Traveling the Black Warrior-Tombigbee Waterway

. . . Mobile Bound

A new phase of our adventure began when the Black Warrior River joined the Tombigbee just above Demopolis, Alabama. That’s where the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway ended and the Black Warrior-Tombigbee Waterway began.  

After several nights at anchor, we docked at the newly expanded Demopolis Yacht Basin for two nights. The yacht basin had a lot to offer – new floating docks, dockside pump out, golf carts to get you where you needed to go as well as a courtesy car, and a magnificent shower/laundry facility. The shower/laundry house had a bank of washers and driers, multiple showers separate for men and women, rockers and a big screen TV!

The laundry/shower facility also had a rooftop patio for get-togethers.

Somewhat reluctantly, we left the Demopolis Yacht Basin at 8 a.m. Sunday.  Despite there being three up-bound tows already waiting at the Demopolis Lock, the lockmaster said he would work us in.  The doors were open when we arrived.  Below the lock, the dam spilled over the top onto boulder ledges below. It was gorgeous and very unusual.

We've now entered the land of Great White Herons, these waiting
to fish in the Demopolis Lock.

The water release past the Demopolis Lock and Dam is stunning as it flows
over the dam onto rocks below.

So close and yet so far away

The river became very twisty.  At one point, we traveled a three-mile loop, the two ends of which are only 1000 feet apart. 

This page from the chart gives you an idea of the twisty river bed.

Finding Safe Harbor

As we traveled the blind curves, Bob issued a “Securite” call on the VHS for other boaters to let us know if they were near.  This call was mainly for tows so we would not be surprised as they came around the sharp bends.  We need to communicate with them to be advised about which side to pass.

Anchorages are few and far between in this section, but we had a plan.  There was an embayment 40 miles away that was used by a paper mill to unload barges.  Because the mill now gets wood by truck, we were told the embayment was probably abandoned.  When we arrived, it was apparent it had not been used for years as a barge site.  It was a relief to find a protected anchorage where we could get off the river out of the way of barge traffic. 

To avoid barge traffic at night, we needed to find safe side anchorages
like Kemps Landing.

It was supposed to rain tonight.  We awoke feeling rain coming through the hatch.  After closing it, the rain came harder with one flash of lightning and thunder.  In less than a minute, it was over!  Then in just seconds, there was nothing but stars in the sky.

A Gold Mine in the Rough: Bobby’s Fish Camp

A couple of days later, our destination was Bobby’s Fish Camp. All reports had said that it was rustic, but it was the only place with fuel between Demopolis and Mobile. Bobby’s is first and foremost a fish camp that caters to fishermen.  And oh, by the way, it has fuel, ice and a floating dock for transient boaters if any happen along.

Bobby Dahlberg has passed on, and his daughter, Lora, runs the place now. She’s made a few improvements, like adding a shower. It could be so much more than it is.

The office/restaurant (open four days a week) looks over the camp and dock.

Bob and Trish on Pogopelli and Bruce and Bev on Paddywagon left Bobby's
on a foggy morning.

Mobile Bound

We have 120 miles of river left and then 15 miles to our marina.  We will have long days because there are few places to stop.  We will travel 55 miles to our Three Rivers Lake anchorage, 45 to Big Lizard Creek , then 35 miles to the Grand Mariner Marina on the Dog River south of Mobile. 

The scenery really changes. The hill country has been left behind as we enter the flatlands of Lower Alabama. The river is bigger, especially after the confluence of the Alabama River creating the Mobile River.  Forty miles above Mobile, it splits, and the Tensas River branches off to the left.  We have never seen this happen in all of our river running in canoes. Rivers flow together, but never apart. Both enter Mobile Bay with just a couple of miles separating them. 

We are on Big Lizard Creek, our last anchorage on the way to saltwater.  Squirt, who had been using his little square of green fake grass for #1 finally, did # 2*!!!  What a good dog.  It only took 710 miles.

Squirt's a happy dog now. . . as are we!

* For those concerned about Squirt’s well-being, he had been doing #2 on real grass when we docked, just not when onboard.