- 86.8 miles
- 9 hours 9 minutes
- 9.5 mph average speed
- 3-9 mph winds
We were up early to meet the three boats that docked at Bobby’s Fish Camp so we could all lock through Coffeeville Lock together. This is our last lock on our Loop. It’s hard to believe we are so close to completing our grand adventure!
Bobby’s Fish Camp, located halfway between Demopolis and Mobile, has been a traditional stop for Loopers. It opened as a restaurant in 1956 to serve local river traffic but when the Tenn-Tom opened in 1985, traffic increased to include larger recreational vessels. Since some boats are not able to cover the distance without refueling, the Demopolis Yacht Basin asked Booby’s to add a fueling station. The restaurant reportedly had the best catfish dinner but is now permanently closed. Since we did not need to take on more fuel and there was nothing else to see or do around there, we had opted to anchor rather than tying up at the old, rickety docks but many Loopers do still decide to tie up there overnight.
Spotting alligators has become more common lately than spotting Bald Eagles. Kevin has become a master at spotting both and will radio to the boats behind us to let them know when he spots something. On this journey, we saw eight alligators and two deer. One of the deer was swimming in the river!
The Tensaw River Anchorage was wonderful! It was very large in contrast with the Okatuppa Creek Anchorage which was quite narrow. We set anchor about a mile upriver and Summer Place rafted to us again. Tracy and Joel invited us on their boat for a delicious dinner of cucumber and tomato salad and chicken fajitas and we took strawberry parfaits for desert. We had a great time getting to know Tracy and Joel better after having traveled with them the last couple of days.
