Tuesday, October 4, 2011 - Bon Secour River in Mobile Bay, just off ICW at mile 150.5

After doing our laundry and cleaning chores, we left the marina at 12:30 and headed out into Mobile Bay. It was the nicest crossing we’d ever experienced on this body of water with sunny skies, easy north breezes, temps in the high 70’s and a light chop on the water. Mobile Bay is large, but it is also very shallow so it is important to know where you are. If you choose to leave the channel and take a “shortcut,” you need to watch the depth closely and be alert.

 

 

It took a little over four hours to cross the bay from northwest to southeast and get to the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) channel at mile 150.5. There we entered the side channel which took us back north a half mile or so into the Bon Secour River where we anchored for the night at 5:30 pm. The spot we chose was also popular for the local fishermen as we were right on top of an oyster bed.

 As the last fisherman was leaving the vicinity, he stopped by and asked us if we were interested in any of his catch. He said we looked “indigent” and might enjoy some fresh fish for dinner. We heartily accepted his offer and he gave us several small white bass along with some bait shrimp for Gale to use later. Since we already had dinner going, Gale cleaned them up and stuck them in the refrigerator for tomorrow.

We felt like we were officially back in Florida (even though we weren’t quite yet) when we saw the dolphins feeding in our anchorage – a momma and a baby plus one loner.

 

After a gorgeous sunset, we watched the shrimp boats head out for a night of fishing.