We were up at 5:30 am and anxious to get moving. Gale checked with the guard about 5:45 am to see if he could borrow the courtesy car for a run to the grocery store, but it was already out! The folks who’d come in last evening on four cigarette boats and sport fishers had taken the vehicle to pick up breakfast at McDonalds. These boats had come down from Pickwick Lake yesterday morning and were headed for the Keys.
It wasn’t long before the car was back and Gale made the trip to town to pick up the case of beer and few bottles of wine we couldn’t buy yesterday. As we were getting things ready for our cruise, we heard the pleasure boats conversing on the VHF radio in the lock. They mentioned that the lockmaster had said there were eight barges between Demopolis and Coffeeville (a 100-mile stretch between the locks) all coming north. We didn’t want to get held up waiting for barges all day, so at 7:30 am after confirming with the Demopolis lockmaster that it looked clear for now, we left our slip. The lock gates were open and waiting for us and we were locked through by 8:30 am. As we exited the lock, the lockmaster urged us to be very careful and alert for all the barges on the river.
It was interesting to see the rapids and the cliffs that were all underwater when we came up the river in late April / early May. There was a lot of erosion and it was very easy to see the high water mark several feet up the cliffs. As we cruised downriver, we saw large sand beaches that were nowhere in sight during our spring travels.The northbound barge traffic did turn out to be very heavy. We assumed this was due to the two locks that had been closed for 2-1/2 weeks north of us and had just reopened the day before. Five tows passed us as we were underway – all going north.
Around noon or so, we came to mile 187.5, Chickasaw Bogue. When we stopped there the first time in October 2009, we found a nice little cove just off the river with a large clean sandy beach. In May 2011, everything was submerged but it was still a well-protected stop. This time, the entrance appeared to be shoaled in and we could see snags that would be difficult to avoid. We passed it by and continued south.
At mile 172.5, Gale spotted an alligator sunning itself along the shore. At about 8 feet, it was the biggest one we had seen outside of Indiantown, Florida, on the Okeechobee Waterway. We were lucky to get a picture of him before he swam away.
Baron’s Landing, mile 168.6, an indentation in the riverbank where old Lock No. 2 used to be, turned out to be our stop for the night. We were far enough out of the channel not to be of much concern to any passing barges and we were actually able to nose up on a nice sandy bottom and bring our anchor ashore. At 3:30 pm, we were all cozied in as we began to hear a few rumbles of thunder in the distance. It didn’t take long before Gale was in the dinghy and out looking for bass. About 4:30 pm, it clouded over and we received a short, light shower. Gale caught two nice bass for dinner which we combined with some leftover rotisserie chicken and added a side of instant mashed potatoes. Voila – a feast!
The towboats continued to power northbound throughout the day and night. We noticed three after we anchored and before we went to bed and another three during the night. Only one was going south.
During the night, the sky was clear, the stars bright and plentiful and there was a very light fog just above the water. We enjoyed quite a pleasant experience at Baron’s Landing.
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