Dragons, Giants, and Sea Monsters: A Thanksgiving Tale

So the day started out like any other. I was awake, sun was coming up, but I wasn't ready to crawl out of bed yet. So Trevor got up to make coffee. But then he was distracted by the sunrise.

You can see why. It's amazing!
So I was still in bed, and I heard Trevor clunking around on the boat. Right up over my head. Clunk clunk, squeak. What the? Then he came and told me he had to get in the dingy. Why? The plan was to drop it by the parents' boat when we left. Then he got across my sleep-befuddled mind that there was a log stuck on our anchor line, and he was going to use the dinghy to get it off. Ah okay, that makes some sense. So I get dressed and wander outside to watch. Well, this log was no mere log. It was huge! A dragon-log! (Seriously, lots of those semi-submerged logs look like alligators. So a big one is a dragon, right? My logic makes sense.) When I say this thing was huge, it wasn't just a log (or dragon-log), but an entire freakin' tree! We estimate that it was about 25 feet long, and perfectly balanced on the anchor line. Very awkward. And the current was pretty strong coming out of the bayou (ebb tide in full force). So it was solidly pushed back against the anchor line and thus against the boat. Trevor mounted his mighty steed (the dinghy) and lassoed the tail of the dragon (skinny end of the tree). Tried to pull the log off with the dinghy, but it was too heavy, the current too strong, the angle too awkward, and the dinghy too dinky. So I was on the front of the boat giving moral and logistical support (no damsel in distress, more of a danger damsel). He tossed me the other end of the rope so I could try to pull at it from a sturdier place. Couldn't budge the thing. The anchor line seemed to be caught on a knot on the underside of the log. So Trevor got back on the boat and used his mighty might to yank the log off the anchor line and off to the side. Then the log just came alongside the boat, because, of course, we had it tied to a rope. Tried to untie the rope, but it's really hard (impossible) to untie a knot when there's pressure on it. So we cut it. Might have lost 2 feet of rope at most. A fair price to pay for freedom!
The rest of pulling up anchor was uneventful. The dinghy pass-off went well, too.
So off we went down the river toward Mobile. On our way we passed a log drifting downstream that looked an awful lot like our dragon.

Rather frightful, isn't it?
We passed some very lovely scenery.


And Mobile itself started to unfold before our eyes.




Pretty neat, huh? It got even more impressive when we started down the industrial section. Look at all the cranes in the distance!

Fortunately, we passed through on Thanksgiving Day. Normally, this place would be hopping! Wall-to-wall boats, barges, tugs, and who knows what else. Very busy. It was intimidating enough for a little boat like ours to go through the land of giants on a sleepy day; I can't imagine a normal busy one. Today, we only saw a few boats moving around. Hooray holidays!
And the boats! Boy, they were big! Those big oil tankers and stuff you see pictures of? So much bigger than you think they are. Made us feel very very small. Because we are very small.




See that tiny tugboat in the last picture. That thing dwarfs our boat. We're so little!
And there were giant cranes, too! Huge, hulking monsters waiting on a train car to pick up and toss on a pile of other train cars. Machinery not to be messed with.


You get the idea. It was big and impressive going through the industrial area.
Oh yeah, we even saw a Navy ship. It was parked, but still really cool.


Then we got to Mobile Bay!

The biggest, most wide-open body of water I've had my boat on. The waves weren't too bad. It was a little bumpy for a while, but nothing serious. Then a barge passed by going the other way. Then a barge passed us. Things got a little rougher after the second barge. The wind picked up a little, and the barge waves added to the wind waves to make a really bumpy ride. But it was nothing we hadn't seen on the Tennessee River. Frankly, we saw bigger waves in Decatur, and definitely got the crap beat out of us more at Browns Ferry. So the waves were no problem. The wind even slacked off after a little while. Smooth sailing (so to speak, we were motoring). It was funny to see seagulls and other assorted fowl hitching rides on the barges. Lazy things. There were also a couple of fishing boats out there. Man, the birds flocked around them, hoping to get an easy meal. We even saw a dolphin!!! It was awesome!
We got to the point where the channel heads into Dog River (where we aimed to stay a couple of nights). The channel markers are pretty far apart at first, but we stayed in the channel just fine. Good captaining, I say. After a couple of turns, they get easier to see. So we're chugging along, ready to get off the water, when there's a huge THUNK! that shudders the boat and the motor slows and almost dies. We look behind us and see black in the water, coming out of our boat! There's also a pretty noticeable shake in the tiller. We hit something. And hard. Sea monster! I'm sure of it! (Possibly could have been a submerged log or something, but a sea monster is way cooler.) We managed to limp into the harbor and get tied up. The motor seems to be running okay; the black stuff isn't spurting out anymore. But there's definitely a wobble. With any luck, it's nothing but a bent propeller. Not cheap, but it could be way worse. I'll be getting in the water tomorrow (oh joy) to check it out.

Adventures!

But the day turned awesome after that. We had showers! Always a good thing.
And my friend London came over with her hubby Christian and son Sammy. Christian cooked us awesome arepas for dinner! Never had them before, and they were delish! Who needs turkey on Thanksgiving? Not me. Mashed potatoes and gravy? Well, those would have been nice, I'll admit, and maybe some pumpkin pie. A little green bean casserole wouldn't hurt either. Oh right, arepas... Super yum! And it was so great to see my BFF London! Mom and Dad are having serious grandkid withdrawal, so they had a great time playing with Sammy. And Christian saved the day with a scrumptious dinner. What a great night!