Goodbye River System; Hello Mobile Bay and DOLPHINS; onto Fairhope, AL for Thanksgiving

Days 184 – 189; Nov 20 – 24: November 19th (Sunday) had taken us further down the river system, where we celebrated our last lock until we hit North Carolina. That called for a little champagne toast as we enjoyed Sunflower East Anchorage!

The morning of November 20th (Monday), brought us some challenges. Having left the last lock behind, we were now in tidal waters and under estimated the power of the tide. Over night we swung around and now had 3 anchors tangled around each other….ugh! With a lot of team work and patience, we got them all sorted out and were on our way around 8:30 am. Monday would be about a 5 hour run with our next anchorage in the Tensaw River, just where it branches off of the Mobile River; It was a twisty turny, yet uneventful run…. Let’s just say more of the same! We did pass Bobby’s Fish Camp on the way that was previously a must stop for loopers. With rates at $2.75/foot with no power or services, we decided to pass and anchor out further down river.

Arriving at the anchorage in Tensaw River, it was cloudy with rain arriving in the afternoon. We had 2 anchors down and a stern tie for 3 of the boats; Saga decided to anchor on their own, but joined us for dinner. The stronger winds and rain came after dinner, intensifying overnight. We pulled anchor around 8:00 am on 11/21 (Tuesday) where it was raining on and off. There were cows on the beach…. What?

Legacy’s anchor was up first, just before the skies opened up; Coda was not so lucky and Steve got drenched! We ran from the pilot house the entire day due to the rain, dodging tons of debris from (we are guessing) all the rain raising the water level which re-floated all the junk from the beaches. We aren’t talking just a few sticks or clumps of grass…. We’re talking full size trees and logs! We were happy to reach the end of the river and Mobile Bay/Gulf of Mexico and clear water.

Not being able to secure slips in Mobile, we made the run across Mobile Bay to Fairhope Yacht Club, who could accomodate all 4 boats for our 3 day stay over Thanksgiving.

Mobile was very industrial with tows, container ships, military ships, ship building and oil rigs. We were excited to be out of the river system and into Mobile Bay, but were surprised as to how shallow it was (8-12 feet) with some dangerously shallow spots we needed to avoid.

Check out the video below of our last day on the river.

The shallow made for warmer waters and DOLPHINS! They were super hard to catch on video or photo, but great fun to keep an eye out for. We did get a short shot of them riding in our bow wave and playing ahead us. You might wonder why they ride in the bow wave of a boat. First of all they are very curious animals and want to check out the boats. Second, it’s an energy efficient way to travel with the flow of the water assisting them – faster and farther with less effort. Being playful and curious animals, though, it’s mostly for fun. We sure thought it was!

Thanks to reciprocity with AYC, we stayed at lovely Fairhope Yacht Club and enjoyed a cocktail at their bar where we found our AYC burgee on display with all the other reciprocal clubs, then it was back to the boats for dinner.

Fairhope was a lovely town with a very nice Main Street filled with a variety of shops and restaurants. We particularly enjoyed Panini Pete’s (a Diners, Drive-ins and Dives location) for lunch and Gambino’s for dinner (Italian if you didn’t already guess!). Fairhope also boasts a beautiful waterfront, scenic bluffs & parks, flower filled streets and colorful sunsets on the Mobile Bay. With a couple rental cars, we re-provisioned all of the boats including for our Thanksgiving Dinner. Thanksgiving festivities started at 1:00 pm with ‘’Appetizers in the Adirondacks’ on the yacht club grounds including a tasting of 6 differernt Cabernet Sauvignons chosen by Boris. Dinner was at 3:00 pm aboard Legacy with delicious contributions by all including 2 turkeys, 2 hams, 3 kinds of stuffing and all the other fixings. We were creative with our seating of 12, but no one left hungry and everyone had their favorite things! We all know what happens when turkey and red wine comes together…… tryptophan overdose which enduces sleepiness!

Do you remember the now infamous 1997 Seinfeld episode when Jerry and George scheme to make as woman fall asleep so they can play with her antique toy collection? They feed her a big turkey dinner with lots of gravy and a box of red wine. Tryptophan was specifically mentioned as “that stuff in the turkey that makes you sleepy.” The rest, they say, is history regarding the birth of the tryptophan myth….. It’s just a myth! Of course dinner was followed by football and dessert along with the massive clean up effort.

After 3 days in Fairhope, we are off (11/24) to New Orleans with Coda. We will anchor half way and arrive the evening of 11/25 (our 6 month mark on the Loop). Saga and Lil Sudden will take a couple extra days to get to New Orleans, arriving 11/28.