Day 191 -192- October 24 & 25 Tensaw River, AL to Fair Hope Marina, Fairhope, AL
DAY 191 (cont.)
October 24
October 24
I realized that most of the pictures from the 24th didn't get put in the last blog. Oops...
Different trees along the shoreline.
Slowly, as we made our way further South. the tree-lined shores and emptiness gave way to industrial facilities. Still very little sign of people, like fishermen.
Beaches of sand are appearing.
HUGE steel plant.
Back into the boonies and a very peaceful anchorage at the Tensaw River. We went slowly up the Tensaw until we saw 12 feet of water. We dropped the hook and didn't move all night.
Forty miles from the quiet solitude of the Tensaw River and we are in the very busy Mobile Bay harbor!
If the bridges aren't in their lifted position, they sit very low to the water.
Wait, is there room for us to pass through all that commerce stuff?
This is a railway bridge and switching area. Again, very low.
Very large power line towers, but wait... they need solar power too?
Getting closer to Mobile.
Still a river, still logs and debris in places to watch out for.
Definitely getting busier in the bay the closer we get.
Large catamaran in dry dock, the US Naval Ship, Point Loma.
Austal is a partnership with General Dynamics building small combatants for the US Navy. Officially called the "Littoral Combat Ship" or "LCS", it was envisioned to be small, fast and multi-mission capable, quickly reconfiguring to a variety of roles. Efficient, highly automated and with smaller crews. Austal specialized in large catamaran ferries (see the photo of the ship in dry dock) and this is an adaptation of one of those.
The program has been 'troubled', a euphemism for ballooning costs, technical problems and all sorts of bad press. Some of us who were in the Pentagon when this poor, red-headed stepchild was conceived simply called it the "Little Crappy Ship".
But, I'm biased.
A real ship. Granted, it's a target. But it is a real ship.
Closer view of the "real ship".
Big cargo carriers.
Identical twin tugs!
Here's one for Bob the Duck...
I liked the name of this one.
Getting closer to downtown.
These containers were being loaded onto the ship. Yay for exports!
The semi would bring the container over, the yellow and black thing would lift it and swing it over to the ship. See the next picture.
The 7 birds were sunning themselves while sitting on the cable.
For the first time in almost 5 months, Snow Goose floats in salt water.
That's right. The salt water of the Gulf of Mexico.
It was in late May when we last touched tidal salt water in Troy, New York.
It was in late May when we last touched tidal salt water in Troy, New York.
Today we not only reached Mobile, Alabama,
we concluded the trek down the mid-West rivers.
we concluded the trek down the mid-West rivers.
Forty-seven days ago we transited the Chicago lock from Lake Michigan into the Chicago Ship and Sanitary Canal, which connected to the CAL_SAG Canal, which connected to the Illinois River, which connected to the Mississippi River, which connected to the Ohio River, which connected to the Cumberland River, which connected to the Tennessee River, which connected to the TENN-TOM Waterway, which connected to the Tombigbee River, which deposited us in Mobile Bay.
If you think it was tiring just reading that,
you should try the whole thing at 10 miles per hour.
you should try the whole thing at 10 miles per hour.
Tomorrow, we will actually be back in Florida! No, not home, but in Pensacola. There will be a short hiatus while the crew flies home to celebrate her Mom's 95th birthday and I will cool my heels at the Pensacola Navy marina.
The road ahead has some challenges.
We will move East along the Florida panhandle and wait for a good weather window to make the overnight jump to Clearwater. This is a well known Looper challenge and you can never make advance plans on when you can do it.
The next wildcard is the condition of facilities on both coasts of Florida. The west coast got double-tapped by Helene and Milton between Clearwater and Fort Myers. The East coast took hits from Milton from Fort Pierce to St Augustine.
So, the Great Loop ain't over 'til it's over.
On the bright side, in the last two days we have seen palm trees, Spanish moss, dolphins and an alligator...and summer temperatures.
We were fortunate to stay at the Fairhope Yacht Club.
A very nice dinner and a Halloween Party downstairs.
A very nice dinner and a Halloween Party downstairs.
This is the large registry book for the Fairhope Yacht Club. We flipped to the first pages of it and found entries dating back to 1960.
Bettlejuice and the jellyfish were two of our favorite costumes.
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