Thursday, April 08, 2010
Adventure on Bashi Creek Near Nowhere, Alabama
Monday, March 29
As we slogged 83 miles along the many hairpin turns/horseshoe bends in the Warrior/Tombigbee River part of the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway, I was thinking about what to write in today’s blog. It went something like this, “The wind blew very hard all day, Glad we aren’t on an open bay. River, river, river, river, river, river, river, pass through Coffee Lock, river, river, river, river, get fuel at Bobby’s Fish Camp, river, river, river, river, river, river. Stop for the night at Bashi Creek at 5:30 p.m.” You get the idea that the Tenn Tom at this point is pretty mind-numbing.
That would have been accurate until we did stop for the night. To be fair, the landscape has changed from yesterday. Instead of pancake flat shoreline, we now see some decent hills and a few bluffs. But there was truly very little scenery to brag about. Soooooooo when we arrived at Bashi Creek, located somewhere in Clarke County, Alabama (mile 145.2 on the Tenn Tom), we saw a large tow boat named “Biloxi” pulled up to the bank where we wanted to enter. They were having a problem, and maintenance workers were on the scene. The tug captain encouraged us to slip behind them, which we did. Then they left.
Unfortunately, significant wind was blowing hard right down the mouth of the creek. We had difficulty getting a bow and stern anchor set so that we were parallel to the shoreline. The wind kept blowing Second Wind catawampus. Then it happened. The stern anchor line got caught in the propeller—and it wrapped tight. No cell signal. No one was around--anywhere. Not a good prospect. After some strong profanity, Bob donned his wetsuit and jumped into the muddy creek. My hero! After Herculean effort, he eventually untangled the line from the prop, re-spliced the anchor line, and we were set for the night in this remote spot. Surprise of surprises, “Biloxi” came back. Their problems weren’t fixed after all. We were happy to have company here in The Boonies, even though they were off again by 9:30 p.m. Assuming our prop isn’t damaged too badly, we hope to get to Demopolis by Tuesday afternoon. Jim and Martha are joining us there for the night. It will be great to see them.
P.S. Bob did some limited tests that night, and our prop seemed fine. Now that the boat is running well, we can focus on the sulfur smell that Liz noticed before the anchor incident. Turned out to be a failed starting battery. Fortunately the boat configuration allows us to start both engines off one battery.
As we slogged 83 miles along the many hairpin turns/horseshoe bends in the Warrior/Tombigbee River part of the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway, I was thinking about what to write in today’s blog. It went something like this, “The wind blew very hard all day, Glad we aren’t on an open bay. River, river, river, river, river, river, river, pass through Coffee Lock, river, river, river, river, get fuel at Bobby’s Fish Camp, river, river, river, river, river, river. Stop for the night at Bashi Creek at 5:30 p.m.” You get the idea that the Tenn Tom at this point is pretty mind-numbing.
That would have been accurate until we did stop for the night. To be fair, the landscape has changed from yesterday. Instead of pancake flat shoreline, we now see some decent hills and a few bluffs. But there was truly very little scenery to brag about. Soooooooo when we arrived at Bashi Creek, located somewhere in Clarke County, Alabama (mile 145.2 on the Tenn Tom), we saw a large tow boat named “Biloxi” pulled up to the bank where we wanted to enter. They were having a problem, and maintenance workers were on the scene. The tug captain encouraged us to slip behind them, which we did. Then they left.
Unfortunately, significant wind was blowing hard right down the mouth of the creek. We had difficulty getting a bow and stern anchor set so that we were parallel to the shoreline. The wind kept blowing Second Wind catawampus. Then it happened. The stern anchor line got caught in the propeller—and it wrapped tight. No cell signal. No one was around--anywhere. Not a good prospect. After some strong profanity, Bob donned his wetsuit and jumped into the muddy creek. My hero! After Herculean effort, he eventually untangled the line from the prop, re-spliced the anchor line, and we were set for the night in this remote spot. Surprise of surprises, “Biloxi” came back. Their problems weren’t fixed after all. We were happy to have company here in The Boonies, even though they were off again by 9:30 p.m. Assuming our prop isn’t damaged too badly, we hope to get to Demopolis by Tuesday afternoon. Jim and Martha are joining us there for the night. It will be great to see them.
P.S. Bob did some limited tests that night, and our prop seemed fine. Now that the boat is running well, we can focus on the sulfur smell that Liz noticed before the anchor incident. Turned out to be a failed starting battery. Fortunately the boat configuration allows us to start both engines off one battery.
