Day 10: And so we are one – again!

Yesterday was a lazy day, spent provisioning and socializing.  As we arrived at Kingfisher Bay Marina, Headquarters found some old friends on Blewgrass, and they were soon included in all of our plans.   If you remember, we started out on our own, hooked up with Irish Attitude just south of Grand Harbor, and added Headquarters to our running group in Columbus.  As Blewgrass has four people travelling on board, our dinner reservations for 10 raised some eyebrows in this small town.

We anticipated a long travel day today, so were up at 5:15 and on our way to the lock just outside Demopolis by 6:20.  At last we saw something that actually looked like it warranted building a lock – the first waterfall we have seen, even though it is a tiny one.  (Dietmar – this will explain the fast current you identified on Google Earth).  And yes - the fishermen use the lock, too.  

The waterway we are now travelling is the Black Warrior River, and still very winding, with hairpin turns and switchbacks happening with unsettling frequency. We passed 6 tows, in both directions, within the space of about 4 miles, and some of those passes were right at the bendy bits of the river.  We’re getting really good at this now!

I have been amused by some of the names we are seeing on the charts, like Big Bunny Creek, Sugarbowa Creek, Kinterbish Creek, and Turkey Shoals. 

Our plan, with the whole group, had been to travel to Bashi (pronounced basheye) Creek, a narrow anchorage but with enough room for us to raft two together, with bow and stern anchors to hold us straight.  We arrived first, and investigated with our forward scanning sonar, which revealed enough depth, and just enough width for two boats.  We got ourselves set, and told Headquarters to come on in.  They took one look, and decided to keep going for another 25 miles to Bobby’s Fish Camp, the next viable place to stop.  Irish Attitude made the same decision, as did Blewgrass.  We did not want to haul anchor and travel for another 2 ½ hours, so we are on our own again, but will catch up with the others again tomorrow. 

Today’s miles:  71 to Mile Marker 145

Total miles:  470