Good-bye Inland Rivers, Hello ICW

On Wednesday November 2nd, we left Kingfisher Bay Marina in Demopolis and headed down river. The only lock of the day, Demopolis lock, was three miles downriver. Eight boats arrived in light fog around 7:30 am. We were out of the lock and heading down river by 8:00 am and the fog had lifted. It was a long day covering 70 miles of twisty and winding shallow water. We never ran aground, but there were plenty of tense moments. By 5:00 pm, we were safely anchored 300 yds off the channel in Bashi Creek. We launched the dinghy and rode over to a boat ramp and park. We walked along the river on a paved road. David and Julia on Baker Street Blue invited everyone on the four boats in the anchorage over for docktales. The anchorage was an odd place to have a social gathering, but everyone enjoyed it. We made it back to our boat just as it got dark. The first mate thinks anchoring is like 'glamping' but with more risk.

We awoke at 6:00 am to thick fog. Since we had another long day ahead of us, three of the four boats headed out into the fog at idle speed. Using our navigation software and radar, we cruised slowly down river and sounded the horn for almost two hours before the fog lifted. At that point, we picked up speed to make up for the lost time.

Fortunately, we didn’t have to wait at the next lock, Coffeeville. When we exited, the first mate yelled ‘woo hoo’ and said ‘goodbye’ to the locks for a while. This was the last lock we will see until we get to the dismal swamp canal in Virginia next year. After 82.5 miles we made it safely into an anchorage called Three Rivers Lake. It was a creek that led to a shallow lake. We anchored in the creek with three other boats and had a quiet night. The next morning the skies were clear and there was no fog. Our plan for the day was to anchor at Big Bayou Canot. However there was weather moving in which would make us stay out on anchor for two days. We weren’t into that and decided to make the run to Fairhope, AL for the night and before the front moved in. Luckily, the marina had room for us.

Around 3:00 pm, we passed through Mobile, AL and then cut across the bay to Fairhope. The crossing was choppy with 15 mph wind on our bow. Waves were about 2’ and the bay was pretty shallow. We saw as little as 6’ under the keel, but most of the time we had 7’- 8’ under us. We arrived at Fairhope at 4:30 pm and the crew of Baker Street Blue helped us get tied up in a stiff breeze. We spent the night on the end of a ‘no frills’ dock meaning there was no electricity and no water. However, there was a small beach and we watched the sunset from there.

The next morning, after refueling and a pump out, we moved to a covered slip. The rainstorm wasn’t expected until later in the afternoon so we decided to explore the town. To say the town was charming was an understatement. We browsed the shops, had lunch at the fabulous Tamara’s restaurant, and bought groceries at Greer’s Farmers Market. There was even a pharmacy that reminded us of pharmacies from our childhood. We can’t say enough good things about Fairhope, AL. While we were in the farmer’s market, the rainstorm hit sooner than expected. Again, the weather experts were not up to par. Needless to say we got drenched before finding shelter on the boat.

We left for the ICW (Intercoastal Waterway) on November 6. It was a beautiful day and an easy cruise on Mobile Bay. Four boats left from Fairhope and several other boats left from Dog River, across the Bay. It was fun watching the flotilla of looper boats on the Bay and along the ICW. Before we arrived at the next marina we spotted cormorants, pelicans, and dolphins. We stayed at The Wharf Marina. It's a resort marina in Gulf Shores, AL with plenty of shops, restaurants, and very big boats. We met other loopers and had docktails on our boat. And we finally made it to the beach! Hopefully, this was the first of many trips to the beach.

The next segment of our journey will take us along the ICW and Florida Panhandle to Carrabelle, FL where we will wait for a good weather window in order to cross the Gulf to the west coast of Florida. We’ll be in coastal waters and will learn more about wind, waves, currents, and tides. Plus we’ll encounter more boaters on the water. And it’ll be interesting to see familiar vacation spots from the water.