08/02/2012 - Mobile River Blues

Header Image is a photo of a ship with an interesting name.

On the way to Mobile River some Manatees surprised me in Spanish River.

One of the Manatees went under the kayak. Awesome.

Besides Manatees, people swim and fish in Mobile River.

Isn't this a cute little rodent? Looks like a politician to me - a RAT. A 14 Trillion Dollar debt and a population of only 315 million Americans means your share of politician sanctioned debt is about $50,000. Pay up. Hahaha.

An increasing trend in river bank pollution is Oil Booms which are installed to protect the environment. Abandoned boom ends up being the pollution. The canvas is quick to deteriorate exposing the Styrofoam.

Mobile River tends to attract large pieces of garbage. Or, wait, could this be Mobile's new cruise ship?

Companies along Mobile River often try to stabilize the bank of their property using garbage. See the sunglasses?

Someone grading their property pushed soil into the river - no biggie - the Corps of Engineers keep Mobile River dredged. What is in those pipes?

Five different petroleum slicks seen today. I feel so bad for Manatees surfacing to breathe through second hand fuel. 

Two of the small sheens I think are related to the oil and grease on the railroad bridges at Chickasaw Creek and Three Mile Creek. None of the petroleum sheens were big enough to investigate further and report.

Question: What do you get when cross a gung-ho Forever Wild supporter with a gun and an important sign? Answer: Hey, it was orange so the high school dropout redneck shot at it. Vote NO for acquiring any more Forever Wild Land unless it is set aside as a wildlife refuge where hunting will be prohibited, Forever.

Question: What will GulfQuest Museum visitors see when looking across Mobile River? Answer: Look at this photo - lovely view for visitors eh?

Question: What is the difference between Mobile leaders and Mobile waterways? Answer: All Mobile leaders do is Hope for more Cash and all Mobile waterways do is Cope with more Trash.

There will be unintended consequences to poor leadership because once you let the people do whatever they want, you can't reverse it without anarchy. Once respect for the law is gone, there is no law.

06/24/2012 - Tropical Storm Debby Bust

Header image is a photo of this mornings sunrise.

"Red Sky in the Morning, Sailors Take Warning." The sun begins to color the leading edge of Tropical Storm Debby's clouds.

This was one of those sunrises that kept getting better and better.

Awesome sunrise on Dog River.

Eventually the sun moved behind the clouds and the reddish colors were gone.

When the sun finally did rise above the thick clouds, the sun pierced through the high cirrus clouds and produced a beautiful halo.

I was expecting to play in some big waves in Mobile Bay due to Tropical Storm Debby and was disappointed to see a little 1-2 foot chop.

I headed north hoping the winds would pick up so the waves would get bigger but the winds never picked up. The Mobile skyline is visible on the horizon.

Went all the way up to Garrows Bend. Here is the Coast Guard Cutter Stingray. It has some wicked looking guns on the bow.

I passed by the dredging ship Glenn Edwards on the way home.

Thanks to the ship wake, I finally got to see a wave over 3 foot tall.

03/27/2012 - Lower Delta

Tired of padding around in Mobile's waterways, I went elsewhere today and paddled for miles without ever seeing a single piece of litter. When there is no trash, the camera gets to focus on other things seen during the kayaking trip. All the posts in this blog could be trash free if only Mobile's urban waterways and nearby shorelines were kept clean.

Header Image is a merge of several photos showing more Blue Flag.

Sunrise going under the Interstate at Tensaw River.

Welcome aboard on the SS Samual Jonesy. This eco tourism boat does not have the funds to operate anymore. Won't you please raise taxes so SS Samual Jonsey can pay his crew?

Coot having breakfast on SAV (Submerged Aquatic Vegetation).

The further away from Mobile I paddled, the more beautiful the waterways were. Boaters take great pride in keeping the Mobile-Tensaw Delta free of litter and they deserve a pat on the back.

A couple of Osprey Eagles.

 Not sure what kind of birdie this is - maybe a Hawk or Kestrel. One foot was hidden.

It is a good time to see alligators out working on their sun tan.

You can clearly see the alligator's ear in this photo - it is the slit to the left of the eye angling down toward the water.

Insects were out enjoying a beautiful spring day while hooking up with mates.

Butterflies were frequently landing on the plentiful Iris flowers.

Teal ducks playing follow the leader.

Blue iris flowers were dominating the natural landscapes.

Nature's botanical garden is best viewed from a Kayak!

Nature's botanical garden.

We live in a society where pizza gets to your house before the police. That is just wrong.
Littering is Wrong Too!

09/27/2011 - Mobile River

Launch: Shirley's (US Hwy 90 across from battleship USS Alabama)
Launch Cost: Free
Destination: Mobile River to look see the latest status of the Oil Spill cleanup activities.
Distance: 18 miles (round trip)
Paddle time: 5-1/2 hours
Weather: Temp from 77 to 84 degrees, Winds 0-15 mph from the north. Mostly sunny. Rising tide. Current in Mobile River 1-2 mph. Water temperature about 78 degrees.

Header Image - a heron is already fishing at dawn's first light.

Launching about an hour before sunrise to avoid the afternoon heat.

Watching the sunrise across Delvan Bay.

The kayak would glide up on fish and they would startle me by abruptly bolting out of the way.

Still in Spanish River, a fish jumps out of the water as I'm about to pick up an abandoned fishing bobber. The Pontoon Saloon can be seen in the background.

Herons facing off along the shoreline.

A great blue heron awkwardly flies over the water while croaking loudly like a bullfrog with throat cancer.

The forecast called for winds from the southwest. About the time I went under the Cochrane Bridge, a wave of clouds approached and the winds picked up from the Northwest to about 15 mph. It provided a nice tailwind but left the waters choppy. Had to put on a sprayskirt. Current was also running about 1.5-2 mph in Mobile River, well above the forecast.

One of those sandpiper like dowidget sand munching birds.

The cruise ship Norwegian Spirit, out of the Port of New Orleans, carries over 2000 passengers, was getting some work done here in Mobile. Could this be our new cruise ship?

Rear view of the Navy's first Joint High-Speed Vessel (JHSV) christened on Sep 17, 2011 at Austal. The JHSV Spearhead is designed for rapid transport of troops and military equipment. The 338-foot-long aluminum catamaran is fast. I could have paddled under the vessel but I didn't want to go to jail.

A blue-eyed white ibis on the left and a believe this is a juvenile little blue heron on the right.

A juvenile white ibis.

I went down Mobile River to see the status of the Oil Cleanup at Gulf Coast Asphalt. No cleanup activity could be seen and the strong winds out of the northwest made it difficult to take photos near the spill area. No change on the oil caked shorelines - guess they are going to let nature degrade the oiled shoreline. The good news is no petroleum sheens were seen along the east side of the river like I saw last visit. However, at the entrance to Chickasaw Creek (well north of the oil spill), there was some sort of chemical/petroleum sheen on the water. I'm assuming it came from the greased up swing bridge. Unable to trace the source.

On the other end of Mobile River near the entrance to Mobile Bay, another petroleum sheen was seen. There were about a half dozen people working on nearby machinery that overhangs the water at the state dock facility. Unable to trace the source. I'm assuming it came from the machinery. There wasn't enough quantity of spill to justify a call to the National Response Center (NRC). I hope seeing oil in Mobile River doesn't become a regular thing like it is for me in Bayou La Batre.