What else would I use for the first picture of the day? Yes, another sunrise photo... We had a wonderful peaceful night at the anchorage, which was over a half mile away from the Tombigbee Waterway and any tows that might make waves. Just like the sunset picture yesterday, the sky was blue and cloudless. You can also see some steam rising from the warm water in the cool morning air.
We had kind of gotten into a routine of having a lock just a couple of miles after departing each morning. Now we have passed the last lock so today we only have 5 bridges with only one being low enough to require it to open. Fortunately, the CSX railroad bridge was in the up position for another boat so we passed right through. Our trip today was 57.1 miles with over 43 of those miles being in the relatively swampy delta of the Tombigbee River before it enters the north end of Mobile Bay at Mobile, Alabama.
In my "infinite wisdom" I had suggested to the Admiral that when we got to Mobile it would be fun to go past the battleship USS Alabama. Sure enough there is an alternate route that would take us very close to the battleship. The photo at the left shows her in all her splendor. We got close enough that this is one of the few pictures in which you can see the entire ship.
The grounds on the shore at this sight also contain an impressive array of other ships and planes, including this submarine. As you can see in the pictures so far, the sky was very blue and virtually cloudless. Okay, are you ready for the "but"? You have to figure that if they got a battleship into here that there must be a deep water channel here. Well, if there is, then we never found it...
There was a channel where we had to take a sharp turn of about 90 degrees to the west to enter into the Mobile Ship Channel. The problem was that the channel was full of barges, and we soon ran aground in soft mud. It was a slow process of backing up to get free and then trying a slightly different route. We kept running aground, but each time we ended up a little closer to the barges that blocked the channel. The brown patch in the middle of the photo is one of several that we churned up.
Finally we reached the barges and found enough water to slowly creep westward toward the main ship channel. Here is a picture of our audience during this adventure in the mud. The empty barges were just covered with seagulls who did not seem at all bothered by our presence. We had come alongside the barges and were turning to go past the end of the barges where the chart showed slightly deeper water.
Once we were in the deep water of the shipping channel, I could finally relax, and it turns out that there was plenty to see. The downtown area of Mobile is in the center of the photo at left. There was a terminal for container ships on the right as well as several large shipyards. Having driven through Mobile many times on Interstate 10, you really do not see the port area since you drive through a tunnel under the shipping channel.
In the picture above we are actually headed away from the city and out into mobile bay just to the south. I find it ironic that NOW we go passed a dredge working in the channel...
The ship in the background is an (abandoned?) former Navy research vessel that looks like it should be headed to the grave yard soon. Just beyond the ship is a little spit of land and then we were actually in Mobile Bay.
I suppose we had been too busy to notice, but all of a sudden it seemed like there were pelicans and dolphins everywhere. Yup, welcome back to the Gulf Coast. Suddenly, both the Admiral and I felt like we were sort of back home.
Once we entered Mobile Bay we were about 15 miles from our destination. About half of the distance was going south in the bay and about half in a side channel that headed west to Dog River.
Our destination was the Dog River Marina which is about 0.2 miles past this highway bridge over the mouth of the river. The river is a pretty setting, but unfortunately, all three waterfront restaurants were across the river. Fortunately, we were able to borrow the marina courtesy car (although only for one hour instead of the normal two hours that they usually allow) to drive to dinner. We arrived at the marina just after 2 pm. It seemed strange, but I remembered to ask the Dockmaster about the tidal range here. Yup, for sure we are back in salt water with tides, etc., and we have to allow for the tides when we are moored to fixed docks.
"What's next for us?" Well, even if you did not ask yourself that question, I am going to answer it for you. In May, 2013 we officially started the Great Loop when we entered the Mobile Ship Channel, and in a few miles after we leave Dog River Marina, we will reach that same point and officially "cross our wake" to complete the Great Loop. Our plans are to stay two nights at the Dog River Marina so there will be a short wait, but stay tuned for the "Big Announcement"...
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