Mike and Patty's Great Loop Adventure 2018-2019

Bobby's Fish Camp in Silas, Alabama to Tensaw River Anchorage, Alabama

Day #128: Up at 4:15 A.M. to get ready for departure from Bobby's Fish Camp. It was overcast with temperatures in the mid-60's and no fog!!!! There was one tow that Mike could see on the AIS that was down bound that passed Bobby's at 5:00 A.M. heading toward the lock. At 5:30 A.M. Mike hailed the lockmaster on the VHF radio he was told that the 10 boats need to be at the lock by 6:15 A.M. as there was maintenance on the lock that needed to be completed later in the morning. Engines were on at 6:15 A.M. Actually getting all 10 boats that there tied to Bobby's Fish Camp's dock went very smoothly and we all headed toward the lock. We were secure in the lock at 6:15 A.M. with a total of 11 boats as one boat had come from an anchorage just up from Bobby's Fish Camp. We were clear of the Coffeeville Lock at 6:40 A.M. after being dropped 34 feet (Lock #25). THIS IS THE LAST LOCK FOR 2018!!!!! At 8:30 A.M. we crossed with the towboat "Chippewa". At 8:42 A.M. we speed passed the "Steven M. Bryan". At 11:00 A.M. Mike and I had lunch of sandwiches on the flying bridge. We had been traveling 10 miles per hour as we were getting a current push. Moderate to light rain all morning. Mike calculated that we should arrive at Alabama River Cut-Off anchorage at 1:00 P.M. a bit early to get to an anchorage. Mike started looking at the charts finding the Tensaw River anchorage. Mike radioed "Bay Tripper" asking about their thoughts on continuing on to the next anchorage, which they were very happy about continuing on to the Tensaw anchorage. At 12:30 P.M. we decided to continue on with calculations that we would arrive at Tensaw anchorage around 2:30 P.M. Thunderstorm with heavy rain with difficulty seeing the river as it was raining so hard. We crossed the "Thelma Parker" at 1:15 P.M. At 2:00 P.M. we were at the junction of the Tombigbee River and Alabama River which then combines to become the Mobile River. At 2:15 P.M. we crossed the "Rhett Parker" At 3:00 P.M. we were secure on the north branch of the Tensaw river in Mount Vernon, Alabama after traveling 82.5 miles today (1889 miles for the trip). We rafted with "Bay Tripper", "Optimystic" , "Lark" and "Sea Trolley" anchored about 3/4 miles further up river. We did some boat jobs aboard. At 4:30 P.M. we headed over to "Bay Tripper" for docktails celebrating the fact that we are done with locks for this year. Back aboard at 5:40 P.M. for blogging and boat jobs. The plan is that we are going to get up at 5:00 A.M. in the morning and if it is clear we are going to head out for Dog River Marina in Mobile Bay. There is a predication for morning fog, then thunderstorms and winds in the afternoon.

10 boats leaving Bobby's Fish Camp just before sunrise. Thanks to Karen from "Island Girl" for taking this picture as they pulled away from the dock.