It was a lot of work pulling up two anchors and was it ever muddy. This time though I had enough foresight to put on my rainpants over my clothes. I’ll add rubber gloves to my anchor raising ensemble for next time. We headed out around 11 a.m. after a relaxing morning. Just as we got back into the channel I noticed a tow was headed our way about a mile behind us. I decided that rather than worrying all day about him catching up to us to just move out of the channel and wait for him to go by. That ended up being a good strategy as I followed him all the way through the “Grand Canyon” and didn’t have to worry about tow encounters.
The “grand canyon” was very much like being back on the rivers except there was no current and the banks were very steep cliffs. The water was very muddy and debris was everywhere. I had to keep a careful watch. Still it felt familiar and the time slipped by. A couple of hours later I looked behind me and saw a sailboat approaching. I moved over to let him pass as I was only going about 4.5 knots (to conserve fuel - plus I couldn’t pass the tow). As I waved I heard a lady saying “we haven’t seen you since Demopolis”. It was Goldie and Homer. I asked where they were headed and they were going to the Sun Harbor Marina too and that Bob - another Demopolisite was already there!
After exiting the “grand canyon” we were once again in a big bay. It was only a little choppy and I had some spray splashing over the side. I asked Coleen to close the hatches and then thought about the cool spray cloths Brett had made for their boat. I think I’ll add those to my to do list. We traveled about 10 miles through the bay and then under the Hathaway bridge. I called the marina to find out where to tie up as it was almost 6 p.m. and they were just about to close. She said to come in behind the big paddle wheel boat, turn in to the first dock and choose any open slip. Well the paddle wheel boat was easy to spot but it was hard to believe there would be space back there. I made the first mate wake up from her nap and get ready with the lines. As we slowly went behind the paddle boat - sure enough there was a little entrance and a man was waving us into a little slip. Thankfully we had lots of help tying up as this place was tricky. The dock master came on board, made a lasso out of my stern dock lines, stood on the stern rail seats and after a few attempts caught the pilings and tied us up. Our friend Bob tied up the bow.
It was too late to check in - but they gave us the key to the showers and the laundry. Our friends are staying all week - but not sure what we will do. This place is cheap, 60 cents a foot, but there’s not much around here. We may stay a couple of days and then head on out.
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January 2019
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