Stats for November 8, 2018

Origin:  Okatuppa Creek Anchorage

Destination:  Mobile, Alabama Convention Center Free Wall

Distance:  125.8 miles

Speed:  11.4 mph

Time on the Move:  11 hours and 8 minutes

 

We were planning on waking up at Okatuppa Creek about 15 minutes before first light so we could be ready to zip out of there as soon as we could see.  There was a big group of 10 boats 5 miles down river at Bobby’s Fish Camp that were all organized to arrive to the next lock early so they could lock through before scheduled maintenance.  We got a message from a friend who was tied up with the group about their timing about 10 minutes too late for us to even make the lock, and we still couldn’t see a thing because we were tucked in under some trees.  Not to mention the fact that we were leary about logs and trees that we saw coming into the river with all the heavy rains yesterday.  I messaged our friend back and said there was no way we could make it and we would have to get in after the maintenance was taken care of.

Mike had a different plan, though.  He did not want to sit around and wait for maintenance to get started.  Before I knew it, he was fired up and pulling up the anchor.  I got out the portable spotlight so we had a chance of seeing something as we snuck out of our anchorage.  I also quick messaged our friend back that we were going to run on plane and try to make it, so hold the lock for us.  That gets to be a sticky situation because people IN the lock don’t really like waiting for people who are RUNNING for the lock.  That being said, when you’re RUNNING to make the lock, you totally feel like the people IN the lock could easily wait just a few minutes for you to get there.  This particular lock had a malfunction with the drains and it was dropping very slowly, and that’s why they were doing maintenance later that morning.  It also meant that if we missed it, we would be waiting quite a while for it to turn back around.  Mike never looked back, though.  He felt confidant that we could make it.  Luckily we did not see 1 log or branch the whole 6 miles or so before we got to the lock.  (Sure could have been because it was still quite dark and the spotlight only lights up so much).  We ran on plane the entire way and entered the lock just as the boat before us was secure.  Whew!!  Another case of “glad we didn’t stay and wait.”

 

There was a celebratory feel (lots of picture taking, cheering, and waving) in the lock that morning because it is the LAST LOCK on the river system.  Any boats that finish in Florida or up the whole east coast (until New York, maybe??) are DONE LOCKING COMPLETELY for the entire loop.  Locks are known to be a nemesis to a time schedule.  They are known for long delays due to commercial traffic and maintenance issues.  Sometimes there is no place to tie up or anchor while you wait hours for your turn to go through, so you just have to idle in one position and avoid all the other boats that are also waiting their turn.  Now we did not have many big issues locking, and we are so thankful.  Other than the 2nd lock where we watched 2 boats get thrown around before they got out of it, and Mel Price where we aborted the mission once due to debris blocking the path and ended up doing a full 360* spin into it the next day, we did not have any trouble.  But we will have plenty of locks still to come in the spring.  I believe we’ve done about 30 locks so far, so that leaves about 70 for the spring and summer.  But for the near future, we’re done.

We were the last boat to leave the lock, so we had an amazing view of the looper boat parade ahead of us.  When this many boats are close together, there is always some jockying for position as we exit the lock.  The faster boats call to pass the slower boats.  The sailboats know right away they are going to get passed.  Sometimes it’s easier and smoother than others.  This time it took a while because there were so many boats, but it all worked out.  We passed by our sailboat friends on Twin and talked to them for a few minutes on the radio.  It’s funny how your “friend” boats kind of come and go as everyone travels different speeds, different distances each day, and stays different amounts of time at each location.  Seeing a familiar boat from a few weeks back feels like you just ran into your best friend thousands of miles from home.

 

I bet you know our weather for the day, so I won’t cover that.  We played games and worked on school work and wore Halloween costumes.  We may or may not have brushed our teeth.

 

 

This section of the river is anything but straight, so we had lots of switch backs.  It kept things interesting, doing all that curving around.  You can see where we were around noon.  This is probably where Mike started to think that he didn’t really want to stop at the planned anchorage near where it says Saraland, but instead, he wanted to go all the way to Mobile Bay.  It was a discussion point for the rest of the day.

 

At some point the Captain and his Gunner had a photo shoot.

 

Eventually Mike trumped my vote to stop and anchor before sunset.  He made it clear he was ready to be DONE with the rivers, so we were going all the way to Mobile Bay.  We heard about a free wall at the convention center you could tie up to, so we put all our eggs in one basket and hoped they wouldn’t all break just minutes before dark (again).  We had to run on plane for a bit to make it there before dark (again), but we were all excited to head into Mobile Bay.  (Which actually, I learned later, we were still in the Mobile River.  Close enough!!)

 

Tying up at the wall was pretty easy for us and we were set before dark.  I worked on making dinner right away while Mike decided to check out the bilge pump in the engine room.  Our pumps turned on several times throughout the day which wasn’t exactly normal, so we didn’t really know what to think of it, though everything looked okay underway.

After going in the engine room, it seemed that there was a lot of water in the bilge.  We ran hard yesterday and again today, so we thought maybe that was the culprit.  For whatever reason, there was still quite a bit of water in the bilge, so Mike had his helpers hand pump out a bunch of water.  He didn’t seem too worried about it, but it was just another thing for us to keep an eye on.  Funny how 1 thing gets fixed and 2 more pop up.  It’s always something on the boat!!

I was amazed by our view from the wall.  We were right across from the Austal shipbuilders where they are building LCS vessels for the US Navy.  This LCS-22 was parked right along the river and her baby sister was still being put together.  We heard it takes 6 months from start to finish to make a ship here.

Of course we did some research on these ships and they’re amazing.  Some loopers said they have seen them out in Mobile Bay doing some sea trials.  I really don’t like being close to BIG boats, so I’m glad we didn’t see any underway, but they sure are cool to see from afar!  You can check out this LINK to read more about the LCS vessels.

Aside from staring at those babies, there were tug boats passing by and so many interesting things to see.  I loved our spot for it’s proximity to the action.  I took advantage of mild temps and all the entertainment to catch up on blogging.

 

The next day we did some adjusting of the lines because we were really dealing with TIDES for the first time!!  When we woke up our big fenders were actually below the concrete wall, so we were bumping up against the wall and making some weird squeaking sounds.  Just a few adjustments and we were good.

 

We went walking and exploring around downtown Mobile.  There were lots of little shops and restaurants/bars close by, as well as several museums and parks.  The weather was supposed to be in the mid-70’s through early afternoon, and then drop drastically (obviously, because we were in town!!) and get very windy.  So we took advantage of the warm morning to run around and chase lizards and ogle at palm trees.

 

After it got chilly we took a vote to see which museum we should go to.  Of course the kid museum won because we are outnumbered.  Not the adults’ first choice, but we figured the kids deserved something kid-oriented after all those long days on the rivers.  We went to the Exploreum and it was your basic science center.  Fun, but not amazing.  That is….until we found the upstairs animation exhibit!!  The Exploreum was suddenly way more fun for everyone once we found that exhibit!!  Hayley loved tracing cartoon characters with a light box and the rest of us were into making our own animated movies.

That night the wind really picked up and created quite a chop on the water.  It was a bit nerve wracking with the waves and wind, but we were very secure and Harry Potter kept us distracted until bed.  (Who am I kidding??  The kids always sleep great, no matter where we are or what the weather is.)  I woke up in the middle of the night hearing an engine nearby.  It was loud enough to get me out of bed and peaking out the window.  There was a HUGE freighter right next to our boat, with three tug boats working to keep it under control against the wind and waves.  I watched it for a bit and then realized it was heading to the wall right in front of our boat to park and unload.  I watched as the tug boats worked hard to push it over to the wall, but I knew that 1 wrong move and that freighter would blow right back towards our boat.  I tried to make an escape plan in case something went wrong, but I’m not sure we would have been able to move fast enough to get out of the way.  After worrying about this and watching  through the only 2″x2″ square in the window that wasn’t fogged over for about half an hour I finally figured we were safe enough and went back to bed.  Here was our morning view…

 

And later another one came right by…

 

It was sunny but chilly and still very windy–there was no way we could push off that wall if we wanted to, so we bundled up and headed back out on the town.  We came across a big festival in the park, hit up the last 5 minutes of the farmer’s market (only cherry tomatoes and sweet potatoes left), and visited the Mobile Police Museum.

 

We took a lunch break at a local brewery.  The kids loved eating from the taco truck and playing games outdoors.  We loved the relaxed atmosphere.  Serda was a fun place!!

 

After lunch we checked out the Mobile Carnival Museum.  Turns out that Mobile holds the record for the most consecutive annual celebrations of Mardi Gras and NOT New Orleans.  Mardi Gras actually started in Mobile in 1868 and has been celebrated every single year since.  Our tour guide taught us how Carnival is focused around the most elite and established families in the area and is actually like a hierarchy of royalty in the Mobile area.

 

After we left the Carnival museum we were ready to burn off some energy in the chilly temps before heading back to the boat for the night.

Tomorrow we are looking forward to moving through Mobile Bay and continuing south!  Thanks for reading and following along!!