November 3-6, 2013 Sumpter Area anchorage and Demopolis, Alabama

November 3, 2013 Pirates Cove to Sumpter Anchorage

Looking out of Pirates Cove towards the river

We were up at 8 am but couldn't leave Pirates Cove until around at 9 am after calling the lock to be sure we could enter without a wait.  Waiting for a lock to open around here means circling endlessly and burning fuel while fighting the ceaseless boredom.  So we have learned to be judicious on such occasions by phoning the Lock master to ascertain the potential wait.  In this case we were lucky since he had just locked up a tow and had the lock open waiting for us!

The run out of the basin this morning was much easier since I simply left the depth sounder off and didn't look behind us at the churned up mud.  It may have been 9 am but I'd swear it was sunrise with the light mist hanging over the water.  Maybe I should return to ingesting caffeine in the morning.

We got in the lock and made a unremarkable down lock and proceeded to begin yet another lazy day on the river albeit, a chilly one.  Guess is even winter down here now!

Looking towards the river anchorage.  Note the red and green buoys. 

We reached the Sumpter Recreational area which consists of a small bay right off the river.  There is a boat ramp there as well as small picnic area.  As per our groups usual procedure,  BeachQuest (us) enters first and sets an anchor and then everyone else follows in and ties up to us.

 The entrance into the basin is through a few small buoys which has, of course, a very shallow sand bar running across it.  We made it through with 5 feet and used the forward looking depth sounder to scout out a large enough area  for all of us to raft together.  Once we got the anchor down the other four boats joined us and we had another 5 boat raft-up.  And another party.  Actually a birthday party complete with cakes/pies.

ArinE and FieldTrip rafted to us on our starboard side

We were pretty well secured but over the course of a few hours we swung around 180 degrees and having some experience with this kind of swing on a short scope we put out Bob's stern anchor to limit the arc.  Luckily Jeff's dinghy is easily launched and retrieved.   We also had some company as three other boats anchored near by.

Birthday party wound down around 7:30 and we all retired back to our respective boats, ate and went to bed.  It's all part of the cruising life ... wild parties in the wilds of Alabama.  Early to bed, late to rise, makes a boater awake and  ... well awake.

Faking It (Jeff) and Good Grief (Bob) on our port side

We ended up anchored in a perfect area and before heading off to bed I noted the depths at 9 feet,  a comfortable depth which makes for a good nights sleep.












November 4, 2013 Sumpter Anchorage to Demopolis

It's arduous going through a lock  

Again we were at the mercy of the Locks.  We were all ready to leave the anchorage but noting that two of the three other boats in the anchorage with us up had left a few hours earlier we called the Lock and were told it would be an hour or so before we could lock though.   So we waited a bit and then left for the Lock which was about three miles down river.  We, as usual, were the last to leave since we had to retrieve our anchor.  As we departed I followed the gps track we had when we entered and didn't even leave any churned up mud.

We made it down river to the Lock and were able to drive right in without a wait.  It was another uneventful, almost boring down locking episode.  Then it was out the lock and the start of a long and winding 40 miles to Demopolis.

A small segment of the Epes White cliffs

At least we had the white cliffs at Epes to look forward too.  And further down river we saw a small deer swimming across.  Other than that and a few tows we passed it was a cool and uneventful day.

Behind the yellow pillars is the fuel dock

We pulled into the Demopolis Yacht Basin and the Dock Master had us fuel up in a certain order which made little sense to me, but obviously it did to them.  We were the third boat to fuel up while Field Trip had to wait out in the river because there was no room at the fuel dock.

  It was a self serve fuel pump.  Mindful of our over filling at Green Turtle Bay we left an inch from the top of  both tanks instead of filling to them to the brim.  Mary monitored the tank levels  by sticking her head in the engine room and checking the yardstick on the sight tubes while I pumped the fuel.

The tanks hold 25 inches of fuel which works out to about 13.5 gallons of fuel per inch.  We put in 161 gallons at less than $4 / gallon.  We'll have enough fuel to get to Key West if we don't go galloping down the river at 10 mph.

We're all pretty much together

After filling up the we received a slip assignment which put us in the Kingfisher marina which is adjacent to the original (and still operating) Demopolis marina.  Kingfisher is much newer than the original, and very nice with covered slips if one so chooses.

Our little group are in adjacent slips so it will make for easy planning and forays into town.  And we have been joined by a few others boats we've met along the way too.  Guess we're just one big group of boaters all anxious to enter the tropical zone and warm up.

Tomorrow there is the standard Walmart run and Bob is going to see someone about his alternator which has reached the point where it needs to be repaired.  We were planning on leaving Wednesday but we'll see how it goes.  We really dont have any schedule to meet, at least I dont think we do?


November 5, 2013 Kingfisher Marina in Demopolis, AL
The hot topic this morning was gaining access to one of the courtesy cars to make a run to various stores and a CVS for Mary to get a flu shot.  There was also the next birthday party arrangements to consider.  

Looking down our dock 

The marina came to assess Field Trips alternator problem and it appears they can have it replaced by Thursday so we'll all be leaving Friday morning now instead of Wednesday.  I dis-assembled one of our VHF radio antennas with its frayed cable.  The radio wasn't receiving or transmitting well at all so I'm just going to replace the whole cable and upper antenna section.

Next,  Bob and I replaced one of our bilge pump check valves with the idea that it would stem the constant clacking after it ran. It required a 3 foot wrench to gain enough leverage to loosen the valve.  We had it off and replaced in 15 minutes.  Still clacks.  And now I've discovered some back flow into the bilge so I'm talking to the experts tomorrow since we cant quite figure out why this is happening.  The simplest things  ... sheez

Birthday Bob and Martha

We eventually worked out a car schedule so most people went off to shop and do errands in shifts during the afternoon.  Later we all finally got together on the dock and decided to make for the local Mexican restaurant for dinner.  All 16 of us.  We decide to return the car though and enlist the local cab/shuttle guy to ferry us back and forth. Took three trips.  Each way.  But it was much easier for everyone.

Captain Pat and the large Margarita

Great time but we stayed way too late.  16 people can sure push the boundaries of lengthy conversation to new and un-imagined heights.  I suspect he waiters were somewhat relieved when we finally did start departing.  We elected to postpone the post dinner cake/pie birthday party until tomorrow evening.  And hearty souls that we are, most of us simply went off to bed.  Daylight savings time has us all befuddled I think.