We had a drivers meeting the night before we leave. Looks like 6 Looper boats are planning the departure in the wee morning hours to get through the Demopolis Lock together. The plan is to decide which side fenders go on for which boats, who is faster and should go into the lock first, and the designated time of 6:30 AM. The news of any alerts is also communicated.
This is a long day of 100 miles. We will go approximately 10 knts or more, even getting up to our comfortable 20 knts to get in during the daylight. There are no real anchorages for this size of boat. Smaller boats pull over just out of the channel but for us our depth and length make this not a safe option for if, and when, a tow and barges come through. Perhaps even a wind change would put us to shallow. So we must head to Bobby’s where we will our friends with the larger vessels. A long windy river with many, many hairpins. Scott calculated “the as the crow flies” mileage and it is 43 miles but by boat it is 100. There are lots of bald eagles flying overhead. I keep trying to get a close up but they are not taking my photo ops seriously.
It seems that there are more barges today. That would be number 5 and it is only 10:30. Water levels are finally at the levels as shown on our electronic charts. The current is running between 1 and 2 knots so we are getting a good push to help our long day seem shorter. The temperature changes swing here. Last night it was 0C or 32F. Today a high of almost 70F or over 20C. The swings in temperature are normal for this time of the year but rarely do they get snow and rarely does it stay at freezing for the day. They will shut off marina water for a couple weeks in January if needed.
