Thursday night we stayed in a little marina backed up to the wilderness. The owner advised us to make sure we left no food on the back deck and to close all windows and doors at night. Seems raccoons get on the boats. He said he doesn't mind them because they eat the Asian Carp.
Sure enough around 3 a.m. we heard the sound of little feet scurrying around the boat. Creepy! Dave had left the blue light on just in case. We crept up the stairs to see them and there were 3 of them. They scurried away when they heard us but one of them definitely looked at me! I can deal with those critters but we better never hear any 2 legged critters on the boat at night!
A little about the mechanics of getting down the river...
Tow boat captains use the same signaling system they used in Mark Twain days. To let you know what they want you to do they use whistles. When overtaking a barge one whistle means he wants you to pass on your port and his starboard. Two whistles means vice versa. When meeting a barge one whistle means to pass him port to port and two whistles means pass him starboard to starboard. The system still works but they use their VHF radio on Channel 13 instead of actual whistles.
What old Mark Twain didn't have was sophisticated electronics with an AIS system--Automatic Identification System. That's what we had installed back in East Chicago and it works great.
Using the AIS system, all commercial vessels are required to continually transmit their unique ship's information including her call sign, origin, destination, length, beam and vessel hailing port and name. These vessels show up as targets on our chart plotter and radar and when individually selected, up pops their position, heading, speed and probable time until me meet.
All this gives Blue Moon advance warning if a tow is operating just around the bend. If needed, Dave can radio the tow captain for passing instructions. These captains are well paid and highly skilled professionals who know every bend in the river and will gladly advise the safest way to pass and keep out of their path. Our boat is also registered and shows up on their electronics so they know that a pleasure vessel is in their path.
Friday night we had no alternative to anchoring out. It was 60 miles to the next marina and nearing dark. Our buddy boat was still with us and we found a secure place off the
tip of an island with a nice mud bottom to hold in and wind protection.
I was totally freaked out at first (seems I'm freaked out a lot on this trip!) because being spoiled by the idyllic anchorages in Georgian Bay I had no idea that anchorages on the river were only about 75 yards off the main shipping channel! The same channel where the big bad barges pass by night and day! Dave calmed me down and we dropped anchor and I hung out watching the radar until 3 large barges had passed by and I felt secure that we were safe for the night! No where else to go anyway! It ended up being a really pleasant spot and we made a nice dinner and watched a movie. Yes Brandon, we are still alive!!
This morning we brought up a nice clean anchor and set off for Grafton, Illinois and a 5 star marina. This is the end of the Illinois River and the start of the Mississippi! Kind of a milestone day.
On the way we passed this old monster. Must have been a real party barge back in the day!
This one too.
We spotted something out in the water that looked like a log but when we got closer we could see that it was a raccoon swimming from mid-channel back to shore. We assumed he was carp fishing. But aren't they nocturnal animals? He looked fine and was quite a good swimmer. We continue to see Asian Carp but I can't seem to capture them on video.
We arrived at the Grafton Harbor Marina a little while ago and it is the type with a roof over the boats. Very cool!
It's a really nice place so we are going to get it together and walk into the little town for dinner. There are 3 wineries and lots of restaurants and shops and the marina will drive you to Walmart to re-provision! We might stay here tomorrow night also because there is a nice riverside bike trail and a day on land would be a nice break.
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