If I thought it was going to be a quiet day at anchorage Thursday, I was dreaming. Boats continued to come into the cut, as it is one of the few good anchorages anywhere nearby for boats that draft more than about three feet, which is most all of us Loopers. Besides Joysea and Bavarian Cream, who we had already invited for cocktails that night, six or seven more boats came in. Since I was in first and had explored quite a ways up the cut in my dinghy (the one with the working depth finder), I felt obliged to pass on the local knowledge and lend a hand. That’s another blog that my First Mate says she wants to write. Let’s just say, we were busy right up till about 4 PM anchoring boats! The Admiral and I took quick showers and then I got back into the dinghy to round up our guests for cocktails.
Dave and Joyce on Joysea are from Indiana. They had never boated before buying thier 39' Mainship a couple of years ago. They boated from Maine where they purchased it down along the east coast to Florida, and then decided to do the loop. If you think Carrie’s broken toe and thumb were tough, Joyce suffered a broken hip in Canada. Dave had guests aboard to help him from there down to Joe Wheeler, Alabama, where Joyce rejoined him after a few months of recovery at home. They have been married for 50 years, so naturally took this as just a minor little setback. They will complete the loop in Marathon, Florida. I hope we are there to celebrate with them.
The Bavarian Cream crew, Larry and Sandy are a hoot. I knew someone told me I had to meet them, and after talking with them for a while, I realized it had to be Doug and Judy of Moonstruck or Ron and Jan from Jolly Tolly. Larry is originally from Ohio, but they live now in Sandy’s hometown of New Orleans. They are completely nuts, so we hit it off quite nicely. Their boat is a German made 40' Cytra Bavaria. On the back of their boat card (business cards we all carry to identify boats and crews), they printed the recipe for Bavarian Cream, a dish they had planned to make their signiature dessert on board. Trouble was, they said it was just too damn hard to make! They will complete the loop in just a few days as they reach the southern part of Mobile Bay. Unfortunately for us, they will turn west for Louisiana and we must go east to Florida. I hope our paths cross again somewhere.
Anyway, on this chilly night in the Alabama River Cut off the Tenn-Tom, the six of us yucked it up for about two hours on Once Around. Everyone brought more munchies than we could eat and more cocktails than we oughta drink, but we put a good dent in both. By seven or so, the party broke up and I somehow managed to get the four of them back to their boats without losing anyone in the river…but it was touch and go at times.
Friday morning the misty fog cleared early and everyone began lifting anchors. Of course, the anchors on Once Around that I had so much trouble getting to set two days before now decided that they had “become one” with the river bottom. And, half the river bottom came up with them when, panting, cold and exhausted we finally got them unstuck. Remember, Boating is Fun!
We had about 50 miles more river to cover before we would reach Mobile Bay, then another 17 miles or so till we would reach Dog River Marina in Mobile, Alabama. Piece of cake, right? Everything went fine, right up to the 14 mile bridge. It had been closed all day Wednesday for repairs. We had heard it had been closed for a couple of hours on Thursday for the finishing touches. Oops, seems not. We were held up above it for about an hour and a half. When it finally opened we were the first boat through, and it looked like a boat parade from there to Mobile Bay.
Looks like this barge is being pushed by Papa Tow and Baby Tow, huh?
And the scenery became less "forest" and more "bayou"
the farther south we travelled.
The challenge of the day...a long wait for the bridge to open
And the "boat parade" after the bridge opening
It was weird being out in open water of the bay after the past few months on the rivers. However, much of Mobile Bay is shallow, too shallow, so you have to be very careful to stay in the channels. We did, and let a few other boats into Dog River just an hour or so before sundown.
Entering Mobile Harbor through the river
A fisherman on Mobile Bay
When we reached Dog River Marina, the Admiral and I tied off, cleaned up and walked across the highway to the Mobile Yacht Club for dinner. We were back and tucked in by 8:30. We slept in (7:30) on Saturday. Nothing to hurry about, we will be here for a while. I am going to get that depth finder fixed before I go another mile, and there is always a list of other stuff for both the boat yard and me to do. Work starts on Monday and I hope to have it done by Thursday. Carrie is flying to San Francisco on Thursday and returning on Sunday. Seems the girls are doing wedding dress shopping with Carla. Me, I’m thinking about driving over to New Orleans for the weekend…OUCH, I just got hit…I mean, I’m going to sit around Dog River and do boat chores…really…
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