November 7 - 8 / Day 170 - 171 / Tensas River anchorage to Mobile, Alabama / 47.8 NM

Tuesday : The plan was to take Millie to shore at sunrise.  We woke up to the thickest fog we've seen yet. 

Fog is just beginning to lift

Lifting a bit more

I had heard from a Looper buddy that he found a hunter's cabin about a mile from our boat in the same river and the hunter was receptive to letting a dog walk about there.  When the fog eased a bit Millie and Tim headed upriver.  We finally found the cabin, there was a boat out front and a campfire going.  I shut off the engine and yelled good morning to raise someone.  I could not get anyone to respond and I was not going to walk on someone's hunting cabin property without permission.  We found out later that the guy probably would have been cool with it. . .but it was also reported that there was a 14' alligator seen near his property the day before.  We let Millie know there was a place to do her business on board without a problem.  She decided to hold it and we went on our way.  We entered the port of Mobile about noon and there was lots of commercial traffic throughout.

 Later, crossing Mobile Bay, there were flocks of birds everywhere.

About an hour later we arrived at Dog River Marina - our destination for the next couple of nights.

 

One of our dock neighbors

Evening view off our port 

Millie was quite relieved to make it to shore.  AC and Jim from Our Plan are staying at Turner Marine next door getting some repairs done.  We all went to dinner at Wintzell's Oyster House it was "crazy good."

Wednesday :  We are docked on a pier along a river with a tidal current.  This morning a 45' power boat left and then a 65' power yacht was going to parallel park (for lack of a better description).  It was a tricky maneuver given the current, boat size and dock space.  We had wished the marina asked us to move our boat forward.  In the midst of docking a line was cast from the docking boat and secured to the piling.   When the first attempt had to be aborted, the captain asked the marina dockhand to release his line, but it had been pulled so tight he could not budge it free to release it.  The power yacht could not pull away from the dock and was drifting down on to Observer.  I rushed out with my knife to cut the line.  At the last minute the 65' boat released his end and was able to back away without hitting us.  Their second attempt at docking was much less dramatic and successful.

It's our 31st year wedding anniversary. This whole year is special. . . so we got the courtesy car and went to Super Walmart to provision.  The highlight of the day was our return visit to Wintzells Oyster House for dinner - we asked for the same waitress 'Pinky' and had a fun meal with Paige, Mike & Donna (Donna's last night). Alice asked Pinky to take a photo with her - several takes and cameras later 'Pinky & Alice'. 

Awful of Alice, but Pinky looks great!