Day 104 October 2, 2022

Day 104 Sunday October 2, 2022 

Kaskaskia Lock to Little Diversion Canal

6:30am start.  Chilly night, condensation on the strataglass windshield making it a bit difficult to see, and a little fog.  We traveled from Kaskaskia Lock with Arion, La Vida, Grand Wazoo and Call Me Curly.  We passed several tows but benefited from the 2-3 knot push from the Mississippi River current.  We even reached 10 knot speed -- we usually run 7-8 knots. 

 

Strong current                                                                    More wingdams

Rock shore instead of sand

Scenery along the way kept us in awe of just how low the water level is.  Especially in contrast with the walls towns have built to protect themselves.  Hard to imagine the water was ever high enough to threaten the town! 

 Town wall at Cape Girardeau

Our anchorage for the night would be Little Diversion Canal. The canal is fairly long with about 10 foot depth and about 30 feet wide.  The entrance has a very strong current that required us to approach downstream and then turn in.  La Vida and Call Me Curly led the way, followed by Arion, The Grand Wazoo and lastly Eric's Inheritance.  Everyone put out a stern anchor so that we wouldn't swing into the banks.  Joe spied a snake swimming across the canal so we made sure to close our transom door.  Seemed strange that we were all so close, but yet so far.  Grant on Call me Curly fixed that situation -- he came by dinghy and transported everyone to their boat for boat tails.  Fun!

We were joined in the canal by Cavu, Patriot, Encore and Grand Plan.  That made the canal pretty full with 9 boats.  Hopefully they planned on leaving early because we wouldn't be able to get by them.

Steak on the grill and a nice call with Eric and Courtney.  Quiet and peaceful night.