Sunday, August 5

Gas stop - Bobby's Fish Camp - Tombigbee River

Backwoods Alabama

Mobile Harbor

Mobile, AL.

Black wall of clouds over Mobile Bay

It was clear that tropical storm Eduardo would miss the Gulf Coast and so we set off at 7:00 am to begin our 213-mile trip down the Tombigbee River to Mobile Bay. Wide, deep and meandering, this stretch is a natural river that requires minimal dredging. Even close to Mobile the shoreline is uninhabited. There is only one marina, the rustic Bobby's Fish Camp, where we stopped to fuel. Talk about the middle of nowhere! A couple of good things about the Tombigbee - there is very little boat traffic, few go-slow areas and virtually no debris floating in the river. We made good time. Twenty miles upstream from Mobile Bay, the Tombigbee and Alabama Rivers come together to form the Mobile River. It is here that we spotted our first pelican. We have had enough of backwoods Alabama and are ready to move onto the Gulf. Before doing that, we had to transit Mobile Harbor with ocean freighters, barge tows and tour boats clogging the waterway. Beyond the harbor is Mobile Bay, a shallow body of water which we had to cross to reach Orange Beach, AL. As we entered the bay, a massive black wall of clouds headed toward us from the north. We were able to duck into the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway as the heavy rains and gusts hit. Having an enclosed steering station is a lot better than being caught out on a pontoon - something we saw plenty of as we passed down the waterway. They pay no more attention to the weather than some Clear Lake boaters (you know who you are ........) While we did not end our longest day dry, we were very pleased to secure the boat and plug in the AC at 6:50 pm