We had an excellent 540 mile sail from Cuba Los Morros to USA, Mobile, Alabama arriving here on Friday morning, 23 Feb.

We had good Trade Winds, 15 - 20 knots constantly, and Meshugga loved the breeze, sailing at 9-10 knots constantly averaging over 200 miles each day - and hence our arrival time was Thursday mid-night. As we did not want to arrive during the night, at sunset we slapped 3 reefs in our Main, and reefed our Genny, decreasing our speed down to 6 knots, and hence arrived at our weigh point at the channel entrance at first light.

During the night, from about 100 miles from the Gulf Coast we started seeing Oil Rigs, and closer to shore the Well Points, all lit up like Christmas Trees.

I was surprised that they do not have AIS…...

The Mobile Bay is huge, some 15 miles wide and 40 miles north to south. Mobile city is in the north of the bay, just into the Mobile River where it pours into the Bay.

The marinas are all on Bay up rivers, with bridges spanning them, and even at 73” Air Height, too low for Meshugga to get through. 

We have been extremely impressed that Mobile offers Transient yachts the ability to tie up alongside the Convention Center, in the middle of town, with Customs and Immigration coming to clear us in, where we experience Southern Gracious Hospitality and friendliness. Our Customs official extended to us both 1 year Visas and a 1 year Cruising Permit for Meshugga, so we now have the legal side organized for our next adventure.

We did a bit of local sightseeing and shopping on Saturday, and experience more of the local Southern charm. Sunday we woke up to cold rain and fog reminding us that it is still winter in the states and spent a home day with a few chores and catching up on Late Night Live shows etc with excellent cell phone and data coverage.

We are now arranging to have our Mast removed, and Wes a local experience Rigger will be visiting us today to begin the process. We hope to have all done within the next 2 weeks.

Take Care,