake.

Saturday, 35 miles, no locks. By noon we entered Grand Harbor Marina, at the top of the Tenn-Tom Waterway. That afternoon, Captain Maintain did oil changes while the first mate used the marina courtesy car to pick up some groceries. That night we used the car again to eat at Freddy T’s, a local restaurant nearby.

Next up, the Tennessee River!