Alabama: Mobile Bay

Day 139
NM Today: 47
NM Total: 3052
Locks Total: 102

Since we navigated our last lock on the river yesterday, we had no worries about having to wait for / deal with locks today.  Still we rose at 6:00 when the alarm sounded to start our way down the last segment of our river travels.  The anchor was up and we were on our way shortly after 7:00.

The first item of interest on today's journey was the I-65 bridge.  The guide book leaves it up to the reader to determine why it is referred to by the locals as the "Dolly Parton" bridge.  It looks like an ordinary bridge from the water as it is approached head on.  Apparently the view is somewhat different from land.

View of Dolly Parton Bridge (taken from the internet)

Dolly Parton Bridge from the River View

In addition to an interesting shape, the bridge has a red warning light atop each of the parallel support arches.  Seems to locals have a vivid imagination.

As we traveled this last portion of the Tenn-Tom Waterway, we noticed a drastic difference in the vegetation along the river's edge.  We went from deciduous trees changing their colors to cypress trees, marsh grass, and Spanish moss.  I watched the shores carefully hoping to catch a glimpse of an alligator, but alas it was not meant to be.  Instead we saw birds galore.

Change of vegetation on River's edge

Pelicans appeared on the scene in abundance as well as the ever-present egrets and herons.   At one point Clark grabbed the camera and started taking pictures.  Nature is not Clark's strong suit, and our conversation went something like this:

Me: "What are you taking a picture of now?"
C: "A flamingo"
Me: "A what?"
C: "Flamingo"
Me: "Where?"
C: "Right there"
Me: "That's an egret"
C: "No, over there in the water"
Me: "Oh, that's a pelican"
C: "Oh right"
Me: "I was looking for a pink bird with long legs!"

"Flamingo?" No, Pelican!

We have entered Bayou country and the anchorages along here have names like "Big Bayou Canot", which by the way, is the place where a barge made a wrong turn on the river in fog and collided with a railroad bridge shifting the rail.  Shortly thereafter, an Amtrak train derailed and 48 people were killed and many more injured.

As we came into the industrial waters of Mobile, I was like a kid in a candy store.  I did not know which way to look to take it all in.  Vessels of all sorts littered the waterway.  The chart plotter shows the vessels with AIS position signaling which almost all commercial vessels use.  The screen was plastered with the triangles used to indicate boat positions; they appeared to be stacked up on top of each other on the chart.

At mile 0.0 of the Tenn-Tom Waterway, we passed the Mobile Convention Center marking the official end of the Tenn-Tom.

Mobile Skyline

The sun even peaked out for a few minutes to welcome us to the next leg of our journey.  I had read that Mobile was a busy industrial port.  It is just hard to conceptualize what that means before actually seeing it.  I am used to New York Harbor with Staten Island Ferries, the Circle Line Tour boats, the Coast Guard cutters, pleasure boats of all shapes and sizes, and on certain days of the week, the cruise ships.  Still I was not prepared for the view when we entered Mobile which truly makes industrial use of the waterway.  Ships, ships, and more ships!

African Sunbird from Panama

Looper Boat Mosey III beside African Sunbird

Tall Ship

Military Vessels

James Bond-type Stealth Vessel?

Even Ships in Drydock for Repair

Although there are working ports in New Jersey, we do not tend to boat there, so the busyness of the bay was definitely something to behold.  Clark was busy navigating through the area with one eye on the traffic and the other on the camera.

Ship Loading Site

Cranes for Loading Containers onto Container Ships

Containers Galore!

Another Boat-Loading Work Site

All too soon we moved out into the open waters of the bay.  I briefly took the helm from Clark, and just as I took over two dolphins came out of the water directly in front of the boat so I had a great view.  So exciting!  Fortunately today the waters were extremely calm with barely a ripple on the surface of the water.  I understand that earlier this week, five-foot waves made crossing the bay a little too exciting.  We swapped out our Tenn-Tom river chart books for a scroll chart of the mobile area and found our way to the Dog River channel and Turner Marine where we intend to keep the boat for several days.

As we pulled into the marina, we saw several other looper boats that we recognized from our travels. After checking in we walked over to the Dog River Marina right next door and found many more of our looper friends staying there.  We met looper folks we had not met previously on a vessel named Allez! , and we reconnected with folks we have not seen since the Joe Wheeler AGLCA Rendezvous.  

After socializing for quite some time at Dog River Marina, we returned to Sea Moss for a quick dinner of leftovers from the night before.  I decided to take advantage of the washers and dryers and threw a load in to get that out of the way.  While sitting at the picnic table area by the washer/dryer (which happen to be outdoors under cover) and waiting  for the dryer to finish, I had time for more socializing  with loopers staying in Turner Marine where we are docked.

Sunset at Turner Marine in Mobile, Alabama

Turner Marine in Mobile, Alabama at night