Made it into greater Mobile area yesterday after a long run of dodging floating trees and maneuvering around tows. The port of Mobile is larger than I thought. It was really cool to boat alongside massive ocean-going container ships and then run the channel out into Mobile Bay! Thank goodness for all of the electronic navigational equipment on board. With a haze across the water, it was difficult to pick up the channel makers, but the radar and chart plotter kept us on target.

We’re at Dog River Marina, on the west side of the Bay. DRM is a large supporter of Loopers, so we chose this marina over going to Orange Beach. Probably a wise choice. This place has its own West Marine store on site.

In addition to the boat’s electronics, we were running a compatible navigational chart on my iPad. Problem is the nav charts use so much energy that it’s taken nearly 24 hrs to recharge. We’ll need to use the 12-v charger going forward.

The Admiral says we push off tomorrow AM and move to Pensacola. I’ve chosen to run the inside (Gulf Intracoastal Waterway - GICW) although conditions (wave height, duration, wind speed and direction) appear favorable to run out in the Gulf. I figure we ought to sight see a bit. It’s about a 50-mile journey to Pensacola. After our 130+ mile trip from Bobby’s, this will seem tame. However, we haven’t experienced the ICW. I picked up charts today, went through the chart plotter waypoints and are ready to tackle it.

BTW - everything is slow here, even electricity! Let’s not mention the *&$#/+%! Internet.

A few pictures will show Mobile harbor. We’re having a ball!