Sunday April 15th, 2012

Up at 6:30, off the dock at 7:15. This should be our last day on the river as we expect to get to Demopolis tonight. 

Early morning barge just before daybreak was very cool.  Three barges in the channel at 1AM rocked us with their wake.  I downloaded the Garmin instruction manual before we left and now have AIS working correctly after Trick read the instructions to me.  It seemed to work properly all day.  

We caught Jackson III again at a railroad bridge.  Very few fishing boats today.  

Occasionally we would come upon a group with boats beached on shore enjoying the sunny afternoon.  One southern gentleman chased after us to let us know he did not like our wake striking their boats on shore.  What I don’t understand is what do they do when a barge comes along? 

Demopolis Dam

The Demopolis Lock Master was all business.  He told me I should have hailed him on the radio 3 miles downstream.  Good to know.  Once we were in the lock and the water started up, the current in the lock was MUCH stronger than at Coffeeville. 

Demopolis Lock

 The current was so bad, Trick struggled hanging on to the line so I scrambled down to help.  As the water got higher the current lessened. 

River bank between Coffeeville and Demopolis

Very few homes along the Mobile River

Trick used his IPhone to figure out what made up these river banks.  Anyone able to guess???

Demopolis Yacht Basin was just upstream and we pulled in at 6PM.  Archie, the guard, helped us in.  Very nice guy!   I gave the boat a good wash to get all the salt off of her now that we are in fresh water.  I’ll bet the boat has never been in fresh water before and this is also probably the first time she has been above sea level (74 feet right now, only about 700 more to get to get to St. Paul).  Pizza on board for dinner.  Talked to Missy and hit the sack.