We woke up at 0600 like usual to prepare for a dawn departure on the final 56 miles of the Inland Water segment of the Great Loop. It was a very peaceful night. The twinkling of the eight other anchor lights off our bow looked like grounded stars. It was cloudy and 48 degrees with a light breeze. The day promised a high of 67 degrees with overcast skies.

The drive down the Mobile River was a study in changing climate and fauna. We began to smell the air getting saltier. The shoreline slowly filled with ground palms and flattened out. The commercial traffic became heavier as we approached our nation’s twelfth largest port (by tonnage).

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Going through downtown Mobile was a treat. The waterway was bustling with workers moving barges, loading cargo, building ships, repairing ships, and a million other tasks. The cruise terminal looked underused, but perhaps those days will return again soon.

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As we left Mobile behind us and entered the bay, we kept a sharp lookout for the dolphins in our wake that so many other boaters have enjoyed. We were disappointed to not see any, but we did have fun watching the pelicans trail us looking for whatever our props brought to the surface.

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In a channel that seemed too narrow (it wasn’t), the huge 650 foot Star Hidra passed on the two whistle at 14 mph on its way into port. As we neared the channel to cut across the bay into Dog River, the north wind picked up a bit and we were feeling three foot swells on our stern.

Here’s the thing about Mobile Bay… it’s shallow… shallower than you think. We were near low tide with a north wind pushing the water out of the bay, so it was really shallow. And it doesn’t take much wind to whip up waves quickly. When we turned the 120 degrees into the channel, those waves were now on our beam and we were rolling. The Dog River channel is only about 100 feet wide. In a blowing sea in a 40 foot boat, it seemed like it was 10 feet wide. Meanwhile, even when we were in the channel, we were showing as little as 5.5 feet of depth.

Oy…

Thankfully, it really was one of those times when the boat was perfectly fine, but the crew was not. We tried some different speeds to see if it would help (it didn’t), but it was an unpleasant few minutes. As we approached the mouth of Dog River, it smoothed out and we prepared to enter Dog River Marina.

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After some fuel, we went to our slip. This was our very first time docking in tidal waters. Instead of floating docks with cleats, there are fixed docks with pilings. The trick is to loop your likes around the pilings with enough slack to account for the tide (1.6 feet) but tight enough to keep the boat in the right place. It might take some practice. Also, since we can’t exit the boat off the aft deck because of the dinghy, we parked bow first. Unfortunately, the dock does not extend far enough to exit the boat at midship like usual, so we are stepping over the railing on the bow to get on and off. We are getting pulled out to replace the zincs, so it will have to do.

The courtesy car was booked, so we walked across the street to the Mobile Yacht Club for dinner. What a gem! I had about a third of a schnitzel that was as big as my head as we enjoyed the panoramic view of Mobile Bay.

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We are excited to begin the salt water portion of the Loop. It will test us again. We just got used to river currents, locks, dead heads, barges, and low bridges. Now we’ll have to learn tides, salt water boat care, and dust off those weather forecasting skills from boating on Lake Michigan. We can do it!

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