09/03/2006 – Mobile River

Launch: Public triple boat ramps in the middle of the Causeway on the North side. Launch Cost: Free. Route: Cross the Tensaw River, across Delvan Bay, up Spanish River, down Mobile River, around Choctaw Pass, and then back up to the Causeway via Tensaw River. Distance: 21.2 miles. Average Speed: 3.1 mph. Time: Approx 7 hrs. Pace: Leisurely. Weather: Fair morning, hot afternoon, normal current and waves.

(1) Above left. Rather bland hazy sunrise looking across Delvan Bay. (2) Above right. Later, headed down Mobile River, these colorful train engines caught my eye.

(3) Above left. These birds looked like juvenile black skimmers, one was yawning, both were sitting on dredging pipe lining the edge of Mobile River. (4) Above right. It apparently is a never ending task to keep Mobile River dredged. A crane on a barge was dredging the area under Cochran Bridge. This dredging method was stirring up the silt and causing a line of floating trash down the river.

(5) Above left. Here was an interesting ship, called Cape Farewell out of Norfork Virginia. A tugboat would push up two mini barge containers and the ship would hoist up the containers and put them in its cargo hold, one at a time. (6) Above right. The Alabama State Docks moves a lot of freight.

(7) Above left. There was a pretty rank odor over near Cooper Park. It was coming from lots of dead chickens floating in the water. (8) Above right. The dock for the new container facility is in construction phase. If you ever wondered how they construct a dock, you should paddle by this place.

(9) Above left. By noon, it was getting really hot, so hot that even the gulls were panting from the heat. (10) Above right. Down around Choctaw Point, Horse Nettle seed was dotting some of the shore landscape. The seeds look like little mini tomatoes. Horse Nettle is listed in the Poisonous plants of Alabama – the berries may look tempting to eat, but many of the berries of the nightshade family of flowers are highly toxic. This plant has thorns for a reason – to remind you to leave them alone. There are always interesting things to see when going down Mobile River. Too many photos to show here.