Demopolis to Bashi Creek

Demopolis to Bashi Creek

Three Tows lined up at the fuel dock

Since the lock is only 3 miles from the Demopolis harbor we call the lock prior to leaving. The lockmaster informed us that there was another boat that would lock through at 7:15 we were planning for 7:30. We hurried to get underway and as we motored to the lock a sailboat ahead of us called the lock, so we were four boats, then another call from the marina gas dock added a fifth pleasure craft to the lockage. It all worked quite well with 4 boats on a port tie and the last on a starboard tie.

Cool again in the morning with just a little fog that cleared early and warmed as the day progressed. We are now in the Black Warrior River and it is mostly used by commercial tows and only a little by recreational craft. Because of the little recreational activity there are only a few small marinas and we will be anchoring out for a couple of days. For us the only downside is the lack of WiFi service at anchorages, we have plenty of fresh water aboard and ample battery capacity at least as far as we have tested that capacity.

The Lock Mascot with a fresh fish

Our destination is Bashi Creek a “narrow anchorage for a couple of boats” according to our guide books. Well it is narrow, we tried an anchoring technique suggested by some other Loopers. Many of the small anchorages require both a bow and stern anchor. Since we are traveling with Always 5 O’clock, I drove directly into the creek and backed up to set my bow anchor. Always 5 backed into the creek and set his anchor, then we backed toward each other and rafted the two boats starboard to starboard. It worked very well and we shared a meal on our sundeck of brats, salad and risotto, very nice!

In these remote anchorages we lose our cell phone connection and because of the large trees and twisty river the VHF radio that works on line of sight does not work well either. We do use SPOT that is a direct connection to a satellite to announce our position to family and we can use SPOT to notify others if we have a problem. We will be at anchor the next couple of nights and will provide updates to this blog when cell service is available.

Rafted together in a narrow anchorage, Bashi Creek