Day 2 on the Water

We stayed in Biloxi Sunday while a strong warm front dumped inches of rain on us (which was good for washing all the salt spray off the boats), and had a nice seafood dinner with our boating buddies.  BUT.......what did we learn in school about a warm air mass above cool water?  Hey kids in the Peanut Gallery......can you say "Fog"??!!

We rose before sunrise on Monday to see how much fog we had, and it turned out to be not much.  So we departed the marina into calm winds & seas, with about 5 miles visibility.  As we traveled Biloxi East Channel, quite a few dolphins swam with us.


As we turned east on the GIWW, the fog started closing in to as low as 1/2 mile visibility.  We paid close attention to our chartplotter & radar -- and we were logging "instrument time" like the pilots do!  It was interesting to see another boat approaching you out of the fog.  Our partner "Knot a Yot" had AIS on board, so they gave us a "heads up" to oncoming traffic, as they stayed close behind in our wake.  Waters were mostly calm, except when we were between the barrier islands offshore, and then the sea swells got us.

Things to avoid in Mobile Bay --
like natural gas production platforms!

As we entered Mobile Bay, we encouraged our boating buddies to take the short cut to Dog River Marina to minimize their time on the Bay.  Once they successfully navigated the route by themselves, they called us to brag.  Not bad for their first time on open water by themselves!

THIS is why the government built these green daymarkers
all along the ICW!!



Of course, he's right in the middle of the channel!

We kept heading east across the Bay, and had 10 mph winds on the bow, no sea swells, and a 1' light chop.  It was the best crossing we could have had -- much better than in January when we were looking at 25 mph winds & 3-4' seas.  We entered the GIWW east of the Bay, where it becomes a canal again.  Found the cove called Ingram Bayou & dropped the hook for the nite along with 3 other boats.

Must be all that good salt air!