Underway Again

On Friday the 13th, we decided to leave on the following morning at first light with three other boats. So, on Saturday, we were up and ready to go at 5:00 A.M. However, there was so much fog, we couldn't leave right away. By the time the fog lifted, there were a number of barges ahead of us at the Demopolis Lock. Our "early" starting time ended up being 11:30 A.M. We hesitated to take off at that time because there didn't seem to be any good anchorages close enough to make by dark. The people at the fuel dock at Demopolis Yacht Basin told us about a barge facility off the river, that didn't have a contract this year and so is closed down. They told us that would be a good place to anchor. We arrived there just at dusk and this facility is a very active barge facility. Uh oh, time to reevaluate. The lead boat contacted an oncoming tow and asked if he had any suggestions of where we could anchor for the night. He told us Old Lock #2 at mile 168.6 That's where we ended up. We rafted with one of the boats in our group. Everything was fine from 6:30 P.M. until 1:30 A.M. Evidently, when a barge went by, it loosened the anchors. Both boats' anchor alarms were chirping. We had to get up and found ourselves in the middle of the channel with one anchor now holding in the channel. It took awhile to release our rear anchor and haul it aboard. Then we went back to where we were before and anchored separate from each other and stayed put the rest of the night. We weren't comfortable just going back to sleep. So, we took turns staying up and monitoring the situation. Of course, we didn't move at all after that. Thank God for anchor alarms.