After all the drama the morning at Bobby’s Fish Camp, we were happy to get to a secluded anchorage.  We went about 66 miles statute miles to Alabama River Cut Off anchorage.  Narrow anchorage with plenty of length for numerous boats.  Was lovely.

We had dinner aboard Alysana during which a great thunderstorm passed by.  Let up a little on the dinghy ride back to the boat.

Saw our first alligator the next morning!  It was small and a little ways away, so I couldn’t get a good picture of it.  Departed the anchorage at 7:05am in a bit of fog.  Had about 1/2 mile visibility.  Then about a 1/4 mile visibility.  Around mile marker 45, we were in pea soup.  A few hours later, it thankfully lifted!  Most of the tows hang out during the fog, so we didn’t have too much commercial traffic.  As we got further south, that increased.  Man, some of these dudes get close.

We were soon on the Mobile River, and the scenery was very different.

Forever Friday and Heartbeat trucking down Mobile River.

When we entered into Northern Mobile Bay, it was like being back home with the container ships, cranes and traffic.  With Heartbeat in the lead, Forever Friday taking second, and Alysana bringing up the rear, we were contacted on the VHF radio.  A tug operator stated it would be “best” for us to hug the east bank, as he was bringing up a big ship and they would be “moving a lot of water around.”  We didn’t need a bigger hint.  Hard to port and hug the east side of the harbor!

Once we got south of the working part of the harbor, the sea opened up.  It was so nice to have a horizon without view of land!

A bit of a hobby horse of a ride through the north bay, complete with asshole boaters throwing up gigantic wakes.  Grrrrrrrr.  Arrived Dog River Marina @ 3:05pm.  Right after we tied up (to wood pilings on an long dock), I went below to take a shower.  I heard commotion, but couldn’t discern what was going on.  When I got outside, I found out one of the assholes who waked us (and a number of other boats to include a commercial fishing boat actively fishing) had been so unable to go easy on the throttle, he pulled a 15 foot wood piling from the dock while backing to tie off to the other side of the long dock we were on.  It somewhat crumpled the dock in parts too.  You can see the piling still tied to his port bow line in the water.

Dinghied across the way for dinner which was great.  Grabbed the courtesy car the next day and did some provisioning.  Did some navigational planning, laundry and other chores.  Hosted the crew of Heartbeat for Happy Hour.  Went to bed to the sound of rain on the boat.

Next day, we went to the USS Alabama and museum.  This was spectacular.  There is access to almost every part of the boat, and excellent descriptions of each area.  We really enjoyed this.  The Alabama and her crew impressively fought some very important battles during WWII.

Started raining on us pretty well as we left the museum.  Got back to the boat and were treated to an incredible lightning storm.  This is not weather we see at home!

Took off this morning ~ 9:15 in some fog after taking on 111 gallons of diesel.  No traffic, except dolphins!  I was so giddy to see dolphins again; we see them all the time at home, but we hadn’t seen any for months.  Had a lovely crossing across the bay.  The sun came out and was a beautiful backdrop to the white billowy clouds.

Finally hit the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway!  We put a bottle of champers in the fridge!  Arrived at Bon Secour South Fork at 1:20 and were welcomed by dolphins.  Relatively shallow anchorage.  We set the hook, then hopped in the dinghy and scouted around with our handheld sonar unit and found a better area.  Picked up the hook and reset it a bit south.  Lovely anchorage with dolphins around.  Got my first bite by a no-see-um.  I hate biting bugs.  They should really be eradicated from the earth.

At sunset, we hosted the crew (Jay and Barbara) of the Canadian boat “The Blessing” aboard FF for champers & appies.  We first met them a few hundred miles ago, and run into them from time to time…a really nice couple.

Sunset over “Bon Secour.”  Translation: “Safe Harbor.”

More weather coming tomorrow, so plan to do a short hop to Gulf Shores, AL and tuck in at Homeport Marina.  Happy Friday Eve!  Cheers!  M&M