Mississippi River boating

 River sunsets are a nightly reward.

Grand kids play at Port Charles Harbor on river bank.

Children play on beach and in the water on Anchor Yanker Island .  House boats tied up in backround.

A favorite is doing the "Float"  To do the float one must wear a life vest then get into the water at the up river end of the island and let the water carry you to the down river end.  This process is often repeated many times.

 alton

Alton pool (lake) and bluffs

Passing the Arch  "Gateway to the West".

Grafton Ill.

Loading dock (great river resturant stop) in the town of Grafton Ill.  Also location of Grafton Marina.  Durring World War II the red roofed building was where "PT boats" were manufactured.

Port Charles Harbor is where  we keep "Great Escape" on dock 6.  come see us! We are AGLCA "harbor hosts".  I know I'm predjudiced but I think we have the friendliest marina anywhere.  A full fillup with fuel can usually get a transient boater a free night at the dock as well as a home cooked meal if we are cooking on the dock.  When we're not doing a dock meal the transient boaters are  welcome to dine at the exclusive, private "Duck Club Marina" adjoining our marina's parking lot.  This, along with the highest quality repair work and a 60 ton travel lift with a loaner car when needed makes for a great stay. And a visit to the old riverfrount town of St. Charles Mo. (1st capitol of our state) is  a shoppers paradise!

Port Charles picnic area

Enjoying friends

Swimming pool at Grafton Marina located at the town of Grafton.

Duck Club Marina next to Port Charles Harbor.

Wonderful place to anchor on the trip south is the "Little River Diversion Channel" just South of Cape Giradeau Mo.

The anchorage is deep and away from the wakes on the river thru the night from passing tow boats.

Port Charles Harbor Marina

Alton Marina is a great place to stay just above the Alton lock with a shuttle to the gambling boat to relieve you of your money.  ( see previous post on our Alton Marina trip with the grandkids.)

Hoppie's Marina in Kimswick Mo at mile 152 is THE OLDEST MARINA WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI R..  No trip would be complete without experiencing the commorodory on their dock and visiting the old French fur trading settlement and dining at the Blue Owl for their famous pies!       

Its been said that the Mississippt River is the worst part of doing the "Great Circle" route by "Skipper Bob". He was the accepted authority on the "Loop" route until he passed on. I don't like to dispute someone who is the expert; but to us "River Rats" and Mark Twain,  the "ole Mississippi" is and was a great place to boat. Here you have seen few pics of our beautiful scenery,  sandy beaches, and wonderful transient friendly marinas.

When our "Toys" become Instruments or "Blog in the Fog"

Fishing boat night before leaving Steinhattche to cross the Gulf.  In bad morning fog, they told us to follow them out to the channel to deep water in the "Gulf" and the fog "would burn off in 15-20 minets"!

 Treacherous shallow water along side the channel while leaving Steinhattache in fog!

 Don't even try to see the fishing boat we were following!  Once out of the channel and into the Gulf this was our visability for 50 miles.

 Our toys include the depth sonar left, Chart plotter (lit up), and Radar on the right.

Chart plotter screen shows the marked dredged channel we negotiated blindly in fog. The 1s and 2s outside the channel are 1 and 2 foot depths. And those markers are far apart and impossible to see in fog.

 Radar antenna that sends out a beam that bounces off of  objects and creates a blip on the screen that shows where the navigation aides (that mark the channel) and other boats are around you for 40 miles out.

 Radar screen at helm

 After 50 miles and 5 hours of running in dense fog, in the blink of an eye we're in the bright sunlight and in another 50 miles we see the sandy shore of St George Island and the entrance channel (red bouy#2) to Carrabelle.  Due to our earths curvature, the horizon on water is 7 miles.

 Only town I know of where the police station is a phone booth.

 We bought tee-shirts that said "We Made it Accrost the Gulf".  Although this was our third time to cross we took the shortest route in the fog and it really felt good to get acrost this time!  Moorings Marina in Carrabelle.

Man's best friends on boats???

 "Onyx" on "Bale Out" at Xmas time

 "Zoe" on "Blue Moon" Who recently got her diploma for Hospital visitation at St. Johns Hosp.

 "Holly on "Swing Set"

 "Molly " on "Another Page"

 "Mary Jane" on "Gypsy Rose"

 Halloween dog parade at Port Charles Harbor.  Second annual event

 "Missey" on "We Did It"

  Well here is just a sample of the responce I got to my request for boat dog pictures!!  What great companions they can be.  As we've traveled we met many pups with names like Gizzmo, Barkley,  Lady, and Brillo Bob to name a few.  They were all well loved members of the crew on their owners boats.

HAPPY EASTER TO ALL OUR FRIENDS

How to win friends and influence "birds"???

 Harvey asking for lunch

 Evening in Tarpon

 Standing on side of boat looking in as Joann prepares our lunch in the galley

When the harbor master at the Municipal Marina in Tartpon Springs Fla. told me about a large "great white heron" that liked balona, little did I know this would lead to a great friendship!  Yep...Harvey and I became great friends over a piece of lunch meat.  Being pleasure boaters, living aboard the Great Escape on our way home from Ft Lauderdale, we were very cautious to watch the weather; and, only try to cruise in 3 ft waves or less.  This was particularlly important to us since our next jaunt was to be 120 miles of open water in the Gulf of Mex. out of site of land to Steinhattche Fla.  So we had several days for Harvey and I to get to know each other.

Navigation Aids (are for the Birds??)

Note the small yellow square on the green that tells you that you are on the ICW (intrecostal waterway)

 Comoronts

Brown pelicans

Navigation aids come in red or green and we must stay inbetween them or we go aground. To "go aground" is to get  stuck in  water too shallow, with the boat on the bottom.  There are two kinds of "true boaters",  Those who have gone aground and those who will sometime go aground.  But it seems another reason for the aids is to help our feathered friends with resting sites.  The green are square and the red are triangular.  If you look closely the small yellow triangle on the red is something you see on the ICW (intracoatal waterway) and on this waterway the small yellow mark over rules the whole messague.  Soooo if a red triangle has a square yellow mark on it , it's really a green square for the ICW but a red triangle for some other route like the inlet from the ocean at Panama city Fla. Ha Ha  Go Figure !