4/19/2013 Well, we've made it to Mobile! The weather system that dropped snow from Colorado to the East Coast found it's way all the way to the Gulf Coast. The weather was really pretty nice, but then the wind switched and things changed. And, it switched when we started our way in to Mobile Bay. We leave the Intracoastal and turn Northwest to get to Dog River. Here's the view just before getting in to the Bay ...
The water depth is only about 8 feet, so it's not really rough. But the wind of 30 mph creates quite a lot of spray on Lady Chateau. We started with the wind on our starbord bow and that made it really, really wet. After 45 minutes, we changed to point into the wind and it was right on the bow. Here's a movie of a little spray. Of course, I caught it when it wasn't bad ...
It's about 25 miles to cross Mobile Bay and get into Dog River. Here we are, just approaching the bridge ...
We really love it at Dog River Marina. We haul out in the Fall and do our yard work and Coast Guard stuff. In the Spring, we just stop to enjoy the sights. The staff is so nice and friendly and we love going back time after time. At the dock ...
Sonny and Ricky and Rudy and Billy and Linda .... everybody is so helpful! Right across the road is the Mobile Yacht Club. It's a great spot not only because of the food and we don't have to cook, but they make a great Martini. Curly and Katie agree!
The ride from the Marina to the evening's stop is a long day. We're off the dock at 5:00AM and out into the Bay for a sunrise ...
We all recall the Carnival Cruises ship that had a fire. Well, they towed it to Mobile and parked it here for repair ...
The Mobile River and Black Warrior River section is about 216 mile long. It's winds around and can be narrow and it sometimes has a bit of commercial traffic ...
The first evening gets us to just above Coffeeville Lock, and the next day we push towards Demopolis. There was a railroad bridge the was down for repair and there was about 10 tows waiting to go through. Lucky enough, the water wasn't too high and Lady Chateau was about to sneak through ...
Because the tows were stuck at the bridge, Lady Chateau was right in line for no delays at the Demopolis Lock ...
Here's where we leave the Lower Section and move in to the Waterway Section, in red ...
Here, the geography changes. The River slows, the debris lessens, and the travel seems easier. We travel a few more miles up to Rattlesnake Bend. Fortunately, no snakes for us, but a great spot for the evening ...
We like to tie to one of the barges because it's easy. We started that way ...
... but the local harbor boat said "we've got work, and you gotta go". So, after dark we had to get off the barge and move to anchor. That's not really an issue, but the channel was very deep and we had to pay out much more anchor chain than usual and that left much anchor chain "stuff" on the deck. Here's Curly at sunrise, driving the vacuum ..
After the Demopolis Lock, the current is reduced and we have a much easier ride. There's the occasional photo shot ...
... but really it's just putting on the miles. But, that gets us to the next lock and a super tie for the evening. There's an old "snag boat" that was used in the early days for removing trees from the waterway ...
... and a neat museum right next to it. The way we tied wouldn't let us get off to see both of them, so we had a fantastic wind down on the aft deck ...
4/24 Usually, we'd make the run from Mobile to Grand Harbor in four days. This trip, we don't need to have such long days. Today, we left a little later and stopped a little sooner. Just two locks made for an easy day. Here's a leaky door ...
And just above the lock was our destination for the evening ...
4/25 was another easy morning ... and beautiful, too ...
At this point, the locks can be so close that there are times when we're in one lock, and able to see the next one ...
On this Waterway, there are 12 locks, better known as the "Dirty Dozen". The last one going north is the Whitten Lock. It has a rise of 84 feet and is quite an engineering feat ...
When the chamber is filled, there can be a lot of turbulence and bubbles ...
It always helps to have a tall, Mega-Crew ...
And the Mega-Cooking/Cleaning Crew ...
And Curly ...
After the Whitten Lock, we had a nice 3 hour ride to our layover destination of Aqua Yacht Harbor. They're always so nice and the docks are great!
4/26 We have an extra day for having a little shoreside fun. A cool morning left a little fog out our back door ...
Very close to the Marina is the Shiloh National Battlefield. It's an historic, Civil War site where a very bloody, two-day battle happened in 1862. We hopped in the Courtesy Car and saw some history. After first checking in at the Visitor Center and trying on a soldier's hat ...
... we took the driving tour through the Park. 23,000 soldiers were killed in two days of intense, very close fighting. The Park has recreated the different venues of the skirmishes and weapons ...
We just had to stop at the Memorial for the Minnesota Soldiers ...
