The picture at the right shows the dock at Bobby's Fish Camp with the houseboat ("Semper Fidelis") that had shared the dock with us last night. In the background you can see a partially sunk cruiser and some steam rising off the warm water in the cool morning air. Our only lock for the day was the Coffeeville Lock and Dam just 2.2 miles down river. The Lockmaster was most helpful when the Admiral called ahead and told us when he would be ready for us after locking through a tow. Since we had "extra" time, we actually watched the AIS and could see the icon for the tow on the chartplotter. We watched as the tow moved into the lock chamber and could also see it move out about 20 minutes later. I suppose that this is the modern, hi-tech version of "watching paint dry", but it was interesting to see how accurate the AIS system really was.
Then it was time to depart from Bobby's and head the 2.2 miles to the lock as the lock chamber was filled with water. In the right center of the picture at the right, you can see one of the cabins that were available for rent as well as the store/restaurant in the center. Unlike the travel trailer at the left, the permanent buildings were built well up above potential flooding.
The Coffeeville Lock and Dam are the last on the Tombigbee Waterway. Once past there we hopefully will avoid any potential delays due to flooding from the big storms up river 2 days ago. Of course, the operative, key word is "hopefully". However, that's our plan and we are sticking to it. The picture at the right was taken from Lucky Us moored in the lock chamber and looking back at the dam. On the center right you can see both spray and steam rising from water going over the spillway. Sure enough, the flow in the river was higher, and our speed down the river increased to between 10.2 and 11.3 mph for the day. This extra lift from the current was a very pleasant surprise for us since we had another fairly long trip of 82.9 miles planned.
We exited the lock, which has a drop of 34 feet, about 25 minutes after we entered so it was another very efficient lock through. After we existed the lock, this was the view looking back up stream at the dam and lock. The gates in the center are partially open and water is also flowing over the spillway at the fixed portion of the dam on the right. Like I said above, lots of water being discharged resulting in higher current...
Once again, the scenery today was mainly treed river banks with occasional outcrops such as in the picture at the right. Our trip for today had to end at an anchorage since the next marinas that could fit us were an additional 55+ miles downstream. We are only a few days from the Autumnal Equinox, and with occasional morning fog our travel days are getting shorter. The anchorage will give us an excellent chance to test our new house battery bank and power inverter.
Well, the Admiral out did herself! The anchorage was an absolutely beautiful setting. The picture at the left was taken from the aft deck just before sunset. The air was still, and the river current held us quite steady. The anchorage is about 25 "river miles" above Mobile, Alabama. The Tombigbee has formed a delta at the north (up stream) end of the Mobile Bay. We actually are anchored on one of the smaller distributary streams that divide the Tombigbee up as it flows over the delta. Deltas are usually swampy, and even though we are pretty close to a large city (Mobile) it is a very unpopulated area.
The final picture for today was taken up stream over the bow of Lucky Us. The sun has just set behind the trees, and the sky is so clear that there are literally no clouds to enhance the sunset... Like that is really something to complain about - NOT!
One final note: We are now below the final lock and only about 25 "river miles" above Mobile Bay. Thus, we are back into waters that are subject to tides. The tidal range at our anchorage was normally less than 1 foot, and the water was still fresh water. However, we are getting close to our familiar cruising grounds along the Gulf Coast...
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