Woke to a clear but cloudy morning and unrafted from General Fun and weighed anchor to travel slowly back down the Bama River. Was a very peaceful anchorage in the forest with only a few fishing boats traveling past us up the river that evening.
As we travel down the TennTom the river widens as more small rivers and creeks join the TennTom.
Along the way, we passed two large scrap metal operations using cranes to transfer the material from semi truck to barge.
We also saw out first brown pelicans cruising the river. They like to fly behind the tows and fish in their wake, and successfully caught their breakfast.
Today we had a bumper crop of barges and tows. We passed four going north and one going south, each time contacting the tow operator to find out whether we pass on the one or the two.
The shoreline becomes more lowlands with marshy grasses and cypress trees the closer we get to Mobile Bay, leaving the bluffs and the farmland beyond behind.
As we approached the 14 Mile Railroad bridge which must open for all boat traffic, we encountered a boat and barge traffic jam. A very slow freight train must have had the bridge closed for awhile as there were two barges and tows waiting south of the bridge and 6 pleasure crafts and the tow we were following and then us. Luckily the train passed and the bridge opened to let the pleasure craft, including us through and then the south bound tow came behind us as the north bound tows waited there turn. Was nice to not be held up at the bridge.
Two miles later, we pulled off into Tensas Cut Off and then into Briar Creek to anchor. A nice easy day for us and we were anchored by lunch. Bill took the drone up to get shots of the anchorage.
We took a nap and caught up on chores. Had an early dinner and relaxed before we got to bed. Nice to be on our normal cruising routine.
Day 180 November 19. Our last day on the TennTom and on to Gulf Shore AL. Miles 48. Total Miles 5584
A beautiful sunny cool morning greeted us this morning.
We weighed anchor and headed out of Briar Creek and Tensas Cut and then back into the TennTom for our last 12 miles on this river system.
Had a gorgeous sunrise as we traveled through the cypress lowlands and marshes of the upper reaches of Mobile Bay. The chart shows all the waters that feed into the bay. This area is one of the largest intact wetland systems in the US.
This marshland changes as we get closer to the Port of Mobile, which is the 12th busiest port in America. Barges line the shoreline for miles. Storage silos, loading cranes, freighters, tows and barges, and ship repair yards dominate this port. There was even a cruise ship.
You could see some of Mobile's skyscrapers beyond the port.
Passing through the port we leave the TennTom River behind and enter Mobile Bay proper. The bay is 8-10 miles wide and 25 miles long. We traveled in the main shipping channel for a while with not much company. We watched two fishing boats ply the waters accompanied by multitudes of gulls and pelicans.
Then we passed a large freighter coming into port. We felt kinda small!
Later we saw two shrimpers with their arms and nets extended.
Even got to see the Mobile Lighthouse.
We enjoyed the bottle nosed dolphin in the bay. We had four dolphin surf in our bow for about 3 miles and then four smaller ones play in our wake.
Leaving the main shipping we headed southeast into the Bon Secour section of Mobile Bay. As we got closer to shore we could see the mainland was lined with homes on the bay. Could also see the large condominiums on the Bon Secour peninsula that juts put into the bay.
Turning due east we entered the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway with its pine forests, homes and marsh grasses.
About 10 miles up the Intracoastal we pulled into Homeport Marina in Gulf Shore, AL, fueled up and pulled into our slip. Once settled we explored the marina and took a nice long hot shower! Bill has already scoped out Lulu’s Restaurant and Gift Shop. Lulu is Jimmy Buffet’s sister and this is one of the places on Bill’s must stops for the Loop.
