Day 46

You would never guess what we woke up to this morning. No, but good guess, it was not rain, but instead fog! The good thing is that it looks like it will clear as soon as the suns peeks it’s way out. Two other boaters with radar left this morning. Finally (from MN) and Candor. We decided to wait out the fog, along with 4 other boaters. River Ark, Water Musik, Sea Angel, and Angel. Grant and the other men, I mean Captains, conferred with each other all morning, calling the lock, listening to the chatter on the radio and watching the fog lift off the river. Just when we had decided to leave, a barge comes plugging along. And since the lock is only 3 miles away, this tow would get precedence and have to be locked down first. Which meant about an hour delay. This would put us at about 8:30, which would still give us enough time to get there. Men kept milling around the deck, waiting, waiting, and waiting. Tabbie took a shower, the last for a few days and tidied up. The Captains tried calling the lock again who then said another hour delay, which means that we are pushed back to 9:30 or 10am. Ok, this is getting frustrating. We are so excited to leave, and wanting to push on our way, but things keep delaying us. There is not much we can do but wait. At about 9am we here another tow call down to the lock who is a few miles up and find out that the lockmaster really has no idea that so many pleasure craft are waiting. So the Captain of Sea Angel calls down to say that there are 5 of us who would like to lock through and he tells us, in no uncertain terms, to get our butts down there. So out pull five boats, everyone helping each other, waving our goodbyes and going on our way. It was the first time that we have ever “traveled” with other boats. There was line of us leaving the marina, like little ants on the same journey. Our boat travels the fastest because the others are either sailboats, or the larger houseboats. They travel at an average speed of 6-8 knots. However, with the river moving so fast, all boats are gaining about 3 extra knots per hour. We make it and lock down together. This was the first time that we have been in a lock with more than one other boat. Being that first one in, we were also the first one out and kind of lead the pack. Which was a good and a bad thing for us. We didn’t have to be held up by the slower boats if there was another leader, however, we were paving the way for the others, taking on any of the dangers that presented itself and then warning the others behind us so that they can avoid it. Unfortunately the buoys at this point in the river were all mostly submerged, except for when you were just a short distance from them, they would pop up when the boat displaced the water around them. At that time you would have to yank the steering wheel and make a sharp turn or stop the boat. It was like running through a maze, only you didn’t know where the runs were until the very last minute.

We also did experience another problem with the packing nut. It spun off again, within a few miles of leaving the marina. Grant was able to tighten it again, but the leak this time was a little bit faster and we were taking on water again and had to manually run the pump and be mindful of the water in the compartments. Fortunately it did not do it again and we were able to keep going. The speed of the current allowed us to pull ahead of the others and we made it to Bobby’s Fish Camp, a dock where we could tie down. Candor and Finally, the other two boats that left this morning who had radar where also there. It was about 5pm. There was also another North bound boat heading to Demopolis there. Fortunately there was just enough room for us on the dock and we wouldn’t have to raft off.

Grant spoke with the other northbound boat owners, and found out they were coming from St. Petersburg – what a coincidence! So, on for an hour conversation about traveling to St. Pete from here… Ends up they made the trip in a week, while we were thinking it would be at least 2-3 weeks… So, good news, and they began filling Grant’s mind with the idea of cutting across the gulf to save time. Once we get to Mobile we are going to have to talk with some locals to determine if it would be feasible for us to accomplish…

We made it an early night since we had absolutely no cell phone service or Internet. There was supposed to be severe weather during the night and even into tomorrow. The water level in the engine compartment will have to be checked regularly and the pump will have to be turned on. We are looking to leave with the other boats in the morning if it is feasible and safe for us.