Great Loop Chronicles Part 19
Marine
- Sponsor
- OPTIMA Batteries
- Location
- Silas, AL
The Great Loop Chronicles will be an ongoing series, following the travels of OPTIMA Batteries staffer, Jim McIlvaine, as he travels America's Great Loop, a 6000+ nautical mile journey around the Eastern United States.
Yesterday was a record-setting day for us, as we covered nearly 100 miles. It came at the cost of a four-figure fill up at the end of the day, but it gave me valuable information about the burn rate for the boat on fuel and more confidence in the boat's ability to travel at speed for extended periods of time. It also brought us closer to our short-term goal of getting to Pass Christian in time for my upcoming work weekends.
We left the friendly confines of Kingfisher Marina at 6:30AM, as has been our habit and made it to the Demopolis Lock shortly after. It would be our only lock of the day and at 7'1, I had a beautiful sunrise view of the waterfall that most boaters aren't tall enough to see. This stretch of the Tombigbee didn't have much in the way of marinas, just an outpost called Bobby's Fish Camp that was about 81 miles downriver.
We didn't need to fuel up there, but thought it wouldn't hurt and called ahead to make sure they had fuel, because it was early in the season here. I wanted a slower, but consistent pace today, so I could run more fuel calculations. In total, we averaged 10 knots and burned 118 gallons to cover 81 miles. A little better economy than the day before at just under seven tenths of a gallon, but still not a great number.
We were the only boat there when we arrived at 3PM. As with the day before, we had plenty of daylight left, but we were planning our longest transit (119 miles) for the next day and we didn't have that much daylight left. Turns out, it was a good thing we arrived early, because a 52-foot Sea Ray showed up not much later.
The Mackey family was running that Sea Ray and like me, they were new to the larger boat ownership experience. They were also bringing their boat down from Tennessee and headed to New Orleans. Not long after the Mackeys arrived, two more boats showed up, traveling upriver, but the dock at Bobby's only had room for three boats of our size, unless someone wanted to raft. They seemed like buddy boats and one continued on, while the other docked. The boat that docked turned out to be a retired couple from my hometown, Racine, Wisconsin, who spend their winters in Florida and were on their way North.
Bobby's charged a premium for fuel and dockage because they can. There are no other options for more than 80 miles in either direction, so if you want fuel or you want to sleep while tied up to a dock, you pay. I did both and felt it was worth it. They did have electric, but only for two boats and there were no facilities onshore- no bathroom, no shower, not even a garbage can, but that's no secret for anyone who stops here.
I've heard some Loopers talk disparagingly about Bobby's, which I can understand, especially if their last stop was Kingfisher. At the same time, I can understand Bobby not liking Loopers too much, because some may be expecting a fish camp to be a full service yacht stop, which it is not and never will be. We had a quiet night at Bobby's and even though we were headed in the same direction as the Mackey's we were not on the same time table. They were moving faster and we were moving earlier. We were up at 6:30AM again and through the Coffeeville lock, before they started moving, but they'd catch up. Find out about there here.
Yesterday was a record-setting day for us, as we covered nearly 100 miles. It came at the cost of a four-figure fill up at the end of the day, but it gave me valuable information about the burn rate for the boat on fuel and more confidence in the boat's ability to travel at speed for extended periods of time. It also brought us closer to our short-term goal of getting to Pass Christian in time for my upcoming work weekends.
We left the friendly confines of Kingfisher Marina at 6:30AM, as has been our habit and made it to the Demopolis Lock shortly after. It would be our only lock of the day and at 7'1, I had a beautiful sunrise view of the waterfall that most boaters aren't tall enough to see. This stretch of the Tombigbee didn't have much in the way of marinas, just an outpost called Bobby's Fish Camp that was about 81 miles downriver.
We didn't need to fuel up there, but thought it wouldn't hurt and called ahead to make sure they had fuel, because it was early in the season here. I wanted a slower, but consistent pace today, so I could run more fuel calculations. In total, we averaged 10 knots and burned 118 gallons to cover 81 miles. A little better economy than the day before at just under seven tenths of a gallon, but still not a great number.
We were the only boat there when we arrived at 3PM. As with the day before, we had plenty of daylight left, but we were planning our longest transit (119 miles) for the next day and we didn't have that much daylight left. Turns out, it was a good thing we arrived early, because a 52-foot Sea Ray showed up not much later.
The Mackey family was running that Sea Ray and like me, they were new to the larger boat ownership experience. They were also bringing their boat down from Tennessee and headed to New Orleans. Not long after the Mackeys arrived, two more boats showed up, traveling upriver, but the dock at Bobby's only had room for three boats of our size, unless someone wanted to raft. They seemed like buddy boats and one continued on, while the other docked. The boat that docked turned out to be a retired couple from my hometown, Racine, Wisconsin, who spend their winters in Florida and were on their way North.
Bobby's charged a premium for fuel and dockage because they can. There are no other options for more than 80 miles in either direction, so if you want fuel or you want to sleep while tied up to a dock, you pay. I did both and felt it was worth it. They did have electric, but only for two boats and there were no facilities onshore- no bathroom, no shower, not even a garbage can, but that's no secret for anyone who stops here.
I've heard some Loopers talk disparagingly about Bobby's, which I can understand, especially if their last stop was Kingfisher. At the same time, I can understand Bobby not liking Loopers too much, because some may be expecting a fish camp to be a full service yacht stop, which it is not and never will be. We had a quiet night at Bobby's and even though we were headed in the same direction as the Mackey's we were not on the same time table. They were moving faster and we were moving earlier. We were up at 6:30AM again and through the Coffeeville lock, before they started moving, but they'd catch up. Find out about there here.