Yea, salt

We made it to Dog River Marina on Mobile Bay yesterday afternoon.  After several long days we are ready for a rest so will be staying here for at least two days.  After Demopolis Marina we traveled 71.3 miles to Bashi Creek where we stayed two years ago.  There were a total of 6 boats in the creek and we ended up rafting with Alison Leigh, a beautiful Nordic Tug.  We had to back up about a hundred yards up the creek to match up with them.  For those that know about old, single-engine trawlers they don't like to back up straight but I learned a few tricks and to my own amazement we backed all the way... like I knew what I was doing.  If I tried backing that far again without making a fool of myself I would be surprised.

From Bashi Creed we blasted off to Three Rivers Lake.  One lock and 83.1 miles later we anchored in the lake after a 400 yard run up a narrow channel with overhanging trees just before sunset.  Beautiful.  

These long runs are not typical for us but there are three factors.  1.  Good anchorages are far and few between on the river.  2.  We wanted to keep with a group that we knew for safety and 3. We,  I mean I am so damn sick of the rivers I could just scream.  When we did the loop last time we did the rivers last.  If they would have been first I would have been turned off by the loop.  But then again when we ran the rivers last time we were fresh from Georgian Bay, North Channel and Lake MI.  Perhaps doing the rivers after spending weeks in gods country was too much of a contrast.

From the Three Rivers Lake anchorage, we headed down the Mobile River 79.6 miles to Dog River.  When finally leaving the river in Mobile it was a great sight to see the horizon over the Gulf of Mexico.  After a 13 mile run down the bay we arrived at the Dog River marina where the Belle was fueled up for our next adventure sometime in the next day or two.

The next stage it the 325 miles to Carabelle where we start the Gulf crossing to Tarpon Springs.  The 170 miles to Tarpon is a nonstop 20 hour slog.  There are a scant few ports along the way and the ones that there are there are not really suitable for boats of our size so it's a one shot deal.  The weather has to be just right to make the journey.  Luckily there is a fellow that has made it his hobby to track the weather and water conditions for people doing the crossing.  While we were able to make the crossing right away last time there can be a hold on crossings for days at a time.  Sometimes it can stretch into a couple of weeks or more.  Right now there is a hold on crossings for at least 5 days where solid predictions stop so we'll monitor daily and probably time our ICW stage accordingly.  If you have ever been to Carabelle you probably know that there are better places to get stuck.