SEPT.15,2011- PEORIA TO GRAND ISLAND IN BATH CHUTE, IL

The day started out like most recently and that meant rising before 0600 and making coffee. By 0645 we maneuvered out of our berth and only about 10 minutes behind Spirit Dancer. As it sometimes happens, we wasted our time hurrying only to find that there was a 2 hour delay at the first lock. The barges have priority and the Lock master would let us know when it was our turn. Bob spotted a riverside restaurant and bar with a small dock. The bar was called “Captain Ron’s” and they could not be raised on the radio. Bob slowly hovered around the docks sizing up the situation and he was waived in by somebody at the restaurant. There was room for Terrmar as well and this meant that we didn’t have to spend two hours going around in circles. There was no other place to tie up and anchoring around all of the tug traffic was a definite foo pa. After we were safely docked at yet another set of well used docks I went into the restaurant to inquire about breakfast. We wanted to show our appreciation if possible. No way I am told the kitchen doesn’t open until 1100 unless you want a Bloody Mary. Thanks just the same I said and went back to the boat. Terri made me a fried egg sandwich and I had a short nap. What a great way to spend two hours.

TERRMAR AT CAPTAIN RON'S

SPIRIT DANCER UNDERWAY

Soon we received a call from the Lock master and he was ready for us. The rest of the day was kind of uneventful. Most of the time was spent looking at the charts for a place to spend the night. Any marinas in the area were hampered by the low water levels and could not accept us because of our draft. No big deal normally as we would just try and find a place to anchor. It is a commonly accepted practice to anchor on the river if you can safely do so. By that I mean to stay out of the channel and don’t run aground doing so. We passed by a place that we could have gotten into but doing so would have added another three hours to the next day.

A HOUSE ON STILTS, VERY COMMON

LOTS OF INDUSTRY

WE COULD GET UNDER THIS ONE

BARGES RIGHT OUT OF THE WATER WAITING FOR HIGHER LEVELS

VERY OLD SQUARE SLIP FORM SILO WITH ROUND CORNERS. AWESOME

SPIRIT DANCER OFF OUR BOW IN THE ANCHORAGE

TERRMAR OFF THE STERN OF SPIRIT DANCER IN THE ANCHORAGE

BARGE AND TUG PASSING LATE AT NIGHT

So we conversed on the radio with Bob and Kemba and agreed upon a place called Bath Chute on Grand Island. It was near the end of the day and we would be safely anchored before dark. It would also shorten the trip tomorrow or the next day. As we were lead boat I was urged to go ahead and report back to Bob on our findings. Bob is no dummy! Lol But it looked fine and if anything it might be a little bit narrow. Maybe 70 or 80 feet at best. There was supposed to be 7 to 8 feet of water in here if you can get past the entrance which does silt over. I tried and was getting readings of down to 4 feet or so. Our boat draws about 4’-7” so the math isn’t all that hard. It might have been weeds or something but Terri and I decide to back out and just sit at the mouth of this creek. Bob has other ideas and says "let me try". He went in like he had been here before. He hugged the shore a little more than I did and Kemba kept up a running commentary on the depths as they sneak upstream. They have made it in just fine. This fact plus a light bulb that turned on in Terri’s head urged us to try again. Our boat has two depth sounders and maybe the main one is a little out of adjustment. We switch to the secondary one and presto we now have another foot or so of water to play with. We followed Spirit Dancer in and stopped just short of them to drop the hook. We are in about 8 feet of water and nowhere to swing. The creek is flowing just enough to keep us in line with the current and if we did swing we would just push a little mud. Perfect say I and fire up the generator to turn on the heaters as it is going to get cold tonight. We have just enough time for a beautiful sunset that we watch from the fly bridge. This is definitely the tightest anchorage we have been in and it feels perfect. Terri has given her stamp of approval and starts to warm up yesterday’s spaghetti. We watch an episode of Rome on the TV  and watch a huge tow pass us by in the dark, then call it a night.

Good Night.

Mark