Bobby's Fish Camp and L.A.

Frank celebrating Bobby's Fish Camp

Our final fuel stop on the rivers is  Bobby's Fish Camp, an iconic stop for those traveling south on the Tombigbee River.  Bobby’s is pretty basic. It has a 300’ floating dock and boat have to raft up (tie to each other side by side) in order to accommodate as many boats as possible.  We really didn’t need fuel, although we got some anyway as a safety margin, but we have been looking for a good fish place along the way and we read that Bobby’s is the place for good fish. 

When we got to the dock, there were a couple of other boats already on the dock, so we took the last open spot on the dock. We were told that we may have to rearrange a little, because they are expecting an 80’ and 70’ boat tonight. It is best to put them on the inside, so those monsters are not pushing up against a smaller boat.

We took a walk to get a little exercise and to pass the time while we waited for the big boats to come in. The two trawlers that were there moved off the dock. Since we have a wounded rudder, we moved as far forward as we could where only had about half of the boat on the dock and hoped that would be enough room for the big boats. It was. Summer Song tucked in behind us and then the smaller trawlers (45’ers) rafted up behind them. The Betty Bug, a 32’ cruiser, rafted up to us. 

There were nine boats on the dock that night and 3 more anchored close by. I was not looking forward to trying to lock though in the morning with all of these boats, especially with our rudder “situation”. 

After everything was settled on the dock we relaxed a while on the boat. I was in favor of eating earlier, around 4:00 since we hadn’t had lunch, but Frank said he had an aversion to eating at the senior special hour, so we waited. We passed the time with boat chores, reading, and writing.

Can you spot Lesson Plan among this gaggle of boats?
(she's at the front of the pack)

We could soon tell that the restaurant was getting busy, so we decided it was time to head on up. The food was good. Probably not the absolute best fried catfish I have ever had, but right up there. The service however was excellent. The crew of Betty Bug joined us for dinner and we had great conversation. The Betty Bug crew, a couple (Bob and Susan) and a widower (Johnny), had lived a few doors from each other in North Chicago, now they live a few doors away from each other in Ft. Myers, FL. Johnny just purchased Betty Bug and after have some work completed on her in Chicago, they are moving her to FL.

When we got back to the dock, there was a conversation going on about locking through the next morning.  Like in Demopolis, one person will call the lockmaster and tell them how many PCs there are and find out when we can lock through (the lock is 3 miles away). Sweetstuff said they were not going on the first lock through in the morning. We said we would stay back as well.  It was out last lock, we wanted to enjoy the moment. Well that and I could just see Lesson Plan being crunched by all the larger boats. As it turns out there was also an empty tow boat that went through with them. The turbulence stirred up by their big props when exiting the lock would have been a real challenge for our limited steerage. 

After we knew the first group was through the lock, we headed toward the lock. Three other boats had made it to the lock staging area by the time we were ready to head out. Two other cruisers and another sailboat, LaCapitain. I spoke with the crew of LaCapitain in Demopolis. They sailed over from Finland to do the loop and more. Their Loop will include Central America, Virgin Islands, Bahamas, and then back to FL. They will sail up the east coast and then back to Europe. 

As we were all queuing up for the lock we heard the dreaded call. “Demopolis Lock this is the Herbert Parker. We are south bound about 5 miles out.” Roger that Herbert Parker, just keep coming and we should have the lock ready for you when you get here.” Now it will be another hour before we get to lock through. Now we are concerned about making our planned anchorage before dark. So, we start looking at alternative anchorages, not a lot of choices.

The change in the landscape is pretty dramatic, soon after you pass through Coffeeville Lock. The rock ledges give way to sandy shores and mud banks. Welcome to L.A. (Lower Alabama).

The Coffeeville Lock is 113 miles from Mobile Bay (and then another 48 miles to the Gulf), but the guidebook says we will start to notice the effects of the tide once you get below Coffeeville Lock. The tide on the northern part of the gulf is at most two feet, not like those eight-foot tides in South Carolina.  We did notice that the river is a lot shallower than after we left Demopolis Lock, a lot wider, but the channel is narrow. 

We were getting a little push from the river current. We were on a falling tide and there had been a pretty heavy rain last night. I am not sure which one was responsible, but at times we were making 9 MPH (once we even hit 9.5).  We might make the anchorage after all. By about 3:00 we were sure we would make the anchorage. Just as we were getting confident about our plan, the river got a lot deeper. Remember Bernoulli’s principle, yep we lost the current and slowed down to 7.9 MPH. 

See, Sweetstuff wasn't mad about the Lock thing, they let us
raft up with them at the final anchorage on the river.

After about 30 minutes of this, I think we all got out our calculators. Ok, we think we can make it. The entrance to this anchorage is very narrow and lined with fallen trees, so we have to have daylight to see our way through this one. At every change in speed we would recalculate. We were about 30 minutes out from the anchorage and had 45 minutes before sunset, we were going to make it. We knew Sweetstuff was going to be in that anchorage, so we called them to ask if there was room for us. They reported they were the only boat in there, there is room for about 5 boats in this anchorage, so we were good to go. It is low tide, so if we make it in, we can get out.

Here is a time-lapse video of us going out of the anchorage.

We made it to the anchorage and had a well-deserved restful night, well after a round of Rummy. Frank finally won. I think we need to change card decks. Maybe we will switch to Hearts.

Lessons Learned: I recalled that tide affected the Hudson River far upstream, but that river is wide and pretty straight. I was surprised that there was tidal effect on this winding shallow river with all its tributaries. But we saw the effect of the tidal flow as we traveled and the tidal lift at our anchorage.

I need to revise my strategy for Rummy now that Frank has figured it out. 

Sunset at our anchorage for the night