EAST SHORE MARINA November 22-23, 2008

It is a weekend of work: getting blog up to date, cleaning Catrina in and out, taking all the tie down lines off the mast and boom, refilling the propane, washing clothes, shopping, finding the sails and lines and getting the mast up on Monday Morning early!

MOBILE EAST SHORE November 21, 2008

Catrina has lot of miles to cover today because it is 64 miles to Mobile and our marina is 15 miles further toward the Gulf. We beat the sun up and were on the river before 6:30! We must be getting used to the cold as the inside was 45 degrees and who know how cold it was outside. However, there was no ice!

Debbie even remembered to take a picture of Three Rivers Lake Mooring in the predawn light!

With the tide going out (downriver) and the wind from the North (usually behind us) we make 8.4 mph and pass the junction of the Alabama River in 2 ¼ hours (8:45 a.m.)

Please notice the colors on the sign post. Green for the AL flowing into the Black Warrier/Tombigbee and Red for the upper river (away from port) of the main river. At this point the River is also called the Mobile River. That seems appropriate!

At this point the Mobile River is a lot wider. We spend a lot of time going with the current from side to side on each curve. Not often are we headed south with the sun on our left but I guess the river knows where it is going. Let’s hope!

When the Tensas River junctions at mile 39.3, the Mobile River gets narrower. It did not look like water was leaving to go to the Tensas. We will have to check this out. There wasn’t a marker post at the junction.

At mile 30 we come around a bend and are passed by a steel hulled two masted sailboat. He looks like he is going rapidly but the truth is we are the one moving quickly and he is motoring upriver!

We pass a swinging railroad bridge. This time we did not have to ask. They saw us coming and open the bridge!

Tom make good use of the sunlight to go over the lines that run up the mast. He changes the hook-in line for the TV set. The windvane and radar are good.

At 11:30 a.m, mile 20,we passed under the I-65 bridge. In three miles the shore changed to bayou country with grass, small palms and mangrove trees. From here on there are a number of small waterways back into the bayou.

When we reach the Big Bayou Canot Junction at Mile 9.8, we asked a passing pusher to make sure we took the correct route of three. He said two would work but of those one was pretty shoaled in. We took the one the barges use and passed a number of them. One of the barges was Kirby’s Antigone. We have passed it each day for the last two and this makes the third time. So I took a picture of it.





We reached Mobile at 2 p.m. It is a working town and the river is cluttered with boats of all types. On the north shore is their Convention Center and behind it Government Street and a few high rises.




Toward the gulf are the cruise ships. We passed a very large Norwegian Lines Ship.





Catrina cruised on by and 3 miles into the Gulf. It is windy here, very brisk with white caps. Next we turned east and headed for the Eastern Shore on a rolling broad reach and our home for the next three days. You guessed it - East Shore Marina!

THREE RIVERS LAKE November 20, 2008

With no heat at our water hideaway (Bashi Creek), Debbie nearly froze. We went to bed early with extra covers and tried not to get up during the night. When the alarm went off at 6:30, it was 48 degrees in the cabin. It was very hard to take off our hats, mittens and everything else to get into day clothes. You guessed it. We dressed in record time and were on the river by 6:45 a.m. The sun was just coming up over the trees and the fog was disappearing. It would be a sunny day!

We are determined to get to Three Rivers Lake because then we can be in Mobile by Friday night. However, that is 81 miles and one lock away. When we had been on the river about an hour, some of the boats from Bashi come up behind us.

We cannot understand why they are not passing us until they turn off at Bobby’s Fish Camp (Mile 118.90 ). We hear the Bashi boats talking on the radio and discover all six boats are stopping at Bobby’s for the night. Bobby’s has a 100 foot dock which is filled on a first come, first served basis. There is no electric service but they do charge by the foot. There is a restaurant which is open for dinners Thursday through Saturday and if our digital clock which tells us correctly, this is Thursday!
Two miles down at Mile 116.6 is our last lock and dam, Coffeeville. Tom calls and we are told to that as soon as he fills the lock we can drive right in. Ten minutes later Debbie lassos a bollard and soon we have gone through our last lock of this trip

Coffeeville Dam is letting water out.

At mile 103 we pass Peavy’s Landing or as the locals know it “Redneck Rivera”.

We move into mileage double digit numbers about noon. They are so much easier to read on the shore signs and it means we will be Mobile for the weekend. Tom is able to get on his cell phone and makes a reservation at Eastern Shore Marina just east of Mobile for three nights with mast raising on Monday. We hope it is much warmer there. Days are in the 70’s but when the sun goes down, it is a bit nippy for us Floridians!

We pass a few barges today about one every 20 miles but they are the only boats on the river. We have lost those terrible hairpin corkscrew curves of yesterday and it is a long but relatively easy day. Below is an interesting home predicament!

At of the Coffeeville Dam we entered the tidal waters and are at sea level. We have tides! Bridge heights are referenced to the mean high water (MHW) while anchorage depths are to mean low water (MLW). We have to be careful when we select a overnight mooring that we will not become aground at low tide! We are seeing frequent water level measuring post.

Late afternoon a coast guard boat passes us.

We know we are getting closer to civilization because we now have a few bridges over the river. It is 85 in the cockpit this afternoon and when passing under a bridge, Debbie get dripped on through the skylight.

Unfortunately, we spoke to soon about the pleasant relaxed curves. We end the day with a curlique route. We are happy our route is not measured by “as the crow flies.”

After the sun sets we get to our mooring at Three Rivers Lake at 5 pm. We don’t see a lake or any rivers other than the Black Warrior we turned off. We did 81 miles (definitely the longest day to date) in 10 ¾ hours!!!