PIRATES MARINA COVE, ALICEVILLE,MS

DAY 146 FRI NOV.4, 2011
AM MINOR FOG, COOL.  PM CLEAR AND COOL
DEP. COLUMBUS MARINA 08:15  ARR. PIRATES MARINA COVE mm 307.4, 11:25AMD. 27.6sm / 2666.6

Since all of the marinas we stay at are within a mile above a lock, it is our usual practice before leaving to consult other boaters about their plans to leave in the AM. The lockmasters like to lock us through as a group of as many boats as possible. This works well for everyone, most of the time. This morning we called the lockmaster and told him we had a group of 6 boats ready to go through. He said to bring them on and he would have the lock ready for us. We were all secured in the lock at 08:30 and the gates closed, and then started to open. It seems some other boats that decided to leave later changed their minds and called the lockmaster to lock thru with us.   We had to wait another 30 minutes in the lock before they arrived, and although it wasn’t a major delay, it could have been avoided with a little courtesy.   After we tied up at the marina and had lunch, we borrowed the loaner car along with Kismet and drove to the Tom Bevill Visitor Center Lock & Dam. We toured the center and the Snagboat Montgomery, which is an antique steam powered paddle wheeler that was used to clear the river of trees and stumps that have fallen into the river because of flooding and erosion.   From there we drove to the town of Aliceville (pop.3400), site of a WWII POW camp.   It was home to over 6,000 German POWs in the 40’s and the town has created an excellent museum there as a tribute to our Armed Forces. The site of the museum was an old Coke bottling plant donated to the museum. There was Coke museum as well. This was a very worthwhile stop and we would recommend it to anybody travelling thru the area

SEABISCUIT (1964 CHRIS CRAFT ROAMER STEEL HULL)