Sunday 3 January 2021 Demopolis,
AL
Another day underway at 0700
after checking with the Stennis lock master at 0600 for the all-clear. Liberty lead off after our expeditious locking,
and we hot-footed it down the waterway making excellent time due to the following
current.
This is a photo taken from the Liberty of us at dawn briefly waiting at the Stennis Lock.
We were still about an hour and a half from our second lock when my AIS (Automatic Information System – short range data transmitted for all commercial vessels and some recreational) detected a slow-moving vessel several miles ahead which we assumed to be a tow, proven true when it hove into sight around a bend ahead. The problem one faces with this situation is will our speed advantage be enough to get us to the lock about an hour ahead of him in order for the lock master to lower us and then return his lock to full readiness to accept the tow? Additionally, is there any other traffic either northbound or southbound closer to the lock which would destroy any chances we had of a swift passage of the lock? I ran the numbers and told the Liberty that we could make the time, and then I phoned the lock (too far away for VHF contact) to tell him our plan and ask him how that all squared with this view of the situation. He knew he had the southbound tow we were about to pass to deal with, but he was uncertain where a northbound tow was. So, we pressed on leaving the southbound tow in our wake and lucked out again as the lock was ready for us with no northbound tow interfering with our plan.
We were bowling along at such a
rate after the second lock (around 12-13 MPH) that we encountered our planned
anchorage (the last suitable one before Demopolis) at noon. With almost sixty miles under our belts and only
another sixty miles to go to Demopolis, we elected to attempt a passage of the
last lock (Heflin) between us and Demopolis.
A timely locking would allow us to arrive at the Kingfisher Marina just
at sunset.
Once we passed through third lock,
we would be committed for Demopolis regardless of approaching darkness. Running in the dark with no radar in a narrow
waterway is never a good idea, even if the lead boat has all the right
equipment. The computer chartplotter and
our semi-feeble spotlight can help us stay in the middle, but debris is
invisible with distance to the lead boat difficult to judge. At two hours north of that third and last
lock of the day, I called to find that he definitely had a northbound tow due within
an hour and that it would take an hour to lock him up. Both of us added another couple of hundred RPM
to be at the lock by the time the tow was exiting, and that is just what
happened. Score!
Our lock luck held true as we got
to the lock just after a northbound tug and barge exited which meant the lock
was in the right condition for us to slip right in and get locked down. After this lucky locking realized that reaching
Demopolis before dark in one throw was not quite possible, but close.
Upon arrival in the Demopolis
area, I elected to go first to bypass the Kingfisher Marina basin entrance and get
gasoline at the fuel dock in a second basin before returning a few hundred
yards to Kingfisher. Liberty went into
the marina while we fueled, and it was pitch dark by the time we backed away
from the fuel dock. Our chartplotter and
spotlight served us well, and we were guided via radio by the dock master down
between the marina piers to our slip for the next four days.
