Still on the Mississippi, Kaskaskia lock to Little River Diversion Channel Anchorage

The Mighty Mississippi is NOT one of our favorite rivers!!! Still in flood stage but receding, with a significant amount of debris in the river. Many channel markers are either completely missing, or they are "submarining", which means the current is strong enough that if debris gets caught on the marker line, the current can pull the marker under water for several minutes before it pops back to the surface. Occasionally, tow boats/barges run over the markers and relocate them to new positions. In this picture the red marker is on the right descending bank, close to the bank. It is suppose to be on the opposite left descending bank, about 500 yards on the other side of the river. Only close reading of the charts and common sense will keep us in the channel.

Right out of Mark Twain's book, "Life on the Mississippi" comes the steamboat QUEEN OF THE MISSISSIPPI, passing us as she goes upriver and we go down river.

Because we were not able to leave early this morning, due to fog on the river, we decided to anchor in the Little River Diversion Channel, south of Cape Girardeau, MO. We were the first one in the channel, so we moved all the way to the back to allow other boats inside.

This was as far inside as we could go, due to the low bridge.

In front of us, three boats rafted together. The center boat has one anchor set and the boat on the right has one anchor set in the opposite direction.

The parade of boats that were anchored in the Diversion Channel with us: SeaWolf, Andante, Blue Willow, Slipperly, Ta Ta, and Sweet Water.

The under construction Olmsted Lock and dam on the Upper Mississippi River.