We are now in The Gulf of Mexico!

At our last posting, we had arrived at Grand Harbor Marina at the beginning of the Tenn-Tom waterway, 450 miles from the entrance of the Gulf of Mexico. We have been on the inland rivers since leaving Chicago and look forward to completing this phase of our journey. The inland waterway which connects Chicago to Mobile is almost 1300 miles long and includes the following Rivers – Chicago, Sanitary Canal, Des Plains, Illinois, Mississippi, Ohio, Cumberland, Tennessee, Tenn-Tom, Black Warrior, Alabama, and Mobile Rivers. After many weeks traveling the 1300 miles of the inland waterways, we arrived in Mobile Bay and the Gulf of Mexico on Saturday, November 7th along with Hurricane, turned Tropical Storm, IDA. As we post this update on the blog, IDA has passed over us and is now headed NE into the Carolinas after a lot of wind and rain at our marina in the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway.
Before leaving Grand Harbor Marina on October 30th, along with John & Dottie on “Dar Sea” and Ron & Marji on “Meander” we spent a sobering day touring the battlefields of Shiloh National Military Park where over 23,000 Union and Confederate soldiers lost their lives in the Civil War as the Union forces began the campaign to recapture the Mississippi Valley. The day spent at Shiloh (the sight of one of America’s National Cemetery ) was as impressive as our time spent at Arlington Cemetery while in Washington early in the trip.
We are always amazed at the sights we see coming down the rivers - from white cliffs that are majestic to rural houses on the edge of the eroding shore. Our 450 mile trip from Grand Harbor Marina at the entrance of the Tenn-Tom to Mobile Bay took seven days and included a good mix of marinas and anchorages as well as the final 12 locks on our journey. Our first night out was on anchor on Bay Springs Lake just before our first lock at Whitten Dam. We rafted with “Dar Sea” and “Meander” and had a “pot luck” Halloween dinner with no tricks, but many treats (if we count the good food and wine). We departed early on Sunday the 1st, traveled through six locks to one of the most rural marinas we have visited. The next three pictures are of the marked channel off the river to Aberdeen Marina, the Marina/gas station (notice the marina gas at the back and auto gas in the front), and “Meander” in the early morning mist as we departed the marina the following morning. The combination of trees, stumps, and shallow water presented a challenge.
In the last few weeks, this part of Mississippi and Alabama has received a tremendous amount of rain which has resulted in strong currents and debris in the river. This next picture is of the grass and logs which have collected in one of the locks, requiring us to actually dodge debris while attempting to lock through. After 3 more locks and 70 miles, we anchored at Cochrane Cutoff along with 2 other boats already anchored when we arrived. Once again, we rafted with “Dar Sea” and “Meander” for the evening.
The last marina before reaching Mobile is Demopolis Yacht Basin in Demopolis, Alabama at mile 216 of 450 on the Tenn-Tom. For the next few nights, we have no choice but to stay on anchor. Consequently, Demopolis also is the last chance for fuel before arriving in Mobile Bay and is a popular marina for loopers and other boaters headed to Florida. We stayed for two nights, which included sightseeing, and provisioning. This next picture is of all the boats waiting for the lock on Thursday the 5th as the sun was rising. The race is on to find the best places to anchor for the next few nights before arriving in The Gulf.
Because of the recent rains which resulted in strong currents downsteam, we were able to travel almost 90 miles to the Okatuppa Creek for our next anchorage. This next picture is of us in the narrow creek as we anchor for the evening. As we were leaving on the 6th, the fog was thick and actually got thicker in the river, forcing us to “hang around” in the river and hope we didn't meet a tow. This picture is of “Meander” and “Dar Sea” in the fog.
After 143 locks since leaving Charleston, we performed our last lock through at Coffeeville Lock at mile 117 on the Black Warrior River on Friday, November 6th. Pia had the honor of taking us into the lock as Jack handled the lines and took this next picture. We are happy to be close to the Gulf, sandy beaches, and warmer weather. We are happier to be finished with LOCKS!
We arrived in Mobile Bay (last picture below) on Saturday, November 7th with reservations for the weekend at Eastern Shore Marina in the east side of Mobile Bay. On Saturday, we visited Fairhope, Alabama and were looking forward to spending the weekend in this charming seaside village. A little shopping and sight -seeing, even took in a Motorcycle parade, with Santa as the star ! On Saturday evening, we bought fresh shrimp from a local shrimper and had boiled shrimp at the marina with the crews from “Dar Sea” and “Meander”. Dinner was enjoyed by candlelight at a picnic table at the marina. We were awakened early on the 8th by another looper in the marina that advised us that the east of Mobile bay was not the place to be with the approaching Hurricane Ida from the Gulf. We were fortunate to find a marina in Orange Beach on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway which was fairly protected from the approaching downgraded Tropical Storm. The wind from Ida was strong and the rains were intense on Monday and Tuesday. However, not nearly as bad as we had feared !!!! The marina was well protected and our plans are to leave here on Thursday to begin our 250 mile trip along the Panhandle of Florida before crossing the Gulf to the Western coast of Florida. The Blue Angels have a homecoming air show in Pensacola this weekend and we hope to be anchored for the show. We actually saw the Blue Angels while in Annapolis earlier in the trip and am sure we will enjoy the show again!