Dave and Kelly's Boat Trip: Wednesday, October 18

Woke up and took a nice long walk around Dog River Marina, where we stayed for the night, and the four other marinas located nearby. On the way back from our walk, we noticed the marina dog(?) enjoying the sunshine while he took a nap RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE of the marina road; cars needed to go around him to prevent from hitting him! All the while, he just laid there not even flinching; I thought he was dead until he opened one eye!!!

We said goodbye to Dog River Marina and . . .

. . . our Canadian looper friends, John and Susan, from "Eagle Heart", who are taking a side trip to New Orleans. We had such a great time enjoying their company and look forward to when we can meet up once again. Safe travels, friends!

Out into Mobile Bay we go to make the big crossing!

"Rambunctious" continues on the same journey right behind us.

We had some bird friends bid us farewell from the Mobile area!

As we are continuing our twenty-four mile crossing, we see up close,

one of those Navy tunnel-hull ships!

(I know this is a little late now, but if you didn't know, you can click on the pictures in the blog to enlarge each one - better late than never, right?!😉)

We had to make a slight turn and the waves were hitting us in the perfect spot to begin rolling us! Thank goodness this was only for a few miles!

As it should be, the birds really love the shrimp boats!😁

When we are about half-way through our crossing, we see this unique home. Turns out it used to be a lighthouse appropriately known as Middle Bay Lighthouse. The history of this station has a funny story to it: The station was activated in 1885. In 1916 the keeper's wife gave birth to a baby that summer at the station. The keeper brought a dairy cow to the station and corralled it on a section of the lower deck because his wife was unable to nurse the newborn baby! All had to be evacuated when the station survived but was damaged by a hurricane that year. In 1935, the light was automated. Since then, the lens was removed and the station put on the

National Register of Historic Places.

On the horizon I tell Dave that I see a cruise ship, to which he responds that he thinks it's a freighter. I tell him that has to be one REALLY BIG freighter!

AND, we see that Dave is right!

At this point in passing the freighter, we get a call from "Rambunctious" who is now in front of us, saying that this freighter really puts out a massive wake!

Ahead and not too far off our starboard, is this smaller vessel, Columbia.

Captain Dave revs up the engines and prepares to cross the TWELVE-foot wake, while I head to the pilot house to not look at what we're about to cross over. Since we hit the wake straight on, it wasn't any problem, however the bow got a good washing!!! Goodbye, freighter!!!

Out in the distance to our starboard, we see the three-mile long Dauphin Island Bridge that connects mainland Mobile County across the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway to Dauphin Island.

However, we veer to the port side, as we are heading to Florida!🌞 Along the way, we see many oil platforms. In the distance is Gulf Shores, Alabama; where we are headed for the night.

Gulf Shores!

As we get closer to finishing our crossing, all along the channel we view sea nettles. They're a part of the jellyfish family.

We also see over a dozen dolphins, but they are VERY hard to get a photo of.

(So, thanks, Google!!!😁)

LOTS of seagulls want to join us and "Rambunctious"!

Here we are; the end of crossing Mobile Bay! Straight ahead is the Intracoastal Waterway, which is a 3,000 mile inland waterway along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts of the Unites States. It runs from Boston, Massachusettes, all the way to Brownsville, Texas. Some sections of the waterway consist of natural inlets, saltwater rivers, bays, and sounds, while others are artificial canals. It provides us with a navigable route along its length without many of the hazards of travel on the open sea.