Seneca, IL Springbrook Marina – Starved Rock Marina – Oct 14
The lock is about an hour away so once up we prepare to leave, call the lock and start the engine. The lockmaster says to get there quickly and he’ll run us down before the double tows coming up. We’re gone before finishing breakfast.
The ride down is a comfortable ride. No wind today. Just a calm and light rain starting, more of a drizzle. As we approach the lock we are first to arrive and hail the lockmaster. He says it will be a 2 hour wait. As we wait 2 more recreational vessels show up. We chat with each other about where we are all going and the wait time. This is the Mersailles Lock with a larger pool to wait in. Then another boat shows up. Now the 4 of us wait…..almost 3 hours. Not much we can do but wait.
When the lock doors open they are full of barges, no tow. These barges are full of sand and weighted. How do they get them out of there without a tow? As we watch the fellas onshore work with some kind of winch, or something, the barges move so slowly out of the lock. There is maybe 25 feet between the end of the barge and the lock wall. We are hailed to go in through this space. Us being 60 feet and watching 2 of our comrades coming in at 75 ft. Great Captains for all. We all finally cruise into the lock, tie up on the bollards (so easy) and watch the slow lock lower. This is the slowest one to date yet. I think we were in that lock an hour ourselves while 2 tows wait below. Again there is a small opening to pass through the tugs and barges and the lock wall. So glad it is not at all windy.
We get out of there and travel slowly as we watch 2 of our new lock buddies speed up. The river is so calm and the sun starts to come out.
Rounding the bend of the river near Starved Rock, IL we have a new buddy that started in on the journey. However 3 of the boats have now stopped. We see 1 anchored, 1 at the fuel dock of the marina of the same name and 1 moving around the next bend. I call the lockmaster at this lock, Starved Rock Lock. He tells me he has 2 full tugs that will take over 3 hours to move along. So now we look at the clock and know it will be 4 hours til we get through. It’s noon so that means 2 or so hours after we get through the lock before nightfall because we are on Central Time and the sun sets early and rises early. We contact Starved Rock Marina and set up a slip for the night. We will be on the fuel dock. The current occupant has no intention of leaving before the lock is ready so we drop anchor. It was almost 4 hours later that we got the call to head to the lock. We watched every boat leave and head to the lock as we headed to the fuel dock. It was almost 4:30 anyway.
We kept a look out at the live maps and those boats didn’t get underway until after 5:30. We are happy we are at the dock as we settle in and reference some logistics that we have to take care of. We still have some things to take care of as we did not expect to actually have the ability to travel.
The Asian Carp have made their appearance as well. Sitting chatting in the salon we hear a sound coming from outside the boat. On the dock there is a 3 pound, or so, Asian Carp flopping around. It was too dark to take a pic but certain there will be more opportunities to photograph these jumpers.
