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| Our Home Port |
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| Although we're a good nine miles away, from driveway to boat slip, we've adopted Dog River as our home waterway since that's where Sweet Samantha lives. She's in a covered wet slip at Grand Mariner Marina near the mouth of the short river that feeds into Mobile Bay. Dog River and its tributaries drain most of Mobile, Alabama. In fact, the usually dry drainage ditch behind our house is actually designated as "Spring Creek, part of the Dog River Watershed." Ignore the red star in the middle of this map. Dog River is a little below the star, on the western shore. |
| Spanning Dog River |
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| Here's the view from our helm as Mike heads to the River's mouth, about to pass under the new Dog River bridge.That's the Beacomber marina and hangout off the starboard bow, with just a little bit of the Dog River Marina Complex visible off the port bow. The first span of the high-rise bridge opened to traffic on Dauphin Island Parkway in 1994. The bridge is 3,700 feet long, compared with the 600-foot drawbridge it replaced. Channel clearance for the new bridge is 125 feet, whereas the former bridge stood only 50 feet above the water. The new structure is a vast improvement over what was there before, but for many longtime Mobile residents the old drawbridge was a landmark that has been captured in uncounted photographs, drawings, paintings and memories. Construction of the new bridge yielded some arhcaelogical finds, which are detailed at www.southalabama.edu/archaeology/dr-dog-river_bridge.htm. A photograph of the drawbridge can be found at www.waterworldphotography.com/OldDogRiverBridge.html. |
| A Flying Bird's Eye View |
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| Here's a view from the bridge looking down on the Grand Mariner Marina. The 120 or so covered and uncovered slips are mostly hidden from this view, which does show the large transient dock and fuel dock and the two-story structure that has a store as well as bathroom, shower and laundry facilities downstairs and a marvelous restaurant upstairs. The Mariner restaurant, where we've enjoyed many fine meals, is open daily for dinner at 5 p.m. Elsewhere on the grounds are boat repair facilities and a very large, 35-ton lift. |
| A Floating Bird's Eye View |
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| Here's the view of the facilities from water level. This picture was taken on a slow Wednesday morning in early spring, but the place is hopping on the weekends. That's when mariners have to thread through all the fisherfolk casting their lines from small boats anchored all through the no-wake zone near all the marinas at the mouth of the river. |
| Grand Mariner Marina |
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| This scanned image of an old flyer, while somewhat out of date, nontheless introduces the facilities, services and the people of the Grand Mariner Marina. Capt. Ed Carlson passed on in 1999, but Louise Carlson and her family and fine staff still run a great operation. This is a very friendly, down-home marina where you're sure to be greeted with a waive and a smile by everyone you meet. The street address is 6036 Rock Point Road on Hollingers Island in Mobile, and these folks do monitor VHF Channel 16. Or call them by phone. Restaurant (251) 443-5700, marina (251) 443-6300 and marine services (251) 443-5300. |
| Tucked Away |
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| Most of the slips are under cover of the boat house, which provides slips on both sides for vessels of various sizes. Our 22-foot Boston Whaler has more than enough room in its 25-foot slip, even with the bow pulpit and the outboard engine fully raised. At this end of the boat house, we're in the company of bigger boats than ours. The roof keeps the sun off all the exposed teak, except that pulpit. Maybe we need to cover that, but then that would be one more thing to deal with when disembarking. |
| All Tied Up |
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| Mike got the hang of tying up in the slip in short order, especially thanks to a nice fellow named Peter, who lives on a 45-foot sailboat docked nearby. The bow lines stay affixed to the pilings, and Mike grabs them with a boat hook to secure them to Sweet Samantha. The stern lines stay on the boat, connected to the stern cleats and passed through the gunwale hawespipes. They are thrown to the dock and made fast when the skipper gets off the boat. A line at the port midship cleat is how we initially dock, and that's made tight to the finger pier as passengers and crew come and go. When we leave the boat, that line is pulled tight to the piling nearest the port bow, keeping the boat from drifting too far astern. We don't want that raised outboard lower unit bumping into the dock, you know. |
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Contents (c) 2005 Mike Brantley This page was created on Wednesday, March 23, 2005. 
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