Captain's Blog

  TRAVEL DAY 146 - Dog River to Fairhope November 19, 2023 1.74 Hours/ 11.9 Miles     Today starts a new segment of the trip. Our plan is to cross Mobile Bay to Fairhope, Alabama to transit to the east side of the bay before heading south to the coast. Originally we had planned 2 days in Fairhope but this trip is now again weather dependent. Monday afternoon & Tuesday are forecast to be very windy and we do not want to be on open water during that time.    Dog River Sunrise     We were greeted with a beautiful sunrise over the bay and prepared for an 8:30 am departure. The fuel gauge showed low but my calculations indicated we had 30 gallons, more than enough to move the 12 or so miles to Fairhope and where the fuel was significantly cheaper than Grand Mariner.    A calm Mobile Bay     Today was a great day to cross Mobile Bay. It was chilly but calm and little waves. We made the short run across and into the harbor at Fairhope....

  TRAVEL DAY 142 - Demopolis to Okatuppa November 15, 2023 10.67 Hours/ 91.8 Miles     Our boat was on the 6 am lock through list with some 17 other boats in the marina. I fired up the generator, disconnected the shore power, then fired up the engine. In the dark, we eased out of the slip and turned out of the basin into the Tombigbee and south to the Demopolis Lock. The lock was open and ready when we got there and with 2 dead pins (didn't move up or down), all of the vessels had to raft. Just as the doors shut, a call came from another boat that they were a few minutes out. Our crew couldn't believe it, but the lock opened the doors back up and we waited for the straggler.   Demopolis Lock     Once out of the lock we set our sights on a lofty goal of the Okatuppa Anchorage. I pushed Betty up to 2300 rpm and basically kept her there all day. This put our boat at a steady 9 mph. Our fuel burn is 2.5 gph vs our normal 1.9 gph.   Demopolis Falls   ...