08/02/2005 – Chickasaw Creek Sewage

Launch: Tucker’s Launch aka Brooks Park on US-43 just south of Saraland. Launch Cost: $1. Route: East on Chickasaw Creek. Distance: 6.0 miles. Average Speed: 3.4 mph. Time: Approx 2 hrs. Pace: Leisurely. Weather: Overcast and in the 70’s-80’s. Nice and cool from an earlier thunderstorm.

(1) Above left. This boat along Chickasaw Creek, reminds me of an old song - “A three hour tour, the weather started getting rough…” Too bad Dawn Wells wasn’t flagging me down for help. (2) Above right. The tide was low. Along the banks on each side of Chickasaw Creek were numerous white egrets and herons.

(3) Above left. The last time I kayaked Chickasaw Creek on 6-21-05, the stench of sewage was terrible. This trip, the stench of sewage was just as bad, and I found the source of the stink! What may appear to be a green reflection of shrubs on the water, is not a reflection. Just to the right of the No Mooring sign, there was green water bubbling up out of a submerged pipe or something. I’ve kayaked the Chickasaw Creek for two years and have never seen green sewage smelling flow coming to the surface of the water. (4) Above right. I immediately thought it was a busted pipe because of the No Mooring sign. After talking to several individuals in the area, they indicated this was normal. Surely this green flow can’t be normal. More on this in the future. Anyone wishing to kayak on Chickasaw Creek may wish to take into consideration this nasty flow in the area of Latitude: 30 degrees, 46 minutes, 36.78 seconds, Longitude: 88 degrees, 3 minutes, 53.34 seconds.


(5) Above left. I had originally wanted to kayak up into the Pumphouse Canal, but like last time, as soon as I was a tenth of a mile in the canal, the yellow flies started swarming. This is typical when there are cloudy conditions and low tide. So I proceeded south on Chickasaw Creek instead of going further in the Pumphouse Canal. A mile or so south, there is the Caribbean Mercy ship, which has been docked along the Chickasaw Creek for months. What crew that is left on the ship have a swimming pool on the dock beside the ship. (6) Above right. Not much of a sunset because of cloud cover, but the reflection of the clouds in the water was nice. I just had to remember to breath through the mouth. Phew!