Demopolis, AL to Roberts Bayou, AL

Total Miles Traveled 804

We arrived at Demopolis, Al October 31^st and stopped at the large commercial fuel dock located close to the Kingfisher Bay Marina.  This is a great place to buy fuel as they sell a lot of diesel fuel to the tug boats that move barges up and down the rivers.  It’s also usually the lowest cost for diesel fuel from Kentucky to Florida; we paid $2.58 per gallon today.

We decided to stay at the marina for two days.  This is the last full service marina for about 230 miles at Mobile Bay, so most boats traveling south stop here.  There are also very few anchorages between Demopolis and the last lock at Coffeeville located 100 miles from the marina.  There is a 100 foot floating dock along the river at Bobby’s Fish Camp 98 miles from Demopolis which does have fuel and a great restaurant serving local catfish dinners. Boats stopping here must agree to allow boats to raft up to them overnight when the dock is full.

When we arrived, the marina was almost full and several boats were departing the next morning and locking through the Demopolis Lock, about 3 miles from the marina. To avoid the congestion, and trying to find an anchorage the next evening we decided to stay the second day and take advantage of the courtesy car to stock up on provisions. 

After an hour delay waiting on a barge to lock through, we departed the marina November 2^nd with 10 other boats and entered the Demopolis Lock.  There are 10 floating bollards inside the lock and originally we had 10 boats locking through, but at the last minute another boat arrived so we invited “Sandman” to raft up with us inside the lock.  Most of the boats in this group travel much faster than us, so after departing the lock the group thinned out and we were traveling with Viridian and Sandman again. 

The three of us planned to stop at an anchorage in Bashi Creek, but Sandman was having trouble with his charging system and decided to pick up speed to make it to Bobby’s Fish Camp. He wanted to connect into shore power there to avoid running his generator all night.  With the delayed morning start, we made the 70 mile cruise to Bashi Creek about an hour before dark.  

We were surprised that we were the only boats in the creek, all of the boats ahead of us that we locked through with continued on to Bobby’s Fish Camp.  Just before dark, another boat “Dream Boat Annie” came into the anchorage.

Viridian anchored with us in Bashi Creek.

After waiting for the morning fog to clear, we continued south to Bobby’s Fish Camp.  It was only 26 miles, allowing us to arrive around 11 a.m. and being the only boats at the dock.  We secured our boats to the dock, and connected to the shore power then found that two large boats would be arriving late that afternoon.  One boat was 80 feet and the second was 52 feet, we would have to allow them to tie to the dock, and then raft to them as they were bigger boats.  Since we didn’t need any services, we decided to anchor  upstream of the dock and dinghy to the dock that afternoon for dinner. 

We planned to depart Bobby’s Fish Camp at daybreak as our planned anchorage was 70 miles away.  We had two delays, fog and barge traffic.  The fog started to lift, and as soon as the northbound barge was in the lock, the lockmaster notified us to start moving to the lock and wait for his call to proceed.  A second northbound tow was heading for the lock so the lockmaster was going to lock us through before the second tow arrived.

As we all waited at the lock the fog started to thicken.

Departing the Coffeeville Lock, the last lock of the waterway, we are now in tidal waters.

With the help of an above normal river current, we made it to our anchorage at the Alabama River Cutoff about 45 minutes before dark.  I was really looking forward to grilling chicken all afternoon, but after dropping the hook and getting the grill ready, the mosquitos decided to change that plan.  There were three other boats at this anchorage but plenty of room for us.

Like most mornings the last few days, fog has been an issue causing a later than planned departure. 

The fog finally lifted around 10 a.m. but I couldn’t get the anchor up, we were snagged on something on the bottom.   My “best mate” maneuvered the boat directly over the anchor giving us a vertical pull, but when we moved forward the bow of the boat actually pulled into the water a foot or so.  After several attempts at different angles, it finally broke loose and we were on our way. 

We arrived at our next anchorage at Big Briar Creek on November 5^th about 3 p.m.  Ahh, chicken on the grill tonight!  Another boat arrived at the anchorage about 45 minutes later “Binary” a sail catamaran from Toronto Canada; they are traveling with their two sons.  We invited “Viridian” and “Binary” on our boat for “docktails”.  We learned that this was the first “docktails” that either one had attended.  We started out on the fly bridge, but the bugs arrived just before dark so we went inside and had a great time meeting new friends and talking about our favorite subject…..boating.

After docktails, I checked for bugs and the coast was clear, even around the anchor light!  I grilled chicken under a full moon, a great day on the water.

Briar Creek is about 12 miles from Mobile Bay, and another 16 miles to Dog River at Mobile.  We departed our anchorage November 6^th and arrived at the Dog River Marina around noon.  The marina has a special deal that if you buy fuel, the first night transient dockage is free. I topped off our fuel tanks at $2.53/gal. 

We had our mail sent here, so I took care of some business, and then helped George from “Viridian” change his oil and filters on his engine.  We met our friends Tom and Bob from “Sandman”, they are brothers that have been traveling together on this section of the waterway.  Tom, the owner of the boat is going back home to Texas for a month and having work performed on his boat while he is home.  We went out to dinner with George and Meg from Viridian, and Tom and Bob from Sandman, we had a great visit during dinner.

We departed Dog River about 9 a.m.  November 7^th to cross Mobile Bay,  a very large, shallow body of water taking us about 3 hours.  The wind was light making our crossing to the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway very comfortable. 

We stopped at the Wharf Marina on Orange Beach, AL, a distance of 40 miles from Dog River.  This is a large marina with several shops and even a movie theater. 

A cold front will be moving through in the next couple of days, bringing rain and wind, so we decided to anchor in one of our favorite spots, Roberts Bayou.  This is a protected anchorage and thought we would share this spot with Viridian.  Pirates Cove Bar and Grill is located here so we explored the area in the dinghies and ate lunch at the grill. 

We also took time to look for treasures with our metal detector. 

We will anchor here for two days, letting the weather system pass, then head for Pensacola Friday November 10^th.