Mike and Beth's Adventures

Mike out Exploring November 18th, 2021 Towboat captains use landmarks to identify their position on the river.  Sometimes they make sense and correspond with features on your charts.  Then sometimes they don't, so you have to use your imagination.  Here is one of those features where the reference name differs from that noted on the charts. The "Dolly Parton Bridge" I would like to share that the north entrance to Big Bayou Canot  is to starboard, as you head downriver, and just beyond the Dolly Parton Bridge. Big Bayou Canot  was our final anchorage on the Black Warrior River.  The shores were lined with cypress trees streaming long strands of Spanish Moss.  The north opening was deep and wide.  We anchored a quarter mile short of an island with some old fishing cabins.  The water was moving faster than expected, but we were under tidal influence from Mobile Bay, about 20 miles south.  To contend with the current, we deployed ...

November 15th, 16th, 17th, 2021 We arrived in Demopolis, excited to have reached this major checkpoint on our trip.   This is an inflection point, as it is the last river city before we reach Mobile, still 216 miles away.   So that fact makes Demopolis a major stop for groceries, topping off fuel and water tanks, and making sure the black water tank is empty on departure.   In the next stretch we will be exclusively anchoring out, no cushy marina nights which means  you have power, water, fuel, pump out, wifi, showers and access to shopping.   So the 4 or 5 days after we leave Demopolis we will need to be entirely self-sufficient.   As when skippering any decent pirate vessel, our first concern when we hit port is our wine supply.   How can pirates adventure without sufficient quantities of the fruit of the vine?   Thank goodness we were back in Alabama as, unlike Mississippi, we could again purchase wine at the groceries store.    ...