View Larger MapLocation: 33 02 46.00 N, 88 13 27.00 W Anchorage, Cochrane Cutoff

We left Demopolis aware of the forecast but uncertain of the weather. We stayed 3 nights in Demopolis Yacht basin in miserable weather that gave us time to rest, do a little routine maintenance and reflect on our past 22 days of travel. It was time to move on. We left about 7:30 AM heading to an anchorage about 54 miles further north. This section of the waterway has more variety along the shoreline.
There is still a lot of forest but we see more houses and other development. Running the river today was like running an obstacle course. The river was loaded with floating debris. Mother Nature was throwing a lot of wood at us and while we did our best to dodge the sticks and logs we couldn’t see them all. We did chop a few of the smaller ones but thankfully we missed the big ones.

There was more tow traffic today than we have seen in the past. The skippers are very friendly. When approaching a tow in either direction we call the skipper and ask what side they want us to pass. They will tell us one whistle or two whistles meaning to the right or to the left. They also prefer that we don’t pass on the turns because they may take up most of the river to get around the bend.


Every day we have a lock to go through. Today we went through the Heflin Lock for a 36 ft. vertical lift. All the locks use the same floating bollard system and today’s lift was without incident. Life jackets are required when in the locks. Notice Mary’s inflatable vest as she helps keep Persistence off the wall.

Our anchorage was just a couple of miles past the Lock. We had reports that the entrance to the anchorage may be silted in so we gingerly probed a few spots with the bow and put her in the mud on both attempts. We gave up and immediately came up with a plan B about 18 miles further north at mile 287.4. Cochrane Cutoff is one of the many remnants of the old river path. When they dug the waterway they “cutoff” many of the zigs and zags as the river turns to produce the bows as seen in the satellite photo. The entrance to the cutoff is 10 ft and quickly rises to 8 ft and then varies between 6 and 8 ft to our anchorage. There is a light current in the cutoff but that keeps us away from the river banks.
Mary likes this quiet spot and sat on the bow for quite a while. A visitor stopped by to visit with Mary. The butterfly stayed with Mary, flew around a little but would return to Mary to rest. As you can see from the photo we have a nice afternoon, some sun and blue sky and an absolutely beautiful place to spend the night.