Cruising with "Best Mate": Columbus, MS to Tensaw River, AL

Total Miles Traveled from Grand Rivers, KY 614

We didn’t have any trick or treaters, so I guess we’ll have to eat all the treats…..I love it when a plan comes together.

This has been one of our best cruises south for this time of the year. All the river and pool levels between the locks were normal and we have had little rain the entire trip, which may explain why the fall colors seem to be earlier this year. We managed to stay ahead of the wave of southbound boats that were held up due to the month-long lock closures, so we have had the rivers, locks, and anchorages pretty much to ourselves. We started to see more traffic a few miles prior to the last of the five locks from Columbus.

Most Great Loop cruisers use an app called NEBO, it’s a boat logging app that allows us to share our location and see the location of other boats. The picture below with the numbered circles indicates how many NEBO boats are in that area. The individual boat underway is also shown. We are currently in circle 18. There are 81 boats heading south between Demopolis and Mobile Alabama. These are only the boats that use NEBO, not other pleasure boats or tow’s. This app is very useful when timing the locks and anchorages.

We had a great stay at Columbus, although it was mostly projects, so we departed October 12^th and traveled 58 miles to an anchorage at Cooks Bend. On the 13^th we traveled 54 miles to an anchorage at Rattlesnake Bend, about 8 miles from Demopolis, and anchored there for 6 days. We saw wild pigs, turkey’s, deer, and eagles.

We departed our anchorage on the 19^th and traveled 8 miles to Kingfisher Bay Marina at Demopolis to top off fuel, water, and reprovision. On the 21^st there were nine boats leaving so we decided to hold back a couple of hours, then traveled 22 miles passing through Demopolis lock by ourselves, to an anchorage along the river. Then on the 22^nd we traveled 49 miles to an anchorage at Bashi Creek.

The Corps of Engineers maintains the depth of the waterway, a minimum of 8 feet within the marked channel, we usually see around 15-20 feet but there are several areas that get skinny. The center of the channel is where the tows must operate to maneuver several barges around the twist and turns of the river. The channel may favor one side of the river or in the center. A fully loaded barge usually has 7 to 8 feet of it underwater so the tows must stay in the deepest water. Passing them can be a little stressful, the draft of our boat is 5 feet, and we must keep a safe distance from the tow, but also watch the depth under our boat as we pass on the edge of the channel. I always call them by VHF radio and ask which side of the river they would like to meet us on. They will respond by saying “I’ll see you on the one, or two” (the “one” we will meet Port to Port, or “two” meet Starboard to Starboard).

Here is a short video of passing tows, the last clip is a northbound tow passing us anchored at Bashi Creek. I have increased the speed of the video's.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dQIDE8SQMsWH9GyVuzBNyrhMQo66WVuy/view?usp=sharing

We departed Bashi Creek on the 23^rd then traveled 21 miles and anchored, then on the 24^th we traveled 46 miles passing through Coffeeville Lock to another anchorage. There are no marinas or docks for the 117 miles between Coffeeville lock and dam, and Mobile Alabama.

Our last lock of 13 after leaving Grand Rivers Kentucky

All of the southbound boats have given us a slow pass.....and we are thankful

A passing boat snapped a picture of us while anchored.

We were at an anchorage facing upstream with very little current, maybe ½ mph. We are well out of the channel in about 7 feet of water. The passing tows move an enormous amount of water when pushing loaded barges. The barges have two 7 foot diameter propellers, so when this tow passes us heading downstream, it pushes so much water upstream it turns our boat facing downstream when it passes us. My camera is mounted on the boat. So, when we anchor along the river, we have to make sure we have enough depth under the boat to swing without moving into the channel, or too close to shore. We have used a stern and bow anchor in unfavorable conditions.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zg6Qg5fvnrVJdIipar2kaGQ_KLo7OEK9/view?usp=sharing

Over several years of river level fluctuations caused by flooding and erosion, the rivers begin to silt in and must be dredged to maintain the 8-foot minimum depth. This is a dredge operation removing sand and silt from the channel and relocating it on a downstream shoreline. This dredge is using the hydraulic dredging method using pumps and suction systems to remove sediment and water simultaneously.

On October 25^th we traveled 42 miles to an anchorage on the Tensaw River. Our boat insurance limits us from being south of 31 degree’s north latitude until November 1^st as their official end of hurricane season, this anchorage is 31.4 degrees north and about 40 miles from Mobile Bay.

Lots of twist and turns in this section of the waterway.