Behind Quiver Island near Havana

This blog will chronicle our (Pat and Patty Anderson's)

cruising adventures on the Great Loop!

DAY 161 - September 8, 2017

We were still scratching our heads this morning over how Peoria could have such a valuable asset as the Peoria Municipal Marina right below the Riverfront and not actively manage it. Oh well, their loss was our gain, we'll take a free nice slip with free power any time!

We pulled out of the marina and continued downriver! We came to the Peoria Lock almost immediately. This is only an 11 foot drop, and they handed us lines. One boat, Dash Away, decided to "float it" out in the center of the lock. That was our seventh lock on the Illinois River. Not too much farther along, we passed five tow boats on the left bank ('right" and "left" bank refer to looking downstream, and in the guidebooks are abbreviated "LDB" and "RDB" for left and right descending bank respectively). They showed up on the AIS but were not moving.

Tow boats along left bank

I was so tickled with the Duet Display app that allowed us to run Coastal Explorer on the Toshiba laptop but output the display to our iPad that I decided we needed a permanent home for the iPad. I had a RAM mount that was sitting up on the shelf in the vee-berth, so I got it out, took down the  USB monitor, and put the iPad RAM mount more or less in the same spot. Patty and I both agreed that this was the perfect spot for the iPad, whether we were running Garmin Blue Chart Mobile or Coastal Explorer!

We flipped back and forth a few times on the iPad between Coastal Explorer and Garmin Blue Chart Mobile, just to get a feel for how it all would work. It worked flawlessly! I also connected the mouse, and although the iPad provides touch screen functionality, the mouse works even better. It does not disappear like it did on the USB monitor, and is a little more precise than trying to touch a particular spot on the relatively small iPad display. It will take some time for sure to dial in exactly how to use this to best advantage!

iPad's new home in RAM mount under electronics shelf!

Another screenshot of Coastal Explorer display on iPad!

We encountered a few tows today, including the Marge McFarlin for probably the third time. I saw the Marge McFarlin on the Coastal Explorer display, which shows all the AIS targets, and called on the VHF asking if a pass on the port side would be OK. The captain of the Marge McFarlin responded "Come on by, this is a great spot for a pass." I have heard that the tow boats do not respond if you do not hail them by name, and you cannot do that if you do not have an AIS receiver that shows their name! 

We were planning to fuel up at the Tall Timbers Marina, but they only accept cash or checks, and we prefer paying with plastic, so we passed it by. We last fueled in Portage Indiana, but we still have lots of fuel, although we do not have much faith in our Navman fuel flow meter! Regardless of how much it is off, we still have plenty of fuel and we will re-fuel at the next convenient marina!

We also were planning to stay at the Havana Municipal free dock, but when we got there, the dock was sitting with the back side of the floats high and dry on the shore and the front side barely in the water!

Havana free dock - only the front edg is in the water!

The Illinois River is obviously pretty low, as we have passed by many trees with their bare roots high and dry. 

The low river level has left this tree stranded!

We had identified a fall-back anchorage behind Quiver Island. The Active Captain reviews were generally positive except when the coal terminal was loading coal barges, when everyone said your boat would be covered completely in coal dust! Fortunately, the coal terminal was not loading barges, probably because of the low water level. We anchored in three feet, which not too many other boats can do. It is very calm and peaceful here, and we are enjoying this spot a lot! 

It is totally secluded so it was a good opportunity to shower on the cockpit, which Patty did.  She also washed all the windows outside as the spider poop piles up.  Soooo many spiders.  We don't kill them because they kill other bugs, but they make a mess.

Quiver Island anchorage and coal terminal.

I took Baxter to shore, and found myself ankle deep in soft mud! Oh well, water washes the mud off! Patty got this shot of the kayak on the shore!

Kayak on the shore while I walk Baxter!

Patty had paid a small fortune for a thick rib eye steak at the grocery store in the Village of Hennepin. I grilled it three minutes per side on the Magma at its highest temperature, let the juices redistribute for a few minutes, and sliced it thinly against the grain. It was worth every penny! Sometimes you just need some rare red meat (sorry to my vegetarian friends) and a salad on the side, with some nice red wine. Tonight was such a night!

We have only one more lock on the Illinois River, the LaGrange Lock some 40 miles downstream. Then only 80 more miles after that, or two days, and we will be off the Illinois River and onto the Mighty Mississippi! We are no longer dreading this, as we have figured out the locks and figured out how to deal with the tows. Even though there will be more of them and they will be larger on the Mississippi, we are pretty sure we will be OK!