Red Pearl

Sorry for the delay in updates! We have had issues with our Starlink, but it is up and running now! Our next destination was Kingfisher Bay Marina. This was a large marina with a ton of Loopers staying here. We rode our bikes to Walmart, about 4 miles from the Marina. It was a hot ride, but we replenished our stores a bit and had lunch at a quaint bakery.

We had been traveling with another boat, Afta Hours, for a couple of days, and finally got a chance to meet them. We shared “docktales” on their boat and heard their story. They are from Northern California and their kids went to Dea’s rival high school in Danville! They have been looping intermittently since 2019 and are wrapping up their Looping adventure in the next few weeks. After that, they have purchased a catamaran and plan to do new adventures on the West coast.

Kingfisher Bay Marina is right outside the Demopolis, AL Lock. We learned that there was work being done on the lock and they wanted all the boats there by 6a (Sunrise is at 6:30a!). We set out in the pitch dark at 5:30a with Dea on a spotlight. We were the 2nd boat of 16 in the lock. We had the small adventure of arriving at our intended lock tie off only to find that 2 of the bollards (the thing we tie off to) were not there! We had to pivot and move to another spot. We were a little annoyed that the lock master couldn’t have warned us in advance! Some of the boats had to “raft” (tie off) to other boats in order to fit us all in the lock.

We made great time that day and arrived at a quiet anchorage for the night. The next morning we woke up to dense fog and and next to zero visibility. Our plan had been to leave at 6:30a, but we hung out until 9:30a when the fog began to clear. We traveled the day with Afta Hours and Missed Tee Time to our next anchorage.

Today we woke up to overcast skies and minimal fog so made our way back to the main channel in the river at 6:15a. At about 7a, thick fog returned and rolled in! We slowed our speed and made our way carefully for the next couple of hours until the fog lifted. Our destination today is Fairhope, AL, located on Mobile Bay (we’ve already seen lots of pelicans!). We will be experiencing tides for the first time, which will be a new learning experience for us!!!