Three Rivers Lake to Mobile, AL

Three Rivers Lake to Mobile, AL

Today we planned another long cruising day to stay ahead of the forecast storm for Mobile Bay. Much less fog this morning and a partly cloudy sky warming and clearing in the afternoon and then clouding over again late in the day.

Tows in a fleeting area

More barge traffic today in a very winding part of the Black Warrior River, we can generally see the tows before they can see us and then we call them on the radio for passing instructions. We were surprised twice today with tows rounding a bend in the river at close range. We also saw a log that looked just like an alligator that was moving across the river in front of us and then dove out of site before we could snap a picture.

Winding River segment with sharp bends

The Black Warrior Tombigbee Waterway ends in Mobile at the Government Street Bridge, however the bridge has been removed and replaced with a tunnel. Mobile is a busy international port and ship building area. After our experience last year in Norfolk we knew what to expect, the quiet isolated stream would be replaced with a bustling commercial shipping district in the middle of their work week.

It was nice to enter the open waters of the bay and to cruising more similar to home. We have now completed the river section of the Great Loop and have traversed all of the Illinois River, part of the Mississippi, Ohio, Cumberland, Tennessee, and Yellow Rivers, the Tombigbee Waterway including the Black Warrior River a total of 1278 statute miles from Chicago to Mobile.

Dry Dock with a Light Ship

New  Boat Construction

Mobile Convention Center Downtown

Ship Building

Container Loading