We pulled up the anchor and left the anchorage at 6:55 am this morning. As a safety measure while anchored, we had two anchor alarms set to sound off if the boat moved more than 50 feet. The good news is that the anchor held very firmly so we slept uninterrupted. The current going down the Mississippi remained strong, and we must have averaged just over 12 mph while going down river today. Our trip was a total of 120.7 miles with the last 16.4 miles being up the Ohio River (and into the current). The picture at the right shows the sunrise with the sun peaking through the trees as we had just exited the anchorage and started to head down river.
Yesterday I said that we had anchored for the night behind a wing dam. Calling it a "dam" kind of glorifies a wing dam. You can see (picture above) the pile of rocks that comes from shore out into the river, and it continues out under the surface of the water. It is not much of a dam, but it is enough to deflect the current away from the shore. The water in this picture is flowing from right to left, and behind the turbulence created by the wing dam, you can see that the surface of the water near the shore is smooth (i.e. very low current). Deflecting the current away from the shore is a way that the Corps of Engineers can control shoreline erosion. They are poorly marked on charts (or not at all on old charts). However, the patterns of the line of turbulence coming out from the shore is easy to recognize once you know what to look for... At least, I say it is easy to recognize them since I have not hit one (YET!).
The downstream current continued to increase during the day. We gained at least 3 mph in the Mississippi River, and at times like just before we reached the Ohio River, the boost from the current was as high as 5 mph for a short time. The picture at the left shows the wave in front of the marker and some of the turbulence created down stream.
The current as well as possible debris caught on either the marker itself or on the anchor chain resulted is several buoys that were literally under water most of the time. The picture at the right shows a marker buoys that is just under the surface. Part of the buoy did surface several times so we were sure that there was a buoy there and to avoid that spot...
We did not pass many waterfront cities, but Cap Girardeau, Missouri was probably the biggest. The old down town areas probably once had nice waterfront views, but now the cities are behind tall dikes to protect them from flooding. Nice friendly greeting and murals, but we did not see much of the downtown. You can see one of several gates through the dike with one of two gates or doors in the closed position.
Yesterday, I had mentioned that the number of barges in a tow had increased, and show the size difference between a medium sized towboat and a large two stacker. I could not get a picture of a 3 stacker with any of the smaller towboats. However, the photo at the right shows a 3 stacker pushing a tow up the Mississippi River. It has an extra deck for a total of five as well as a third engine. The lead barges create a "typical" V-shaped wake like a boat does. The towboats create a lot of turbulence (basically water swirling around) as well as these huge 7 foot high waves behind the towboat. Normally, it is a good idea to pass well behind any tow because of the turbulence, but these tall waves created by these 3 stackers add a whole new dimension to the danger.
After a mere 104.3 miles, we turned to port (left) to head almost due north into the Ohio River (picture at left). Once again, the junction of these two mighty rivers was rather unremarkable. The city of Cairo, Illinois is just to the north of this junction up out of the flood plain to protect the city. We had been in the Mississippi River for a long distance, and it was very muddy due to recent flooding on both the Missouri and Illinois Rivers. It is not terribly obvious in this picture, but the Ohio River on this day was a much clearer, greenish color.
This picture (at right) shows the sharp contrast between the clearer water in the Ohio River (top) and the muddy water (bottom) of the Mississippi River. The boundary is quite sharp initially, but a short distance downstream it is all mixed into the same muddy brown color. Please do not get the idea that one river is "cleaner" than the other. In flood stage the Ohio would be just as brown, and at other times the Mississippi could be clearer... Also, the Ohio River also doubles the amount of water in the Mississippi River, and it is truly a "mighty" river south of here. However, it is still not done "growing" as many other rivers, such as the Arkansas River, flow into it before it reaches the Gulf of Mexico.
As at other junctions of major rivers, there is a huge staging area for barges. The tows south of here on the Mississippi River can have as many as 72 barges in them. Going up the Ohio or further up the Mississippi River, the tows are limited to the sizes of the locks and are much smaller at about 3 barges wide by 5 long. Over a couple of miles we wound our way through literally hundreds of barges anchored out in the river in groups. There were also many smaller tow boats putting tows together or taking them apart. It reminded me of a large railroad switching yard (without the tracks).
Since we were now heading up the Ohio River and into the current, we slowed down to about 2 miles below our normal cruising speed. So, the last 16 miles of the trip for today was much slower as we went from 12+ mph in the Mississippi to about 6+ mph up the Ohio. Our destination today was an anchorage just down river from the new Olmstead Lock(s) and Dam, which is still under construction. Our guides said to call the Lockmaster for permission to anchor near a construction barge mooring area, and he was most accommodating. We anchored on the north side of the river just out of this picture to the left. There were already three other Loopers anchored there, and one other boat joined the group later. We anchored in about 8 feet of water just off the river bank, and after the long day, it was another evening where we were in bed shortly after 9:00 pm.
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