We woke up to a foggy morning and I took Frank to shore for his potty break. As we were walking around the woods by the boat, two shots rang out. They were coming from the other side of the creek, and I figured it was from the two guys in camo gear that went by on a small boat as I was getting Frank ready for our ride in his orange reflective life jacket. “Hey” yelled Lauren to us: “get back here!”. Since Frank had done his business and I could hear the worry in her voice, I called back “we’re on our way!” We popped out of the woods and Lauren was on the deck looking for us. “did you hear that? Sounded like gunshots!” she asked. “Yep, probably duck hunters” I replied, explaining I saw them pass us earlier, so I wasn’t worried, and Frank has on hunting safety gear colors, which I don’t think she was overly convinced of my reasoning.
At this point is is about 630am, and I hear on the radio someone calling the lock to ask for an opening. The boat calling is at Bobby’s Fish Camp, a few miles ahead of us. We are about seven miles/ forty minutes from the lock. I listen to the lockmaster tell him there are a couple of barges coming through as soon as the fog lifts and he will advise on when to come to the lock. I got on the radio and advised the lockmaster we would be joining them, and would also monitor the radio waiting for instructions. Now we wait. I was a little nervous since we were a few miles back, and felt we should move closer to the lock. Lauren was in agreement, so as the fog was lifting, we pulled out of our anchorage and headed toward the lock. We had researched the lock and saw there is an anchorage in front of it, but in front of the dam. We didn’t feel comfortable anchoring there overnight, because what if the anchor slipped and we drifted back over the dam? This was not something we wanted to worry about which is why we stayed further upstream. We passed Bobby’s and saw two boats tied up there to the dock. We made it to the lock and had not heard from the lockmaster, but I could see on our AIS where the barges were, which we had to wait for them to go through first. Knowing we had time, we decided to drop anchor off to the side in front of the dam, but well away from it. We got there and waited for almost five hours.
During the five hour wait, we could hear other boats approaching and calling the lock. The lockmaster was polite for the first couple of boats, but then stopped responding as more boats would get close and try calling him with the same request. You could hear his frustration the one or two times he did respond to the late comers. We just hung out, watching the big ships go past, listening to the radio chatter, and just tried to enjoy the beautiful warm day we were having. It was a little frustrating waiting so long, but we had nowhere to be! Except our next anchorage. It was also funny to hear two boats go by the people waiting at Bobby’s per the lockmasters instructions, and talk on the radio between themselves (anyone can listen) about how “those people better get moving!” and something along the lines of: “They’re idiots for waiting there”. Those two felt like they had to take charge and tried to tell the lockmaster more people were coming, but they were still at Bobby’s, and the lockmaster shut him down pretty quickly with “they all checked in already, I need YOUR information!”. Eventually the lockmaster told everyone to prepare, and we all came through the lock. By this time it was around 1130am and everyone who came out of the lock went as fast as they could. We were the last one in, last ones out.
We continued on our way, following two other boats going just a little faster than us who stopped short of where we were going. We were worried we wouldn’t make it to our anchorage before sunset had the lock taken any longer, but we estimated we would get there right around 4pm. The waterway we are traveling is a very winding path, with lots of turns and corners, where you have to be very careful if you meet any barges. Since we can see the barges on our chart, we can radio to them and advise them of our presence and we can communicate which side we should pass each other on. We can see them, they cannot see us until we’re actually in their line of sight. We were getting close to our anchorage and was watching some barges on the chart ahead of us. I could also hear them on the radio, and it seems one of the barges had run aground taking one of the turns. It can happen to anyone. A pleasure boat had called him about going around him, and he was told to wait for a bit, then he was told to come on around. It sounded like he was trying to pull himself off with his engines, but was having a bit of trouble. The barge we had been following had come to a stop at one of the bends ahead of us. Since I was listening, I thought I knew what was going on. We came to a stop, and waited for a bit, but I was getting nervous because the sun was getting lower and we really wanted to get to the anchorage before sunset. Eventually I radio’d the barge in front of us and asked permission to pass. “come on around” was the tired sigh of the towboat captain. I came around him and was greeted by another barge, which looked like it was turning in the river, in what looked like our direction. I came to a stop and was a bit bewildered and not sure what to do but wait and see. “Hey Captain!” the radio blared “You came around me and stopped! I’m getting going and I can’t stop!” Shit! He is talking to me! I throttle it forward and am now between two barges heading down river. The one in front of us had started moving forward and I had nowhere to go but behind him, with his giant wake coming out bouncing us around and making it hard for me to steer if i get too close into his wake. Behind me is a boat pushing 6 large barges right at us, expecting me to stay out of the way. We’re in a pickle now, and to make it even better, I realize our anchorage is just around the next corner, outside of the red channel markers, which means I’m going to have to pull off the channel while in this mess. We went a few minutes and I got on the radio to the tow behind us and asked him to go to a channel we can talk. I apologize and groveled profusely and made him aware of our intention. He was pleasant and explained the situation: the barge in front of us had stopped because there was a third barge which had been stuck, but he got off and is now moving ahead of them. Whew. I still felt like an idiot, and Lauren made me promise to never make us a barge sandwich again. Deal.
We got to the correct mile markers and pulled off and waited for our friend behind us to pass before dropping anchor. At this point it was a little past 4pm so there was still daylight to walk Frank. This anchorage was much like the first anchorage we did in the river, but it felt like there was more room to be out of the channel. Once secure and sure we weren’t moving, I took Frank ashore. I pulled the dinghy up as close as possible and Frank leapt out to land in mud and he sank to his knees. I just looked at him and said “shit”. I could tell the whole beach was like this. We are now in tidal waters, and the water was low, which left fresh mud exposed and gave me no choice but to get out into it to walk Frank. I removed my shoes and rolled up my jeans. I sunk in about a foot and a half deep. I walked him barefoot and now my feet were covered in mud and leaves too. Whatever, it felt like a mud bath for my feet. We returned to the boat just as it was getting dark and got both of us cleaned up. We are pleased we are done with the locks for now, but now have to worry about the tidal changes and crocodiles. There’s always something!
Tomorrow we are getting close to Mobile, Alabama! This will put us in Mobile Bay, which is just off of the Gulf of Mexico! The weather should be getting warmer and we are getting into saltwater. Mobile is just a little too far away to get there in a day, and we want to be able to enjoy the city and explore, so we decided to stop about sixteen miles short of Mobile and anchor there for the night, then go in to town the next morning.