Into Mobile Bay.

To Dog River Marina & Mobile

I forgot to mention that yesterday we saw a large alligator just before we reached the last lock. 'Jammin Jane' had seen it crossing the water in front of them & called us to watch for it. We saw it gliding up river near the riverbank & 'Knot Sew Easy' behind us saw it also – it was well over 6 ft & stayed on the surface the whole time.

We went through our last lock today which gives us a total of 115 locks – some were more exciting than others but they all add a dimension to cruising not found at sea. We kept a lookout for alligators all day but no luck. It was another day of twisting & turning along the river with one turn making almost 350degrees There were very few dwellings as we were basically travelling on a river that was running through huge swamp areas on both sides. Any houses we did see were on very tall stilts almost 20ft off the ground. There are unseen towns set well back from the river which we can only guess about from our chart plotter. We stopped in a large anchorage for the night along with 6 other boats. This river – Tensas River was where over 300 Liberty ships were stored after the end of World War 2 . Next morning at 5am ish we viewed the forecast & listened to the small boat warning for Mobile Bay predicting strong winds 15 – 30 knots, rain & waves chopping up in the shallow Bay. So we decided to sit tight until we heard an improved forecast & experienced an improved weather window so decided go for it. The river was really only rain & mist but it was Mobile Bay That we were worried about. We passed under the last bridge giving us a total of over 370 bridges so far. The fog & mist lifted as we entered Mobile Bay. This was a huge port – lots of cranes, industry, repair yards & haul out slips for large ships & a huge naval base where we saw the latest, high speed, very futuristic looking vessels being built. They have a 'tri – hull' look. The Mobile Bay crossing began calmly then the waves began to rise with increasing wind & after we had made our 90 degree turn to cross the Bay towards Dog River Marina we got slammed by the cross seas & took a few waves over the bow & even one over the upper bridge. Haven't had that happen since being off the coast of Australia in the open sea a few years ago. Viki & Chuck off 'Patriot', whom we travelled with earlier on the Mississippi were there to greet us all & invited us for 'docktails' at their home after 5pm. 'Jammin' Jane' have to go back to Chicago for a family funeral so they had rented a car and ferried us all there. We hope to see them back here before we fly out.

Dog River Marina is our stopping place for now. We plan to put the boat up on the hard for a few months while we fly back to Aus. Our 6 month visas will soon run out & we had to book return tickets when we left Aus. We have some doctors appointments to keep as well.

We have spent the last few days in the marina cleaning, packing, resorting the boat for storage & doing numerous little jobs that we haven't managed to get to until now. It's been wet & miserable as well. Today we got the courtesy car (the sun has come out) & drove out for breakfast to ihop with Bob & Liz & then onto the very new Mobile Gulf Quest Maritime Museum. We spent most of the morning at this 'hands on ' place trying to beat the school tour groups to try out all the 'gizmos'. We had docktails & a final cards night with Bob & Liz who leave tomorrow for another Marina further ahead. Liz & I both had birthdays this month & wanted to celebrate but the restaurant was only open Thursday to Sunday. It was sad to see them go we had been together off & on for 8 weeks.

We were invited to spend a day touring the area with Evelyn & Clark off 'Sea Moss' – they have a rental car as they intend to drive to Galveston tomorrow. We drove to Fairhope – a small but tidy town with some lovely buildings. It was Veterans Day & a group of locals had made 3000 ceramic poppies on stalks which they had poked into the ground in the park. I spoke to the organiser who had copied the idea from the London display at the Tower of London in 2014. They are sold off later & donate the money to Veterans association. We walked on the pier (but the restaurant/snack bar was closed) and watched the locals tossing circular nets out to catch small fish (none were successful while we were watching). We did find a small insignificant (not even a name outside) eating place where we had great catfish for lunch. We then walked back into town to the local icecream place 'Mr Gene's Beans' (why that name ??) and to the Historic Museum which was closed. It's a holiday so it's closed and the tourists are left to wander about. We checked out a marina & saw some fellow Loopers then drove into the grounds of a very up market Mobile school called Spring Hill College with beautiful buildings & oak tree lined drives. We completed our evening with a meal at 'ihop' yet again.

Today we did some more boat sorting & repaired the shower. We expect the boat to be hauled Friday or Saturday. Chuck & Viki have invited us to stay Saturday & they will take us to catch the plane back to LA on Sunday. It goes to Houston, then to Dallas then to LA.