Good morning Alligator Hunters!!  Did you spy any alligators last night?  We did not.  We were asleep!  hahaha  That means there may have been visitors during the night.  They just didn’t knock on the door.

We were up early and ready to hit the waterway by 7am.

Early morning at the Sunflower Cutoff Anchorage

It looked like a great morning.  A bit of that early morning mist rising from the water.

Always Home in the morning mist – courtesy of the crew from Lorelei IV

We did hit heavy fog intermittently.  Weird that the fog would come and go until you look at the map below.  See the horse shoe curves?  We traveled around the corners and met at the heavy fog locations in these straight spots between the curves.  Makes sense.  Miles and miles of twists and turns.

Fog Curve!!

By 8:30am the sun burned off the fog.  Our goal is to make Mobile by night fall.  79 miles to downtown Mobile and another 6 miles to Dog River.  85 mile day.  Doable.  No locks to contend with.  Just tows, bridges and boat congestion in the downtown area.

Sunflower to Mobile, Alabama

White spots are herons

Alabama Cutoff Anchorage – looks quiet

Black Warrior Tombigbee Waterway Scenery

Look at the blue cloudless skies! Gorgeous day!

As we have experienced before, the Black Warrior-Tombigbee Waterway is joined with other rivers.  The name changes on the charts.  Black Warrior becomes Mobile River.

Alabama River junction with Mobile River

1-10 Bridge over Mobile River

By mid afternoon we were finally approaching mile 0 at downtown Mobile, AL.  We expect a great deal of activity as indicated by all the cruising guides.  We are watchful of the tows, freighters, and barges.

Barges in Mobile River

We saw a few freighters along the water’s edge.  A few more interesting boats as well.

Cemtex Innovation

Austal New High Speed military craft protype

Downtown Mobile skyline

Always Home enters Mobile Bay – courtesy of the Lorelei IV crew

USS Brunswick

USS Shadwell – 1944 – 1988 Serving as a research vessel on Little Sand Island in Mobile Bay

Loading/unloading a freighter –

It is always a surprise to see debris in the river.  Large debris.  We had no problems going around this one.

log in the water

Before we knew it, we were out of the congestion and into Mobile Bay!  About 1 foot waves.  Not too bad.  The wind was picking up and we will need to stay closely within the channel markers to have the deeper water under our keel.  Otherwise, on either side of the suggested channel, the water shallows to less than a foot in many places.

Mobile Bay

Afternoon sentinel keeping an eye on the bay.

We had a very long day.  Glad to be safely docked at the Dog River Marina.  We will be here for several days to rest up from our travels down the rivers,  for performing boat chores and visiting family.

Sunset at Dog River Marina