Flooding at the "Lock 1 anchorage"
Over night the river rose another 3 feet.
Flooding was expected to get worse over the next 3 to 5 days.
Entering Mobile Harbor
The next generation of U. S. Naval ships being built in Mobile.
At last, sea level and seawater, after over 5 months and nearly 3,000 miles we entered Mobile Bay. By 7 a.m. we had lifted anchor and again we continued the final 115 mile leg of our journey down the Tombigbee River to Mobile with "Holiday VII" in the lead. We saw very few boats on the water: 3 beating their way up-river against the current, and only one other boat (a sailboat) on our way south today.
We were now days ahead of the pack of other boats headed south who are now bottled up in the marinas and anchorages behind us because of the flooding situation. In fact, because we have moved so quickly, we are now back on our original schedule, despite our extended stay in Demopolis.
At about 3 p.m. the Mobile sky-line rose in the distance and a little while later we began making our way through its busy harbor. We passed by a number of barges and tows, large ships, ships in dry dock, and even an experimental ship recently commissioned by the government to combat pirates.
"Reflection" also cruised past the waterfront convention center, a new maritime center, and the Carnival Cruise Lines ship terminal. About a mile further we finally entered the open waters of Mobile Bay. Salt water at last! After all these months on inland waters, we felt in more familiar territory even though we were almost 3,000 miles away from our starting point at home in Barnegat Bay.
After traveling a few more miles down Mobile Bay we turned into the Dog River on the west side of the bay. We all had reservations at Dog River Marina for tonight and tomorrow, but we noticed that the marina was jammed with boats that had sought refuge here from Tropical Storm Ida and had not yet left. Despite the crowded conditions, space was found for us, and we finally got tied up before dark.
Instead of going out for dinner as we had all previously planned, we decided to have pizza delivered to our boat, and welcomed Richard, and Sallyann and Andrew aboard for cocktails to celebrate our successful journey together. Richard turned out to be a fantastic conversationalist. He lives in Memphis, Tennessee, but travels south to Marathon, Florida for the winter. He and his wife own a travel company from which he has recently retired, but where his wife still works. She joins him when her schedule permits, but he often moves the boat himself, and really seems to enjoy it. Since he has done the trip to the Keys so many times, he had lots of advice for us, and we are very thankful to have met him and for sharing his Tombigbee and Gulf waters expertise.
We were now days ahead of the pack of other boats headed south who are now bottled up in the marinas and anchorages behind us because of the flooding situation. In fact, because we have moved so quickly, we are now back on our original schedule, despite our extended stay in Demopolis.
At about 3 p.m. the Mobile sky-line rose in the distance and a little while later we began making our way through its busy harbor. We passed by a number of barges and tows, large ships, ships in dry dock, and even an experimental ship recently commissioned by the government to combat pirates.
"Reflection" also cruised past the waterfront convention center, a new maritime center, and the Carnival Cruise Lines ship terminal. About a mile further we finally entered the open waters of Mobile Bay. Salt water at last! After all these months on inland waters, we felt in more familiar territory even though we were almost 3,000 miles away from our starting point at home in Barnegat Bay.
After traveling a few more miles down Mobile Bay we turned into the Dog River on the west side of the bay. We all had reservations at Dog River Marina for tonight and tomorrow, but we noticed that the marina was jammed with boats that had sought refuge here from Tropical Storm Ida and had not yet left. Despite the crowded conditions, space was found for us, and we finally got tied up before dark.
Instead of going out for dinner as we had all previously planned, we decided to have pizza delivered to our boat, and welcomed Richard, and Sallyann and Andrew aboard for cocktails to celebrate our successful journey together. Richard turned out to be a fantastic conversationalist. He lives in Memphis, Tennessee, but travels south to Marathon, Florida for the winter. He and his wife own a travel company from which he has recently retired, but where his wife still works. She joins him when her schedule permits, but he often moves the boat himself, and really seems to enjoy it. Since he has done the trip to the Keys so many times, he had lots of advice for us, and we are very thankful to have met him and for sharing his Tombigbee and Gulf waters expertise.
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