{"id":2638,"date":"2025-02-03T16:16:30","date_gmt":"2025-02-03T21:16:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cincinnatiprime11.com\/?p=2638"},"modified":"2025-02-03T16:16:31","modified_gmt":"2025-02-03T21:16:31","slug":"tensaw-anchorage-al-to-the-wharf-orange-beach-al","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cincinnatiprime11.com\/?p=2638","title":{"rendered":"Tensaw Anchorage, AL to The Wharf, Orange Beach, AL"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"\"
Today’s journey is 95 miles. We will travel down the Mobile River, cross Mobile Bay and enter the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"
Once we pass under the Cochrane-Africatown USA Bridge, we are in the heart of Mobile’s busy port.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Mobile, Alabama, is situated on the Mobile River at the head of Mobile Bay. Its location, and the fact of it being the only deep saltwater port in Alabama, makes it a very important port in the U.S. for shipping and cargo transportation. As we navigate the Mobile River through the port area on a Sunday morning, we are hoping that the “busyness” of the port is not business as usual today, simply because it is a Sunday. <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Ships and more ships. Luckily most are at port and stationary.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"
Naval Comfort Ship<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"
Shipping container ships<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

While the waterfront of Mobile consist mainly of ports with ships of all sizes and kinds, there are a few waterfront buildings nestled within the bustling ports.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Mobile Convention Center<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"
Gulf Quest National Maritime Museum of the Gulf of Mexico (which I guess will need a name change now?!)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

We gratefully leave the city of Mobile behind, without incident, and head into Mobile Bay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
In the middle of Mobile Bay, lies the Middle Bay Lighthouse. This lighthouse, erected in 1885, has seen its share of hurricanes, tornadoes, and even an impact with a shrimp boat. Its history also, uniquely, includes being home to a cow during WW I when the lighthouse keeper and his wife had a baby needing milk. The lighthouse became automated in 1935 and was deactivated in 1967. In the 2000’s, it underwent a total renovation and is now on the National Register of HIstoric Places. But given its location in the middle of the bay, and the fact that the lighthouse is not open to the public for tours, it is a historic place with an interesting past that will likely never be shared.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As we navigate Mobile Bay, we find we are not quite done with the large ships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n