A picture of our anchorage at Little River Diversion the evening we arrived
The same anchorage when we left
A picture of our chart plotter showing what it is like the last few miles before the Mississippi joins the Ohio River
Log 25
Day 101
Saturday, August 30, 2008
6:05 AM CDT
Location: Anchored at Little River Diversion Channel just south of Cape Girardeau, MO.
To see where we are (click here)
Weather: 69* with 80% humidity; no wind...predicted to be 88 and sunny today
Not much time to do a log this morning. After tossing and turning most of the night (I do that when we are at anchor) I went back to sleep about 3 and slept until 5:30. We want to leave just after sunrise (which should be 6:30 to 6:45)...so not much time to sit and write this log.
I’m sitting on the back of the boat and it is just starting to get light out. We are at anchor in a little stream just off the Mississippi south of Cape Girardeau, MO. If I look out the back of the boat the Mississippi is about 100 yards away. (As I write these words a fishing boat, with what looked like a Grandpa and his grandson, just flew by heading out to the Mississippi). It is a beautiful setting...and a beautiful morning.
Yesterday we left Hoppies at 7 am and went the 110 miles to Little River and arrived at 5 pm. The entire day we went between 900 and 1100 rpm at a speed of 10.5 to 13 mph. I would say the river was giving a push between 3 and 5 mph all day. No issues...and not much stuff floating to worry about...the only real challenge was the very crazy water eddies that we crossed from time to time. The water was swirling and bubbling and it looked very scary. These eddies have the power to toss boats around and throw them sideways in their swirling water. I have talked to more than one captain who’s boat has been thrown sideways and nearly out of control. I discovered a couple of thing about these eddies. First is that they seem to be caused by fast water flowing over shallow and then very deep areas. We would be going along in 10 to 15 feet of water and when we went over the eddies the depth would go to 40 to 60 feet and then back to 10 to 15 again in just a matter of a few yards. I have no idea if this is what causes them...but in every case this was happening. Secondly I found out that if I set the auto pilot to it’s most sensitive setting it would do a better job of keeping the boat straight in these eddies than I could be steering it myself. So I went through these eddies with the auto pilot on and we were tossed around much less.
Today we have about 95 miles (and 2 locks) to go to our next anchorage near Paducah, KY. It looks like a beautiful day for cruising...so I better get to it.
I’ll keep you posted.
BK.
A picture of our chart plotter showing what it is like the last few miles before the Mississippi joins the Ohio River
Log 25
Day 101
Saturday, August 30, 2008
6:05 AM CDT
Location: Anchored at Little River Diversion Channel just south of Cape Girardeau, MO.
To see where we are (click here)
Weather: 69* with 80% humidity; no wind...predicted to be 88 and sunny today
Not much time to do a log this morning. After tossing and turning most of the night (I do that when we are at anchor) I went back to sleep about 3 and slept until 5:30. We want to leave just after sunrise (which should be 6:30 to 6:45)...so not much time to sit and write this log.
I’m sitting on the back of the boat and it is just starting to get light out. We are at anchor in a little stream just off the Mississippi south of Cape Girardeau, MO. If I look out the back of the boat the Mississippi is about 100 yards away. (As I write these words a fishing boat, with what looked like a Grandpa and his grandson, just flew by heading out to the Mississippi). It is a beautiful setting...and a beautiful morning.
Yesterday we left Hoppies at 7 am and went the 110 miles to Little River and arrived at 5 pm. The entire day we went between 900 and 1100 rpm at a speed of 10.5 to 13 mph. I would say the river was giving a push between 3 and 5 mph all day. No issues...and not much stuff floating to worry about...the only real challenge was the very crazy water eddies that we crossed from time to time. The water was swirling and bubbling and it looked very scary. These eddies have the power to toss boats around and throw them sideways in their swirling water. I have talked to more than one captain who’s boat has been thrown sideways and nearly out of control. I discovered a couple of thing about these eddies. First is that they seem to be caused by fast water flowing over shallow and then very deep areas. We would be going along in 10 to 15 feet of water and when we went over the eddies the depth would go to 40 to 60 feet and then back to 10 to 15 again in just a matter of a few yards. I have no idea if this is what causes them...but in every case this was happening. Secondly I found out that if I set the auto pilot to it’s most sensitive setting it would do a better job of keeping the boat straight in these eddies than I could be steering it myself. So I went through these eddies with the auto pilot on and we were tossed around much less.
Today we have about 95 miles (and 2 locks) to go to our next anchorage near Paducah, KY. It looks like a beautiful day for cruising...so I better get to it.
I’ll keep you posted.
BK.
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