Causeway to Mobile River 2005 III
Sunday, July 3, 2005 brint.adams@us.army.mil
This morning was another typical day in the hot and humid paradise of Mobile Bay. I arrived at my put in spot at 5:40 AM, next to the boat launch by the crossroads of the Causeway and the I-10 Interstate in the middle of the bay. It was bearable, but already a warm 82 degrees, clear skies and a slight southwesterly breeze. I made a tactical error by assuming I had enough battery time left on my Forerunner (wrong) and not bringing a backup watch.
So, I started out with a rising tide, which after getting over to Delvan Bay, followed me all the way up to Spanish River with the help of the the following breeze. I tried to hit it pretty hard all the way to the Pontoon Saloon, which was my first short water break at 5.6 miles and probably about 1:02. There were quite a few osprey hanging around the several nests along the west bank of Delvan. This morning, there were several fishing boats cruising on up to their fishing holes as I turned up the left side fork into the Spanish River. When I arrived at the Pontoon Saloon, there were three fishing boats tied up, so I thought I might find someone hanging around the deck. I stopped only briefly in the shade, but no one was around, or they were still asleep (I doubt), or maybe eating breakfast.
Anyway, I moved on up the Spanish, passing alot of floating and new lodged tree debris out in the middle. There was a pair of fishermen working the high electric line piling at the turn into the Mobile River, as I slowed to take a drink. After pleasantries, I started down the Mobile with only a little current help. There was not much river traffic on this July 4th weekend, so I hung out in the middle, trying to get as much current help as was there.
I stopped at my usual shade spot, under the highrise bridge for a quick drink and moved ahead down into the normally congested industrial area of downtown Mobile. There were workmen painting a large platform rig, which was up out of the water on barges, and further down a couple of tankers, raised out of the water getting a new paint job, as well. Through this area, I counted paddle strokes, to get an idea of how long a half hour was, so I could take scheduled water stops.
While passing the cruise line terminal, I finally came across a tug pushing a single barge upriver towards me, as I diagonally crossed over from northwest to southeast. But, other than that and dodging all of the floating debris, it was uneventful through downtown. Once I cleared the shipyards and turned east through Choctaw Pass, the tide and following breeze came back into play and helped me out on the return.
I kicked it into high gear for the push north and back to the finish. As I passed under the Causeway bridge with the wind and tide to my back, one of several fishermen called out to say he thought I was moving along pretty fast. I called back that I was going about 6-7 mph, as I kept moving on into Delvan Bay and the final cut-through under the Interstate bridges back to the parking lot. My guess is that I finished in about three hours of paddling time. I was just glad to get out of the sun before it got any hotter.
This morning was another typical day in the hot and humid paradise of Mobile Bay. I arrived at my put in spot at 5:40 AM, next to the boat launch by the crossroads of the Causeway and the I-10 Interstate in the middle of the bay. It was bearable, but already a warm 82 degrees, clear skies and a slight southwesterly breeze. I made a tactical error by assuming I had enough battery time left on my Forerunner (wrong) and not bringing a backup watch.
So, I started out with a rising tide, which after getting over to Delvan Bay, followed me all the way up to Spanish River with the help of the the following breeze. I tried to hit it pretty hard all the way to the Pontoon Saloon, which was my first short water break at 5.6 miles and probably about 1:02. There were quite a few osprey hanging around the several nests along the west bank of Delvan. This morning, there were several fishing boats cruising on up to their fishing holes as I turned up the left side fork into the Spanish River. When I arrived at the Pontoon Saloon, there were three fishing boats tied up, so I thought I might find someone hanging around the deck. I stopped only briefly in the shade, but no one was around, or they were still asleep (I doubt), or maybe eating breakfast.
Anyway, I moved on up the Spanish, passing alot of floating and new lodged tree debris out in the middle. There was a pair of fishermen working the high electric line piling at the turn into the Mobile River, as I slowed to take a drink. After pleasantries, I started down the Mobile with only a little current help. There was not much river traffic on this July 4th weekend, so I hung out in the middle, trying to get as much current help as was there.
I stopped at my usual shade spot, under the highrise bridge for a quick drink and moved ahead down into the normally congested industrial area of downtown Mobile. There were workmen painting a large platform rig, which was up out of the water on barges, and further down a couple of tankers, raised out of the water getting a new paint job, as well. Through this area, I counted paddle strokes, to get an idea of how long a half hour was, so I could take scheduled water stops.
While passing the cruise line terminal, I finally came across a tug pushing a single barge upriver towards me, as I diagonally crossed over from northwest to southeast. But, other than that and dodging all of the floating debris, it was uneventful through downtown. Once I cleared the shipyards and turned east through Choctaw Pass, the tide and following breeze came back into play and helped me out on the return.
I kicked it into high gear for the push north and back to the finish. As I passed under the Causeway bridge with the wind and tide to my back, one of several fishermen called out to say he thought I was moving along pretty fast. I called back that I was going about 6-7 mph, as I kept moving on into Delvan Bay and the final cut-through under the Interstate bridges back to the parking lot. My guess is that I finished in about three hours of paddling time. I was just glad to get out of the sun before it got any hotter.
posted by brint @ 11:55 AM
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