Day 54, Pirates Cove Marina, Alabama Nov 5

Bike ride to the Museum/Mansion replica

The "Montgomery" Snag Boat

Mansion Stairway

Phone booth in Tenn-Tom wilderness?


The marina at Columbus is exceptional and one of the best in the area. We left there at 7:30 am and traveled 28 miles and one lock to Pirates Cove in Pickensville, AL. During our travel today the river serpentine in and out of Alabama and Mississippi three times in 2 miles. We are now in Alabama for the rest of the trip on the Tenn-Tom all the way to Mobile Bay.

We rode bikes to a replica of a mansion built 1830-1860 overlooking the next lock, the Tom Bevill lock and dam. The mansion was constructed in 1985 and you would bet that it truly was built in the 1800’s. The materials, design and construction was true to period of time. It was a very interesting museum. We also toured the original Snag Boat “Montgomery” constructed in 1923 and retired in 1977.
When we returned to our boat, mid-afternoon, we both became less than energetic and thought about a nap. But instead we got busy being productive. Tom got out the “Poli-Glow and applied to some areas in need of restoration. Pretty amazing product. Where it is applied it looks like new gel-coat.

We both are having some concerns about the weather forecast of the projected tropical depression in central America. We probably need to give this serious study. If necessary we should hold up here in central Alabama before venturing into harms way of the Florida panhandle or Mobile Bay. The trouble is that everyone heading south by water has the same concerns and the Marinas are getting full. Some travelers are leaving their boats and heading home for a week or two until this strength or path is determined. If we leave here tomorrow, we will have to anchor Friday night for sure, since it is to far to Dempolis for a 1-day run. There are no marinas or cities between here and Dempolis. We will likely not have a cell signal or a air card signal until Dempolis.