Black Warrior- Tombigbee Waterway (Days 157

Black Warrior- Tombigbee Waterway (Days 157 - 158)

- November 20, 2023

The BlackWarrior- Tombigbee Waterway meanders 430 miles down to Mobile Bay. We only have two locks in this section and we will end up back in tidal waters after our last lock of our loop. We spotted our first alligator in this section although they have been reported further upstream. I think the cold kept them in hiding. But the sun came out. I spotted turtles sunning at first. Then Mike spotted this big boy. We circled around to get a photo and he didn’t flinch. I guess he’s not afraid of us.

We left Demopolis with a big group. We stayed at the back of the pack this time because we became the slow boat due to our failed engine Turbo and we needed to use only one engine. Mike did a masterful job of navigating in spite of the handicap.

We were the last boat into the anchorage at Bashi Creek just before sunset. Fellow loopers on Paradise were kind enough to allow us to raft up. As you can see this creek in quite narrow so we backed out in the morning.

We were back on the river at sun up. The fog came and went. It was a little spooky. Fortunately we have a system called AIS that allows us to identify Barges around the corner before we can actually see them.

This was our last lock of our loop. Kind of bitter sweet now that we’re practically professionals.

This section of the river is really wild. We spotted this deer swimming across the river.

I guess she was pretty lucky since this guy was just around the corner. He was alligator number 2 in this part of the river.

We were blessed with good weather once the fog cleared and the shoreline had a lot of sandbars. Not sure I would sunbathe here with the gators around.

The calm water makes for some beautiful reflections.

Our anchorage for the night was simply along side the river,in a place called Sunflower Bend. It was a little exciting because the Tows go by the boat REALLY CLOSE. We asked the passing barge captains if we were in a good spot and they all said yes. Still when I looked out the window and they were right there, all lit up, it made me a little nervous.

More calm water reflections. If you look close this white egret is on the shore.

I was really glad we had AIS as the tows come sneaking around the bends. This section of the river is really bendy with lots of oxbows.

Oxbows are the meandering of the river that sometime change the course of the river and become cut off to form lakes. These bends are still flowing but I’m sure the Barge and tow captains would appreciate the Army Corps of Engineers straightening these out a little.