Alabama: Florence Harbor Marina to Joe Wheeler State Park

Day: 111
NM Today: 17
NM Total: 2277
Locks Today: 2
Locks Total: 85

We woke up slightly before our alarm today and leisurely started getting ready for the 8:00 VHF conference call.  We took our morning hike over to the head and when we got back, the captain on Dream Weaver came by and told us that the four other boats in our group were leaving in the next 20 to 30 minutes or as soon as they could get going.  He had called the lockmaster at Wilson Lock and gotten word to "come as soon as you can".  Suddenly we were thrown into high-speed prep mode.

We skipped breakfast and within 15 minutes we were underway.  Clark normally warms up the engines before pulling away from dock.  He skipped that step.  The distance from Florence Harbor Marina to the Wilson Lock is not far, so we arrived at the lock about 15 minutes later.  Here we found another case of "hurry up and wait" as is generally the case with these locks.  A "double" tow was in the process of locking through.  His first load of six barges had completed the locking process; his second load of twelve barges was currently in the lock.  Ho-hum.....  time for breakfast now.

When we arrived at the lock, we were one of five boats.  We looked behind us and found three more joining us, so now we were eight.  Clearly my worries from the day before of being the lone looper were deeply unfounded.  We had about an hour to wait for the lock to be ready for us.  By the time the doors opened we had collected a total of ten boats to lock through together.

Doors open - Entering the Lock

 Wilson Lock is a rather long lock.  We were happy to hear that ten bollards were available for us to use for locking through - ten boats, ten bollards - perfect!  We entered and each took our places. Sea Moss likes starboard tie-up but we could see as we entered the lock that more boats were heading to starboard than to port, so I quickly moved two fenders to port from starboard.  Since fewer boats were tied port, this move put us more to the front of the lock instead of the rear.

Clark read that the best way to tie to a floating bollard is to tie the line to the boat, loop the line around the bollard in a counter-clockwise direction, and tie the line back to the boat with the line crossing over itself.  We tried this at the last lock and it worked well, so we did it again.  Because of the wind direction today I had to work to keep the bow from dragging up the wall.  We have fenders in place when we lock but I hate to have them dragging up the wall if I can help it.  I had my boat pole in hand to push the bow away from the wall whenever it got too close.

Line wrapped around floating bollard.
Me up on bow pushing off wall with boat hook.

Just as the last of the ten boats entered the lock to tie up, I heard Clark on the VHF radio talking to the manager at the Florence Harbor Marina.  Clark had left the borrowed, marina's Y-shaped power connector at her office doorstep as she requested, so she called to acknowledge that she got it.  Plus, she wanted to convey the message that a boat had left Florence Harbor Marina and was "racing" towards the lock to catch the lock through with us.  About the same time I heard her on the VHF, I saw a boat approaching the lock at rather high speed.  Boat number eleven had now arrived.

Boat number 11 enters the lock with 10 bollards

 I fight the feeling of resentment that I get when someone shows up "just in the nick of time" and gets to come right on in when I have waited for long periods of time for the doors to open.  I try to put myself in their shoes - racing for the lock, afraid I'll miss the lock through, but I still find it annoying.  What was truly annoying with this boat today, however, was that their rushing into the lock brought a bow wake that rocked the rest of us as we sat tied up to the lock walls.  Humph!  This last boat in had no bollard to tie to so they rafted with another boat.

Tardy boat rafted for locking

The Wilson Lock and the next lock after, Joe Wheeler Lock, are tall locks, so they each take a while to fill.  After the last boat came in, the doors closed and we started the climb up.

Tall Lock!

Doors closing

We noticed as we were working our way up the wall that we were being observed from the other side of the lock.  One wonders what a crane thinks as he watches all the boats in the chamber.  Crazy loopers!

Crane looking down on all the boats below in the lock

Eventually the water floated us up to the top and we could exit the lock.  I have to admit that 11 boats coming out of a lock together is quite an impressive flotilla.  It was cool to be part of that experience.

Exiting the lock

Approximately 14 nautical miles upriver we came to the next lock - Joe Wheeler Lock and Dam.  I expected that we would get snagged by that double tow that caused us an hour's wait at the Wilson Lock.  My speculations were correct.  When we arrived at the Joe Wheeler Lock, the first 12 of 18 barges were being locked up, and the tow with 6 more barges attached sat at the door waiting for the lock to cycle through to complete his locking.  The lockmaster told us we could drop anchor over in front of the auxiliary lock, so that is what we did.

Gayolyn Ann Griffin - tow with 6 of his 18 barges
waits for the doors to open to complete his locking

By the time we all entered the Wheeler Lock two more boats had materialized, so now we were 13.  One of these boats was 65 feet long.  In a well-organized world he would have entered the lock early on and another boat would raft with him.  This was not an organized exercise, however, and the 65 footer was next to last in line to enter the lock.  He decided, as did another vessel, to wait for the full rotation of the lock, so ultimately we had 11 lock through together.

All 13 boats, ourselves included, were headed to Joe Wheeler State Park for the night due to the AGLCA Rendezvous being held there.  The folks on Ivory Lady had the forethought to call ahead to Joe Wheeler State Park with the list of boat names so that they could prepare for the onslaught of boats.  As we approached the park all eleven of us tuned to channel 68 on the VHF and got our slip assignments so we knew where to go when we entered the marina.  I understand that no one did that the day before and it was mass confusion as the park staff made slip assignments 'real time' when the boats arrived all at once.  This approach was much more reasonable and we were grateful that Ivory Lady called ahead for us.

As we approached our slip Clark and I agreed that we would "stern in", i.e. back into the slip.  I had my fenders and lines on the starboard side ready and was stationed at the stern starboard cleat on the boat.  I waited for the boat to start turning for the approach, but it was not happening.  I realized that the captain had changed his mind and not informed the crew (me)!  We were going in bow first.

I dropped my stern starboard line and ran for bow port to throw the line to the waiting park staff. Thankfully I had the boat set up to handle either approach, which is not normally the case.  Our first attempt at coming in was a fail, and the dock hand had to throw the bow line back as Clark decided he needed to make a second pass at docking.  The wind played a major part in the sudden change in plans and the failed docking attempt.  The wind was quite strong and made docking a challenge.

The slip already containing one boat in the two-boat slip added to the intensity of the situation.  That boat has a metal dinghy on the swim platform that Clark was afraid he would hit with a stern in approach. In that case it would be a lose-lose situation.  Bow in was safer.  We managed to dock successfully on the second attempt with no problems.  Even before we got ourselves settled in, folks from other boats were yelling and saying their hellos.  It is definitely a challenge to remember the names of all the people and who goes with which boat!

Other boats also had difficulties docking in the close quarters with the wind blowing.  The boat in the slip next to ours barely fit next to the boat already in that slip.  As he tried to dock the fenders of the two boats wrapped around each other causing yet more confusion.  Everyone was on the port side of his vessel was telling him to let them walk him in and then the owner of the boat on his starboard side suddenly started yelling "go forward, go forward"!  I pity the poor captain of that boat with everyone yelling instructions at him!  The captain, however, seemed totally calm and collected by the whole event.  Eventually the boat was "walked" into dock by the four men pulling on the boat's lines from the dock.  Of course Clark was in on all that action!

Tomorrow is registration for the seminars, but otherwise it is a mostly free day.  Looks like we will have plenty of time to socialize with all the folks we have met along the way that are here now for the rendezvous.  From the looks of it, we will also have plenty of new folks to meet.  Boat cards to be shared all around!