October 22, 23 & 24, 2012, Demopolis, AL

Monday:  We got an early start and we are traveling with Roy El and their guests; Carl and Greg. Smooth water, clear, and sunny with lots of Lilly pads in the waterway. Went through Stennis Lock which was right outside of Columbus Marina; 3 boats in lock (Roy El, Caesar’s Ghost, and us) and all went smooth. Caesar’s Ghost was a fast boat and left us in her wake and we didn’t see her any more.  

The Bevill lock was the last lock of the day. We got to the anchorage first and put our anchor out and then Roy El rafted to our port. Very low water, only 5.5 under props. We had a problem with our anchor chain lock. It kept locking the chain so I couldn’t let any more out. Keith had to take the lock off and we will have to get a different one so it works with our chain.  We took the chain from the Sea Ray as it was a larger chain than was on the Gulf Star. We had drinks on Roy El and Elvie cooked dinner.  Keith checked our fuel supply with our fuel stick. We are still not sure how exactly to read the "homemade" stick but I am taking readings and we will figure it out. We just want to make sure we do not run out of fuel before we get to Mobile, AL, Dog River Marina.   We will also have some work done there. Minor things that Terry thinks we should have done.

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W88.18359

Tuesday:  Got up early and tried to see what worked and what did not work on our inverter. We have some designated wall plugs that work and the refrigerator. But, the microwave and the coffee pot do not work on the inverter so we had to turn on the generator. Even with the generator on, it took about 15 minutes before it built up enough voltage to run the microwave. We don't know if that is a problem or normal. There are a lot of little quirks we have to work out as we go. We also had trouble bringing up the anchor chain, it kept slipping. Finally got it up and Keith said all he has to do is tighten it some. All in all our first anchorage went pretty good.

We only had one lock to go through today; the Heflin Lock at Mile 266.1. The Lock Master had the lock ready for us and we were in and out within one half hour. It was a bit foggy early on this morning but the water was very smooth. It was another beautiful day and we got to the marina by 12:45. It was actually hot this afternoon; in the 90's. We had drinks and dinner on the marina's 2nd story open deck; there were 10 of us in all and a very good evening.

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Wednesday:  Did not travel today, got caught up on things.  Got our fuel stick figured out.

CO's comments:  All is well.

XO's first time driving the Gulf Star

Sun rise on 10-23-2012 leaving anchorage at Sumter Recreation Area