Another Day 1

When the weather finally broke and sunshine raised the temperature to a balmy 50 degrees, it was time to get moving again. By now, we had been docked in Mobile for almost 2 weeks. I was beyond restless and, though it was uncomfortably cold (why won’t it ever get warm??), we made our way out of Mobile.

That morning, frost made our lines stiff and I shivered all the way out to the main shipping channel, but I couldn’t be more excited. We were on the move again! I was happy and anxious, because again—similar to the days we left Crescent and Chicago— I had no idea what to expect. We had read the guide book and studied the charts, but what the ICW would be like was a mystery. There is something so innately thrilling in being able to throw away the dock lines and head into the unknown. Questions swirled in my head, and visions of what the scenery might possibly be like drifted in my mind. I had every expectation, and none at all. I was nervous not knowing what potential situations we could end up in, but I had to embrace my fears and dive forward into the next adventure. Though anxious, I savored the exhilaration of the leap towards the intangible.

Before we entered the ICW- Intracoastal Waterway- we had to cross Mobile Bay. Shallow water and tidal currents can make the crossing rough, but we were lucky to have a perfectly calm day. Unable to sail, we coasted through a mirror of sun and sky. With land far in the distance, all sense of forward progress melted into a feeling of being absorbed into blue nothingness, the only disturbances in the perfect stillness being ducks, pelicans, and occasional dolphins. My nerves were soothed by our peaceful coexistence with the world and the water.

Eventually the trees started to grow, and the markers of the ICW sprouted from the water. Our arrival had come, and evidence of civilization populated the horizon. At long last, the bay was left behind and we were enveloped by banks once again. It felt like the rivers, but with way more stuff to look at. Trees, stumps, houses, marshes, boats, docks, hotels, rocks, bridges, and baby-sized barges. My eyes snapped back and forth, trying to take it all in. There was so much to see! It was a huge change, and I was fascinated. I spent the rest of the day with my head revolving, absorbing every detail of what I had attempted to imagine. The ICW has everything, and as we travel on I’ll continue to expect everything and nothing. Plus dolphins. We saw about a billion dolphins. Finally anchored in a perfectly calm bay, my mind reviewed all the curiosities of the day and reveled in the fact that we finally did it. We survived our first day on the ICW!

Our first marker of the ICW!