Halloween in Demopolis

Day 91, October 31st, 2009

We had meant to leave first thing in the morning. Were up and ready to go at 6:30 but the water level was up and it was decided we would never be able to make it under the bridges downstream. Our mast is 48ft and a couple of the bridges are 52ft. The water is about 4ft above normal level. There has been a lot of rain and flooding in Mississippi and Arkansas and the water is all draining this way. It was still raining in the morning but gradually brightened up in the afternoon. Motor cruisers were coming and continuing on downstream - they don't have to worry because they're not as tall. I guess this was really my fault! The books warn you that it may be better to leave your mast down until you reach Mobile but I was so sure it would be okay and thought we might be able to at least use the jib a little bit which would help a little against the current when we were going upstream. Well we haven't hardly used the jib at all - maybe two days but that's all. And now here we are - stuck!!! Oh well that's the luck of the game! The problem thickens in that there are very few places to anchor between here and Mobile and in several cases it means anchoring off to the side of the channel. When the waterway is in flood, there is likely to be lots of debris and the current will be fast.

We went up to Walmart in the afternoon and consoled ourselves with a pot luck supper. We invited a whole lot of people but it ended up with just the 6 of us - Periwinkle, Twice 's Nice and Sharpie's Dream. It was fun though. We had Halloween plates, a Halloween tablecloth and John wore his pirate's hat with the funny hair!!