Resting and Recuperating in Mobile

We're parked for now in Turner Marina in Mobile, Alabama for some much needed rest and recuperation.  I had been sick with a ferocious sore throat and persistent cough for a week, and Alison had caught the same bug a few days after me.  Since getting here, we have been to a doctor, gotten our medicines and are feeling much better, though Alison is still coughing and feeling bad (Friday).  We also needed to catch up on laundry, fill our tanks with water and fuel and clean up the outside and inside of the boat.  We'll probably stay here another week, then head east toward Pensacola on our next leg.

 This is Turner Marina on Dog River in Mobile.  Happytat is the middle boat in the three in center.

                                             A closer shot of Happytat, happy to be at rest for a while.

Let me say, I have not particularly enjoyed this river trip.  Most days have been cold, wet, and tedious, and since I was on the steep end of the boating learning curve, it was exhausting.  I sat at the helm for ten to twelve hours per day, wrapped in layers of clothes and insulated underwear, a jacket, a fleece and a hat and hoodie over my head and winds that were consistently 10-15 mph in my face much of the time. There were moments when the pleasure of being outside and on my boat was enjoyable and I enjoyed the challenges presented by successfully passing under low bridges.  Some of the little coves we anchored in were nice, but I was so exhausted by then, the only thing that interested me in the evenings was a good night's sleep. With the exception of the Grand Canyon of the South just past Chattanooga, the scenery has pretty much been a green tunnel.  I would not be interested in being a river cruiser for fun.  There are people who do the Great Loop and cruise rivers and coastal waterways all around the Eastern United States.  I don't see the pleasure there.

                                              We did see some wildlife on the shore. Once.
It is lovely here in Mobile, though.  It has been warm and sunny for a change!  We did our laundry yesterday and plan to stow away all our winter coats and most of the cold weather clothes.  I hope to not see them again for a long time!

When we arrived in Demopolis, the weather was predicted to be rainy and I needed to do a few minor boat repairs, so we docked at the Demopolis marina.  At Demopolis, the river changes from the Tenn Tom to the Tom Bigby Waterway.  The only thing that made that significant was the way they change how they list bridge heights on the official charts.  As you know from previous blog entries, my mast needs 52 feet to clear a bridge, so bridge clearance has been a concern from the beginning of this trip.  Because of the predictions of rain and the rain that had already fallen in the past days, I was very concerned about bridge heights below Demopolis.  The numbers I was getting off the Corp of Engineer's internet site seemed to be telling me that the river below Demopolis dam was 25 feet above normal.  That would mean that a 52 foot bridge would only have 27 feet of clearance, so I expected that I would have to wait until the river went down to be able to continue our journey; and that might take weeks if it kept on raining!  I talked to a river boat captain and the owner of the marina and consulted internet sites and came up with inconclusive answers from each source.  Fred, the marina owner showed me some charts that I hadn't seen on the internet and told me I should not have any problem clearing.  The tow captain tried to be helpful and told me I should not have any problems, but couldn't show me how I could get under a bridge that had 25 feet of water under it above normal levels.  I even called the Demopolis dam operator and he told me I was okay to go.  But none of them could explain how I could clear the bridge with the water that was 25 feet above normal.  I didn't want to find out they were all wrong as the flooded river drug me into a bridge with 25 feet of clearance! It finally dawned on me that the charts I was looking at for the lower Tom Bigby river listed bridge clearance not in terms of "normal pool" as in the Tenn Tom charts, but in "Normal High Water".  That single fact made all the difference in my understanding and meant that I could actually clear these bridges that were listed at 52 feet clearance even if the river was 50 feet above normal!  I had plenty of room.

The next day was predicted at 90% chance of rain all day and I had expected to be confined to the boat all day, but when I awoke, the sky was clear blue.  I checked the weather forecast again and all the rain was over and we had a clear day to sail downriver.  I quickly got the boat ready, fueled up and paid the bill, and we were off again, perhaps weeks earlier than I had feared.

Our next stop was to be Bobby's Fish Camp, fifty miles farther downriver.  It was Sunday and they were closed, but the guide book said he had a dock we could tie up to for the night.  When I finally got there, the river current was so strong, I had to pass the dock and motor back up to it.  In fact, it took three complete circles to finally get the speed and angle right so that I could hop off the boat quickly and tie it off to the dock before the river swept the boat downstream.  I had Alison standing by to motor the boat back in case I failed to get it tied up quickly enough and tried to float away. That wasn't necessary and it went well.

But the current was so strong it crushed the boat tightly against the wooden dock and pulled strongly at the dock line.  I just couldn't see staying the night there in that current.  Alison checked the guide books and found another anchorage an hour or two south, so we threw off the dock lines and sailed there.  It was a lovely bayou just about 16 miles from Mobile.

                     This is what a bayou looks like.  It was our last anchorage before Mobile.

Our sleep was interrupted by a loud knocking on our hull from outside.  I opened up the hatch and went out with a flashlight to see what the knocking noise was from.  I could see that our anchors had held and hadn't moved from where I had anchored us.  So I looked at the water and saw sticks, leaves and the occasional log floating downstream by the boat.  Just then,  think I saw the source of the knocking: it was a branch about five feet long, sneaking around the front of the boat, heading downstream.  Once I had found the source of the knocking sounds hitting the boat, we were able to sleep soundly.

Next morning was to be the first interim goal of our trip: Mobile and the end of the Tennessee-Tom Bigby waterway!  After breakfast, I weighed anchor and we headed South.  In only a couple hours, I saw ahead of me a bridge and many barges ahead.  At first, I couldn't see the entrance to the bridge for all the river traffic. There were barges and tow boats everywhere!  The closer I got, the busier it got.  It was like being on a lonely backpacking hike, surrounded by a tunnel of trees, then turning a corner and finding yourself on the center line of a major highway of a large city!  But Happytat kept getting closer to all that action until we were right in the middle of one of the busiest seaports in the US.  We were surrounded by huge ships and barges and tow boats were buzzing around like taxis from every direction.  I was contacted on radio by several mountains in front of me.  "Southbound Sailboat going South by the cruise ship," one mountain called to me. "This is southbound sailboat." I replied.  "Please pass on the two whistle and give us a little more clearance," the mountain said.  "Two whistle" is river-talk to tell me to pass on his starboard (right) side.  "Passing on the two and more clearance." I replied, just like I had good sense, and moved Happytat to the left to give this big steel mountain room to pass.  Once I understood that I was not going to be run over, I was able to be amazed at this experience.  It's one thing to stand on the docks on land and see a sea port like this, quite another to be a participant in such a parade.

                                                  I thought this ship was impressive...

                                             ....then I saw this one...

                                       ...then a voice on my radio said: "Southbound sailboat..."

                                          NOW I'm impressed!

                                            Another one...

    These huge blue cranes at the entrance to the seaport reminded me of something out of Star Wars.

After only a few minutes we were at the entrance to Mobile Bay and out of the busy seaport.  The Bay seemed ocean-like compared to the relatively confined space of the river.  We motored another two hours into the bay before finally arriving at Turner marine, where we are now docked.  Getting into this dock was a test of my boat parking skills.  There are many more boats here than at my little home marina, Sale Creek, and less room in the aisle-ways.  The slip I had to back into is half the size of my slip at Sale Creek too.  It took me three tries to finally get close enough to the slip for the dock hands to throw me ropes and pull the boat into the narrow slip.

It's a pleasant marina with pleasant people and it's such a relief to know that I don't have to pull up anchor every cold morning and travel another twelve hours in the cold.  But this isn't where we plan to stay.  Soon, we will be well again, fueled up and ready to head east, toward the exotic lands of Pensacola, Destin, Panama City and beyond.