Dog River to Fairhope Docks 10/25/17

Debbie took Abby for her morning walk and we had breakfast early so we could get away before the tide dropped too much.  We made it out from Dog River to the Mobile shipping channel and passed a freighter and 4 tows transiting the ship channel.  There is no one clear channel to the other side of Mobile Bay where we were headed to Fairhope.  The shipping channel was dredged to a depth of about 45 feet and all of the spoil was deposited on either side of the main channel.  There are breaks in the spoil areas that you pass through to get to the main parts of Mobile Bay but most depths are 6-7  once you reach the main parts of the Bay.  We passed through one of the larger breaks hoping that it would also be one of the deeper cuts but we soon started to see less than 1 foot under the props.  We proceeded slowly and finally got to a point where we had 3-4 feet for the rest of the passage across to Fairhope.  This is very nerve wracking and I hate being in shallow water.  But at least the bottom is mud and usually won't do any damage. Entering the channel into the Fairhope Docks and Fairhope Yacht Club the depth again dropped to less than one foot under the props and readings were either none or 0.  I coasted most of the way through the entrance in neutral and then we docked in a covered slip that had again no depth reading as we backed in.  The Fairhope Docks were recently taken back over by the town and there is a lot of work going on here and a lot that needs to be done.  Drew the dockmaster helped us with a plank that we were able to lower the motorcycle onto and get the bike off of the boat.

It's usually much easier than this but the finger docks are super narrow here and there was not enough room to get around the post at the end without the plank. I'm not looking forward to putting it back on!

I called and found a Chiropractor in Fairhope and made an appointment for 12:30.  So after a quick lunch I headed off and was pleasantly surprised with a great Chiropractor who went to McMaster U in Hamilton Ontario and he was very knowledgeable and gave me a good workover.  I will go back for two more appointments Thursday and Friday morning before we leave for Orange Beach.

I toured around Fairhope and found a place to get a haircut and also scouted out a place for dinner.

Debbie took Abby for a walk and we had a couple of cocktails before we got on the bike to go to dinner.  After dinner we dropped in at CVS to get Flu shots and then back to the boat for another Episode of Downton Abbey and then to bed. It feels good to get some of these small issues resolved.

Only one large Margarita

From last summer.  More than half of the pitcher of Margaritas!!