Day one turned out to be an unqualified success. We started the day by pumping out the holding tank at the fuel dock at Dog River Marina. We pushed off at 7 AM and headed up mobile bay towards the Mobile River.
The bay is certainly a different environment from the river. The large commercial vessels are hauling freight globally.
As you can see this one is empty evidenced by the high water line.
The mobile skyline is not super impressive but it's obvious that the town is anchored around shipping industry. Given the proximity to the golf of Mexico and oil production the price of gasoline and diesel fuel is approximately $.25 less than Indiana.
This NOAA Weather vessel was staged for its next trip.
We never figured out weather this barge was being built or scrapped.
As we moved up Mobile River we came to our first lift bridge. There will be a few more these during our trip but not nearly as many as we encountered on the Intercoastal waterway in Florida.
This is a view from the flybridge. The water in the river is full of sediment from the recent storms and rain runoff
This is a Working River so we will encounter many towboats on the way north.
Coal-fired Power plants keep the lights on.
An electric crane moves scrap steel in trucks for transport to the steel shredder
This is a steel mill unloading scrap brought in by barge. We also saw a crane unloading used railroad try ties. Scrap steel goes into the plant and rolls of Steel Sheet come out and are loaded on barges as finished product. Isn't recycling great!
Lots to look at as we cruise.
The river cuts a path that exposes the composition on the ground below. This area was mostly sand.
It's tough duty pilot 35 ton vessel.
As I said in the beginning the first day was a success!
Looks like you're motoring right along. Thanks for the updates.
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