Learning

It was a very peaceful nights sleep in our newly discovered Cooks Bend Cut Off anchorage.  Upon exiting at six o'clock this morning a beaver crossed in front of us.  I ended up exiting the same way I entered, on the northern end after reading reviews on Active Captain last night.  I had a little more water staying farther off the green can buoy.  Upon exiting into the river I called Bill to let him know I had more than five feet of water, so he opted to exit that way also.

We were able to see several bald eagles, both adult and juvenile today. These pictures are of the same one, just different angles.  I learned today that it must be the time of year for the juveniles to learn how to fly and survive.
This sighting was as we slowed down for our arrival to Bevill Lock.  The tow "Crimson White" was coming down in the lock.  We timed it pretty well as we only waited about 20 minutes for our turn.
After the lock "The Bar-B" decided to go on ahead and anchor near Columbus, Mississippi in hopes of getting the Cummins dealer near there to come see what the error message means on his engine.
"Conched Out Too" followed us into the anchorage near the Pickensville Recreation Area. We came all the way around it to anchor where we usually do even though it is closer to the highway, but they said the noise wouldn't bother them. It was nice to have a short five and a half hour travel day.  That left us plenty of time to go tour the Montgomery snag boat and Tom Bevill Visitors Center after lunch.  We learned a lot but not exactly how they got the snag boat up on land.  More research needs to be done on that.
Next was a dinghy tour of Pirates Marina Cove. Bill and Patty easily decided that won't be a necessary stop on the way back down.  We went around the Pickens Ferry Island and along the shoreline checking out the homes and industrial area commenting on how we hoped a tow wasn't going to come and pick up that empty barge tonight.

See the industry building in the background.
The tow and barge coming from it.

Upon returning to our anchorage area we decided to go collect wood for campfire grilling tonight. That didn't take long as the stack of wood Ray and I left in the fall was still there.  We gathered a little bit more, but felt we had plenty.  We went back to our respective boats to prepare and soak up some air conditioning for a while.  About the time I got all the blinds closed, Patty text to comment on that boat that went by.  I had no idea what she was talking about.  I felt a wake, but just assumed it was a bass boat.  No, it was a tow that went between our boats over to get that empty barge.  We went up to the helm to watch it come back out.

Notice how small a 44' DeFever looks next to it.

It came back between us.  Bill hailed the captain after he got by on how impressive of a great job he did maneuvering around us with little to no wake.  Bill also apologized saying had we known we would not have anchored here.  The captain was nice as he could be, appreciative of the compliment, and said it was no problem that we looked like we were having a lot more fun than he was.  From that we learned maybe we should anchor in a different spot back here out of the pathway for that
industries tows.

Notice the DeFever disappear.

After that excitement we dinghied back to shore to get a campfire going in the grill.  Pizza hobo pies and s'mores were on the menu.  We learned that tortilla shells make better crust for those as the pizza sauce kind of made bread soggy.