November 16

Entering the Mobile Bay was exhilarating! Miles above we noticed the water quality had turned brackish with the introduction of salt water. Seagulls screeching overhead and the smell of the ocean drew us along.

Mobile Bay  is the fourth largest estuary in the United States. Mobile’s role as a seaport accommodates numerous goods and services.  Cotton was the chief commodity in the nineteenth century; during the Second World War, Mobile’s shipbuilding industry expanded and the city’s population surged.

Residents living around Mobile Bay sometimes enjoy the fruits of a mysterious natural phenomenon called a Jubilee, when fish and crabs swarm toward shore and can be easily harvested by people wading in the shallows.  Mobile Bay is the only place on earth where jubilees are a common occurrence.

We were dwarfed by the enormous cargo ships that line the bay. Some are being built, some are being loaded. Our mouths were agog at all the activity. The city fronts the Bay and is distinguished by elegant towers and Convention Center that resembles a cruise ship.

We scurried across the Bay watching our buoy  markers closely because the center of the Bay is very shallow. We are staying at Eastern Shore Marina in Fairhope, AL.

The town of Fairhope began as a dream in the minds of a group of individuals who were seeking their own special utopia. The first Single Tax colonists  who advocated no taxes other than a single land tax looked at land throughout the South and Midwest before settling in 1894 on a high bluff overlooking Mobile Bay. According to legend, one of the group said the new colony had a fair hope of success, and the town was born. Based on a spirit of cooperative individualism, the Single Tax Colony attracted supporters and financial backers from around the country, drawing an eclectic assemblage of industrious, creative, and free-thinking people to Fairhope.

Today, Fairhope is a breathtaking vision that draws visitors from around the world who come to enjoy its natural beauty and vibrant downtown filled with unique shops and galleries, gourmet restaurants, cozy cafes and more.

The marina is nothing special, but the Bay is glorious to see every day all day and the rolling of the tide as it fluctuates rocks us to sleep like infants in a mother’s arms. Love it.

View of the bay from the city park.