Saturday 2 January 2021
Columbus, MS
We got underway on the dot at
0700 today leaving the fuel dock vacant for the Liberty (a 57-foot Marlowe) to
move in to take on diesel. We were
quickly through the Fulton lock just three miles from the marina. Shorty, the Liberty’s owner, had planned to
eventually catch up to us before we got through all of the locks and to arrive
at Columbus Marina together. Then very
soon after we were clear of the Fulton lock, we heard his VHF radio call to Fulton
lock asking for transit. He later told
us that after going to all the trouble of moving his boat over to the fuel
dock, they found out the marina was out of diesel. Thank goodness they had gas for us!
When we got to the second lock
By the time we got to the second
lock (Grover Wilkins) the Liberty was in sight a couple of miles astern, and
there was an odd-looking unpainted aluminum vessel approaching the lock ahead
of us. On closer examination the oddball
turned out to be a pontoon boat with a narrow aluminum cabin built on to its
deck. The lock was closed because a
north-bound vessel was being floated up to our level, but this pontoon boat
motored up to the lock’s wing walls. Soon
the lock master came out to speak to the person in the boat. We were a half to a quarter mile away by now
standing by for the lock when I called the lock master on the radio to find out
what was going on. Turns out the guy’s
handheld radio had a discharged battery, and he had no way to recharge it.
After the northbound vessel was
clear, we and the Liberty followed the pontoon boat into the lock. We were astern of the pontoon, and I was able
to speak to him. He had somebody drive him
and his boat from Michigan to the Evansville, Indiana on the Ohio River where
he launched upon his totally unplanned journey.
When asked where he was heading, his answer was. “The Gulf.” He also told me that he felt he had been
moving too fast and wanted to run at 5 MPH.
Because the next lock, Amory, was only 5.2 miles distant, he agreed to keep
up with our brisker pace of around 11 MPH in order that we would not have wait
for him to catch up with us because the lock master would not drop just Liberty
and us with him in sight and wanting a locking.
After the Amory lock, he feel astern because he intended to enter the
Aberdeen Marina (too shallow for us) just before the Aberdeen lock, our last
lock for the day, before the 22-mile run to Columbus Marina.
We arrived here at about 1430 and
went straight to the fuel dock to refuel and pump out the waste tank while
Liberty waited in the river before attempting the shallow channel after we had
moved away from the fuel dock to our overnight berth.
Our original intention had been
to remain here for two nights in order to take advantage of the usual courtesy
car the marinas hereabout offer, but somebody stole them the other day! Geez, what next? Liberty was planning to move on tomorrow, and
with this bad news, we also decided to move on and spend more days in Demopolis
than originally planned.
Demopolis is three locks and about
119 miles away, an impossible single day run for us. Well, if I was willing to flog the engines at
3500 RPM for about 9 hours, we might make it if we did not run through our fuel
first. Anyway, the intention at this
point is to anchor about halfway.
The marina manager here is pushing
the advantages of anchoring in the spillway below the Heflin lock and dam as
reported over the last couple of years.
We tried that in 2006 and were swept off our anchorage by a release of
water by the dam after a rainstorm that evening. It was a harrowing experience in a narrow
rock-lined area at 10 PM on a dark night.
We will probably choose a spot in a creek north of Heflin dam and take
the consequences of any delay which might ensue the next morning regarding
getting through the lock for the remaining fifty miles to Demopolis.
While we are unsure of the anchoring
intentions of Liberty’s crew, they plan to follow us out the channel tomorrow to
the Stennis lock about a half mile away after I confirm the availability of the
lock to us.
