Today’s journey is 177 miles down the Tombigbee and into the Mobile River.
As the bird flies, the mileage is likely way less. However, via water, there are many switchbacks on our route.
We leave bright and early at 8am. The lines and the boat are still frozen. Ugh!
Unfortunately, no gloves in my vast onboard wardrobe.
One bright spot: we don’t need ice for the cooler!
While the air speaks the hard cold truth, the skies visually lie appearing as a warm summer day just perfect for cruising!
We will pass through our final two locks of the “dirty dozen” today. Hooray! The first one is the Demopolis Lock. We call ahead and arrive to a green light and an open chamber. We are solo for the 11th straight time of locking.
Demopolis Lock and Dam. Brrrr…..
We pass by Mimosa Ridge, an event location for weddings. While the above chateau is under construction as part of their expansion plans, they currently have a wedding chapel, gazebo and reception area available for rental. An elopement for 2 cost $475, while a package for a party of 100, including food, flowers, centerpieces and piped music is $7,150. Not bad! If you are not hosting a dry wedding, you will need to provide your own alcohol, glasses, ice, and a bartender. There are also cabins on the property which can overnight 40 guests, with any overflow guests staying at the nearest town, 1/2 hour away.
Further down river is the Smurfit Westrock Paper Mill. They make cereal boxes and ice cream cartons along with pulp, the raw material that makes paper. To say it “smells” in this area is being very kind.
We arrive to Bobby’s Fish Camp.
Although we originally planned to stop at Bobby’s Fish Camp for the night, we changed our plans after reading other boater’s “not so stellar” recent reviews. As we have sufficient fuel, our only reason to stop here was to fill up with water. Currently, according to our research, Bobby’s does not have water available. At $2.75 a foot for an overnight stay, the decision to skip Bobby’s was an easy one. An anchorage will be our stop for tonight.
Bobby’s Fish Camp originally opened in 1956 by Bobby Dahlberg. It was known as one of the best restaurants in Southern Alabama, renowned for its fried catfish. In the 1960’s, he expanded by opening rental cabins. In 1985, with the opening of the Tombigbee Waterway, the Demopolis Yacht Basin approached Bobby and requested him to put in a fuel dock. With his addition of fuel and dock, he became the smallest marina on the Tenn-Tom Waterway. His location, half way between Demopolis and Mobile, was such that Bobby’s Fish Camp became a must stop for boats cruising the Great Loop Cruising Route as many vessels could not make the 240 miles between these cities without fueling up in between. We actually stopped here aboard Crazy 8 in 2014, staying for one night, enjoying the famous fried catfish.
Today, the heyday of Bobby’s Fish Camp is over. Bobby himself died in 2010, leaving his daughter, Lora Jane, to continue operations of the restaurant and marina. In 2020, Lora Jane finally closed the restaurant. The reasons are many but the main ones appear to be the deterioration of the building necessitating costly repairs to remain operable and, of course, the dreaded COVID. Although the marina dock, fuel, and the cabins are still operating, the era and charm of Bobby’s and its famous fried catfish are likely just a thing of the past.
We have the last and final lock to pass…Coffeeville.
The final lock has our streak ending. We approach to see a red light and our radio communication with the lockmaster informs us a barge is currently in the chamber. The delay is not ideal as we have 78 more miles to our anchorage at the Tensaw River, a small river off the main channel of the Mobile River. When we are able to lock through, we do however keep our solo passage streak alive. We faced all the dirty dozen on our own.
Destination
5:19 PM and sun is setting
We speed up a bit.
While this picture is not that amazing the stars at this remote location were! And we thank “our lucky ⭐⭐⭐”, for another safe, sunny, but cold, day on the water!
Our next leg of the journey will be through Mobile, Alabama, across Mobile Bay, and back into saltwater. Destination: Orange Beach, Alabama.
