Nice homes on the River Section of the waterway

We are still in the River section of the waterway.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Western Alabama - sometimes cell phones don't work

Friday, November 9 took us to Pickensville, AL and the Pirates Marina Cove. So far, this is the most rustic (code for run-down) marina we have visited.

 

 

 

 

Pirate in the middle or on the right?

 

 

"Primetime's" slip full of the floating hyacinth 

 While the folks were very friendly and accommodating, this place is well past its best days.  They have a serious problem with an infestation of hyacinth floating into the marina. The dockmaster said he would call the dam about a mile away and ask them to open the gates for a few minutes and take it out of the marina.

 

 

Tip Sie Waci making way through the floating green mat...

Sure enough, on Saturday morning when we left, it was far less dense, but we still sucked some of it up in the port engine cooling intake causing a temporary overheat. Once I stopped, reversed the props, and gunned the engines, it cleared itself! This was fortunate since the lockmaster was waiting for us with another boat already in the lock.

 

Tom Bevill Visitor Center

 

Snagboat "Montgomery"

On Friday, we drove the marina van to the Tom Bevill Lock visitor center and walked around the Snagboat “Montgomery”. It operated from 1926 to 1982 removing snags from the various rivers including the Chattahoochee and Coosa river basins. It was not open for inside viewing the day we visited, but we were able to walk around it and take pictures. The “mansion” which is the visitor center and Corps of Engineers office is a reproduction built in the 1980s.

Map of the waterway

 

Bottle washer

 

Later, we went into Aliceville, AL and stopped at the visitor center. It was the former Coca Cola bottling facility and still has some of the state of the art bottling equipment from 1948 on display.

Light inspection of bottles

The bottling plant closed in 1978, but now does double duty as the German POW camp museum. We had no idea this place existed! The Corps of Engineers built the camp in 1941 to house 6000 German POWs and it received its first “fenced guests” in 1942. Initially, it housed both enlisted and officers, but later only officers. We saw a short film that gave the history of the camp and interviews with the former “fenced guests”.  Most of the POWs were captured in North Africa, and had a long journey to reach Aliceville. It was there that they tasted peanut butter for the first time in their lives! Since the US abided by the Geneva Convention, Officers did not have to work, but were paid a higher daily wage if they did. All of them received money from the US during their time in the camp to give them something when they were repatriated after the war ended. Some of them still live today and come to reunions in Aliceville.

"Fenced Guests"

The museum docent said that the entire collection of memorabilia and the military uniform collection came from private donations. They did not have to purchase anything for the museum. They have many books, and a large artwork and sculpture collection – mostly done by the POWs. If you are a WWII buff or like military uniforms of all services (including POW uniforms) used since WWII, you should put this museum on your itinerary.

 

Sumter anchorage

Saturday, November 10 found us on the river again with our destination for the day the Sumter Recreation area about 37 river miles away. This is the last place to stop before committing to the entire 91 mile stretch to Demopolis AL. Since we are traveling at 8.5 MPH, the math says over 10 hours and we don’t have that much daylight this time of year. We are opting for a slow, gas saving pace and are not in a hurry to get to Demopolis. The other boats with us decided to go faster and press on to Demopolis. We were the only ones in the anchorage unless you count the local bass fishermen. It was an uneventful night until we pulled anchor the next morning. Our anchor chain was wrapped around a submerged Christmas Tree. Only after much work, were we able to untangle the anchor chain and get underway. Obviously, we need a hand saw aboard and will make it a priority to add one to our collection of tools once we reach Demopolis.

 

Junction of Black Warrior and Tombigbee Rivers

Veterans Day, Sunday, November 11 had us cruising to the end of the river – or more technically – the end of the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway. Just before reaching Demopolis and the Demopolis Yacht Basin, we passed the entrance of the Black Warrior River. At this point, the waterway becomes the Black Warrior-Tombigbee Waterway (BWTB).  

 

 

Approach to white cliffs

Most of the day was more of the same until we came to the White Cliffs of Epes in Alabama.

White Cliffs of Epes

 

 

 

 

 

 

This chalk formation is similar and was formed in the same geologic time period as the White Cliffs of Dover England. We took a couple of photos of this unusual sight. We were amazed that the river was the same color in this area, and not the expected chalky white color.

 

 

 

Mid point of waterway

First Spanish Moss we saw

 We finally reached Demopolis and the Demopolis Yacht Basin. This is by far the most deluxe facility we have seen so far. They have golf carts to get you around the complex and a marina car we plan to use while here. This is the last marina stop before Mobile AL 216 miles away. We spent Monday, November 12 cleaning up the boat and doing laundry, shopping, etc. We tried to go to dinner at the local favorite but found it closed in observance of Veterans Day. We settled for a pizza place since our only other choices were fast food joints. Tuesday, November 13 was a relaxing day getting this posting ready in addition to our trip to Wal Mart for some last minute grocery items plus a hand saw just in case we run into any more submerged Christmas Trees in anchorages.

Now for a few statistics. We are currently 73 feet above sea level and once we go through the Demopolis Lock in a couple of miles, we will be at 34 feet with only one lock to go. Since leaving Island Cove Marina in Chattanooga, we have transited 15 locks and descended 609 feet. We have traveled 497 river miles in 16 days. We have spent 3 nights in anchorages and the remainder at docks. We will be spending at least two more days in anchorages before arriving in Mobile AL.  Due to the remote area we will be traveling in, it is not likely we will post again until we reach Mobile.