No spiders in salt water!?! Mobile 11/17 to 11/20

We have been on the rivers since September 18, 2012 when we left Chicago. Two full months on rivers of one shape or another, of anchorages (a new concept), of crappy marinas and surprisingly beautiful marinas, and most of all, amazing things to see.

We traveled through these states so far: Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi. We traveled 2959 miles and used 2273 gallons of gas so far. We are getting a little better than a mile per gallon overall, with better mileage when we travel slower.

We entered a new stage of the journey on November 17 when we entered Mobile Bay. As if to celebrate a new beginning, the sun came out and the weather got warmer. We can wear shorts again! At least for a few hours a day.

New stages require new knowledge. Did you know there are no spiders in salt water? No sir. No spiders. The bane of our existence in the Great Lakes cannot tolerate salt. Go figure. We haven't seen a spider since we arrived.

The Mobile River leading into Mobile Bay is brackish which means the fresh water from the rivers combine with salt water from the Gulf creating strata in the water. It isn't just lightly salted, although it tastes that way. It is layers of fresh and salty water. Interesting.

Another fun bit of knowledge: we have to tie the boat up different than in fresh water. You loop a line over two poles one on each end, then you spring the middle cleat forward and backwards. This allows the boat to go up and down with the tide. Mobile Bay doesn't have much of a tide we are told. In darker phases of the moon like we are in now it only goes up and down about half a foot. In a fuller moon it goes up and down as much as a foot. You can tell it changes because the fenders are in different places when you come back to the boat!

Our friends who are more familiar with salt water are thrilled to be back in their comfort zone. They will probably think my interest in this topic is silly. In fact, they laugh at us for not knowing these things. Michael on One September drew us a nice picture of how to tie up the boat - we are very grateful! But our Lake Erie friends understand our curiosity. This is very different!

There are also different critters. We see pelicans and don't see no-see-ums. We are told there are gators although we haven't seen any yet - too cold. Other folks have seen dolphins but not us yet.

Five rivers converge into Mobile Bay so water is only a short distance away from anywhere we go. Water vistas are different too. Water is quite shallow in the bay except in the channels. Rusty went swimming this morning off a boat ramp and never actually swam. He just walked the entire distance to as far as I could throw the stick!

NOTE: We learned something new the other day. The guy in the gas shack says there used to be a gator across the river who has been known to eat dogs. So no more swimming in the river for Rusty! Poor Rusty.

We entered Mobile Bay on Saturday afternoon. The sun blazed, we stripped off layer after layer until we tentatively put on shorts. It couldn't be that warm, we thought, so we kept jackets handy waiting for the cold blast from the north that would surely come. It did not. How astounding!

Mobile looks different than other cities. It is spread out. There are few tall buildings but lots of ship works along the Mobile River into the Bay.

Austal is a combination of an Australian and Alabama ship builder building ships for the US Navy. One ship has a really pointed bow, probably some sort of stealth deal we guess.

 The other boat looks like a jet boat on steroids. It is made of steel, painted grey (or steel color!) and outfit for warfare or defense activities close to shore. It is pretty cool!

A nice waterfront (we haven't been there yet).

 Here is our little gang steaming out of the river into the bay.

At a certain point our little group separated. One September went to Eastern Shore Marina in Fairhope on the eastern side of the bay and the other three boats went to Dog River Marina on Dauphin Island on the western shore. This is the entrance to the Dog River.

 Pretty boardwalk out to a gazebo at the Mobile Yacht Club.

 Pelicans everywhere.

This guy is fishing on the other side of the Dog River and having a heck of a time shooing the pelicans away from his bait. He waved at us later but he sure looked frustrated. By the way, just because we think it is warm does not mean the locals think it is warm. Notice he is bundled up like it is freezing out! It is about 65 degrees - a heat wave to us.

 Sareanna moving into the gas dock at Dog River Marina.

The marina is big, part of a string of about 5 marinas along this shore. There are lots of loopers here and at Turners Marina next door. Charlie Crawford from Bama Belle keeps his boat next door on the other side of the Mobile Yacht Club basin. We can see it from here!

Jim and Joy on Jim's Joy are docked next to us tied to a wall across the dock. Sareanna got a slip. Guess who he is docked next to? You will never guess... Ya-Ting!! They were here when we arrived.

Somehow as they moved on down the river to make new friends as Kermit suggested, they got here before we did. Just our luck. We haven't seen them yet. It is just ironic, isn't it? You would think there would be some sort of Karma for his behavior but so far nothing. He is not ankle deep in a mud pile or sunk off a shallow. The winter is young yet!!

Thanks to Larry for his great comment: "There is a problem I have with taking otherwise beautiful pictures of boating scenes when there is an IDIOT'S boat in frame."  Amen Larry!

We ran into The Zone when we arrived. They left the next day to drive to Tampa for Thanksgiving and Sareanna left too to drive back to New Jersey. Both boats will be worked on while they are gone. The Zone is on the dry right now. Imagine climbing that ladder every night!This is a 52 Jefferson. Isn't it pretty? It sure looks big when it is out of the water. That's ok, it looks big in the water too!

This marina has a huge repair operation. There are four huge sheds. On a workday there are at least 20 mechanics wandering from boat to boat. We finally saw mechanics on Monday for an evaluation. Kermit sent them an email or rather a series of emails outlining all the little things we want to have looked at while we are here. So on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday we had experts crawling all over the boat. I left to go to the gas shack because there was no place to sit. On Wednesday I went grocery shopping for a couple of hours just to get out.

Here is a list of the things we got done. We still have a few things to do that will be addressed on Monday and Tuesday next week. Kermit is helping with this narrative:

• Generator - We hate to keep talking about this but it is still a problem. The verdict is still out but we think we have hit upon the solution. Reese (the mechanic) has 50 years of experience with generators and electrical systems at Dog River. He is the go-to person for mega yachts. We are not a mega yacht but Dog River gave us mega yacht service. Someone up the river thought they had a solution but evidently not so much. So Reese returned it to factory specs and re-balanced everything. 
• Found a minor oil leak in the remote oil filter lines - repaired now
• New impellers, oil change, and filters
• New belts
• 2 new radiator caps
• 4 new AGM batteries - we were having trouble with the carbon monoxide detectors going off because the batteries were getting week. The 3 main batteries were almost 3 years old plus we having been running the boat a lot with this trip. 
• Overboard discharge - The Bahamas do not have pump out stations in most islands so cruising boats need to have the ability to pump out overboard in an outgoing tide. Sounds icky but salt water boats already have this built in. We don't. Then when you return to the US you have to demonstrate that there is a lock on the mechanism so you can't discharge in US waters. The mechanism requires a through-hull fitting and a connection to the dark water waste tank - translation: they have to poke a hole in the side of the boat with switches connected to the waste tank that sits in the bottom of our boat. 
• The front head makes an awful noise which means the toilet needs to be rebuilt. 
• Front rail needs to be replaced or re-welded. This might or might not get done at Dog River depending on whether the welding expert returns from his sick bed on Monday. We'll see. In the meantime, the railing is very shaky after the incident where we pulled down the railing when departing Port St. Charles Marina in St. Charles Missouri. 

Back to the adventure! On Saturday after arrival, we went to dinner at the Mobile Yacht Club across the street from the marina. Dinner was amazing!!

Evidently the chef was sick of working at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse and decided the quiet life of a yacht club was more her speed. So we benefited from the best meal in a long time. We even had dessert! Some sort of chocolate brownie ice cream thing that just melted in our mouths. Either that or we really needed a great meal after the Red Barn and Bobby's Fish Camp. I think it was just delicious.

Dick and Deanna on Sareanna left on Sunday to drive back to New Jersey for Thanksgiving. Michael and Judy on One September left on Monday to fly back to Virginia Beach. Both will return on Tuesday 11/27.

In the meantime, on Saturday night Jim and Joy had visitors. Their friends George and Mary Jo drove down to visit for a few days. Great folks!!! We had a blast with them. Just our kind of folks!!! They laughed and laughed about Rusty's "tumor" and our ignorance as northerners about ticks. All in good fun.

Six of us piled into George and MaryJo's car on Sunday to meet Michael and Judy in Fairhope for the day. They had a special Christmas open house in the town. Such a pretty town! On the other side of the bay with a great sunset.

Fairhope is decorated for Christmas only if you think Christmas includes beautiful flowers everywhere with twinkly lights. It is a very beautiful town with lots of cute shops, not just touristy but upscale shops for real people who live there. Fairhope was named a great place to retire recently by some magazine. Famous people from Fairhope include Jimmy Buffet, author Upton Sinclair, actress and writer Fannie Flagg, Winston Groom author of Forrest Gump and Bob Baumhower a famous football player who has two restaurants in the area.

We wandered around the town and enjoyed the warm sunshine, good food and cute stores. I found a consignment shop and bought a bunch of long sleeve shirts and a great Eileen Fisher vest. I don't care what anyone says. I am COLD.

Michael enjoying the sun after a great lunch at the Windmill Market.

 Kermit caught the Browns game during lunch. They lost in overtime. Darn.

 Musicians playing on the corners. Notice the New Orleans style railings? The town has that feel.

 The is the French Quarter - little shops down an alley with music.

They draw an interesting clientele here. Combo hippy, artist, rich folks.

 More iron work in the French Quarter.

 Sunset on One September after visiting Fairhope.

 George and Mary Jo fit in perfectly with this crazy crowd.

We bummed around on Monday with mechanics, mostly hanging out, then had a great dinner on Jim's Joy with George and MaryJo. Joy made pork tenderloin, mashed potatoes, veges, and brownies for dessert. Plus lots of laughs!!

George and Mary Jo left on Tuesday mid-day and Jim and Joy left on Wednesday morning to go to Orange Beach. So we are here without our little merry band. There are other loopers here: Irish Attitude, Headquarters, Emory El (the boat towing a sailboat we saw at Columbus Marina), Young America (from Columbus Marina), and Assisted Living. Everyone is leaving at different times and in different stages of repair/refreshment.

Next up: we visit with Charlie from Bama Belle and see more interesting stuff, plus an overview of the next stage of this trip. We respond to some interesting questions from readers about the next month or two. Have a great Thanksgiving!!