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Big Briar Creek

By on October 29, 2012 in Q's End

(Saturday Oct 27 – Dist: 42.1 mi; TTT: 5:15 hrs)

Our luck with regards to good travel weather has finally run out. A cold front from the west is being held up by Hurricane Sandy on the east coast and is producing strong north winds. It was OK to tra…

Big Briar Creek

By on October 29, 2012 in Q's End

(Saturday Oct 27 – Dist: 42.1 mi; TTT: 5:15 hrs)


Our luck with regards to good travel weather has finally run out. A cold front from the west is being held up by Hurricane Sandy on the east coast and is producing strong north winds. It was OK to travel the river but Mobile Bay is “Rough”. We found a good anchorage here at Big Briar Creek, which is about 1 mile up the Tensaw River Cutoff from the Mobile River. We are only about 13 miles from the Bay but neither Seamoore nor us want to deal with the rough seas in the Bay. When we looked on Sunday, waves were 3 feet and going to 6 by noon. So we are staying put until Tuesday when we hope that the small craft warnings are lifted. As it is, Linda and I are anchoring in the strongest wind conditions that we ever had. Winds are 20 mph with higher gusts.


Not much going on. The girls are doing lots of reading and I am getting caught up on the blog off line and some small chores and repairs on the boat. I did succeed in getting my AM/FM radio on the helm working for the first time in a year.


Here are some photos to tide you by.

A new steel plant is being built by the Germans. It is huge, actually 2 plants, one for stainless steel and the other for “mild” steel. It has one of the largest private docks that I have seen. Many city harbors are not as well equipped as this one.


Big Briar Creek at near low tide. We are definitely in gator country although we have yet to see one.




The wind is still a’blowin. You can see how taut are anchor rode is.

Alabama River Cutoff

By on October 26, 2012 in Q's End

(Friday Oct 26 – Dist: 68.2 mi; Avg Speed: 8.5 mph;
Locks: 1; LWT: 0; TTT: 8:45 hrs)

After the excellent stop at Bobby’s, we cleared the Coffeeville Lock by 8:00 AM. HURRAY, no more locks. We were fortunate on this trip because we had very few …

Alabama River Cutoff

By on October 26, 2012 in Q's End


(Friday Oct 26 – Dist: 68.2 mi; Avg Speed: 8.5 mph;
Locks: 1; LWT: 0; TTT: 8:45 hrs)

After the excellent stop at Bobby’s, we cleared the Coffeeville Lock by 8:00 AM. HURRAY, no more locks. We were fortunate on this trip because we had very few delays and there was little wind so locking through was not stressful, even somewhat relaxing. I am sure that part of this new attitude is the experience of the captain and crew. I hate to think how many locks that we now have completed with just Linda and I; hundreds.

This also means that we are now at sea level in tidal waters and will have to be more aware of the tides especially when anchoring and tying to stationary docks. It is only a couple of feet in this region and other than the fact that we are approaching a full moon it should not affect us too much.

We have been blessed with superb travelling weather making the very long day much more pleasant. We arrived at our anchorage rather late but did manage to get in a drink or two.

Following a nice meal it was early to bed.

Here are a few shots from along the way earlier today.


 Yes, we have started seeing Spanish moss for the past three days already.

Bobby’s Fish Camp

By on October 25, 2012 in Q's End

(Thursday Oct 25 – Dist: 25.8 mi; Avg Speed: 7.9 mph; Temp: 82 F; TTT: 4:00 hrs)

There is Bobby’s Fish Camp; a single dock that will hold about 4 boats, a restaurant and some cabins. The nearest town is about 22 miles away. Linda and I were very…

Bobby’s Fish Camp

By on October 25, 2012 in Q's End

(Thursday Oct 25 – Dist: 25.8 mi; Avg Speed: 7.9 mph; Temp: 82 F; TTT: 4:00 hrs)



There is Bobby’s Fish Camp; a single dock that will hold about 4 boats, a restaurant and some cabins. The nearest town is about 22 miles away. Linda and I were very disappointed the first time that we were here but not this time. We had plenty of time to walk around on this absolutely gorgeous day.

One of the highlights was meeting Gunny a retired marine who specialized in explosives disposal.
Not sure how old he is but he got fed up with the DVA retirement institution that he was in and moved to this spot next to the dock. He purchased a small trailer, put it on stilts and then designed a cedar cabin around it. The place was amazing; all his design and concept. He had to rough carpenters do the actual work but he over saw every detail.

Gunny has a very creative mind. He finds and polishes pieces of wood which he displays, makes furniture and he even wrote a song this past May which he had published in Nashville. He admits himself that he loves to show off and we enjoyed every minute of it. I believe that the song can be found by searching Itunes for W L (Bill) Adams. The song is on an album called the “Other Side of the River”; I think.


The other highlight this year was the catfish dinner. It was by far the best ever even better than Hagy’s Catfish Hotel. It was even delicious the next day as left overs; they were that good.


Of course Linda could not leave with a souvenir. This gator was caught by some of the swamp people and the proceeds go to support one of their own who was injured or sick, not sure which. Anyway we contributed $2.50 per inch for this lovely head. One of the swamp guys, Bodine, happened to come by (we were warned by the owner not to be worried), and he estimated that our little guy was about 6 feet long during better times.

Into the Alabama Wilderness

By on October 24, 2012 in Q's End

(Wednesday Oct 24 – Dist: 70.8 mi; Avg Speed: 8.5 mph;
Locks: 1; LWT: 0; TTT: 8:50 hrs)

Seamoore and Q’s End left the comforts of Kingfisher Bay Marina at Demopolis early in order to catch up with some other boats who had the lock ready for them. As it turned out there were 7 of us who made it through and it was a good thing because there were a couple of tows approaching the lock. If we had been delayed there would have been a good chance that we may not have made the 70 miles to the nearest anchorage before darkness.


We are now on the Mobile River. The shores of the river have changed yet again. In this first section it seems to be carved out of the rock and woods.
It was another beautiful day for travelling: sunny, hot (80 F) and calm. We easily did the 70 miles and by 4 PM we reached Bashi Creek, our anchorage for the night. Since we needed both a forward and stern anchor in the narrow creek, we decided to raft together, nose to tail. With this configuration we could both use our primary anchors and not have to worry about digging out a second anchor and man handling it to somehow to set it in the opposite direction. Another of the boats (Ben’s Play Pen) whom we met at the lock that morning also made it and joined us for Happy Hour. It was a beautiful evening and we slept well.

We were tucked right in close to nature so that the fishermen and hunters could still get by.

Into the Alabama Wilderness

By on October 24, 2012 in Q's End

(Wednesday Oct 24 – Dist: 70.8 mi; Avg Speed: 8.5 mph;
Locks: 1; LWT: 0; TTT: 8:50 hrs)

Seamoore and Q’s End left the comforts of Kingfisher Bay Marina at Demopolis early in order to catch up with some other boats who had the lock ready for th…

Kingfisher Marina, Demopolis AL

By on October 23, 2012 in Q's End

(Monday Oct 22 – Dist: 53.2 mi; Avg Speed: 8.4 mph;
        Locks: 1; LWT: 0 mins; TTT: 6:45 hrs)

Aside from the early start, the thick, wet dew (at least we did not need an ice scraper) on the enclosures, the patc…

Kingfisher Marina, Demopolis AL

By on October 23, 2012 in Q's End

(Monday Oct 22 – Dist: 53.2 mi; Avg Speed: 8.4 mph;
        Locks: 1; LWT: 0 mins; TTT: 6:45 hrs)

Aside from the early start, the thick, wet dew (at least we did not need an ice scraper) on the enclosures, the patc…