Pass on the "one whistle side" ???

Saturday afternoon and evening in downtown Chicago on a great looking 53 foot Matthews motor yacht. It doesn't get much better. We dined at Ruth Chris Steakhouse, had a number of guests on board, and got to be entertained by a salty cruise line captain who dropped in to see our boat.

The cruise out of Chicago was slow with 30 or so bridges (all of which we cleared by less than 2 feet). After 20 miles the scenery had changed to woods and the occasional power plant and we could cruise at full speed (10 knots per hour). We passed through 3 locks today and had to wait more than an hour at one due to a large barge passing through (one of the many we encountered). By and large the barge captains were courteous and even helpful. The last barge we met head on and the captain suggested we pass on the "one whistle side" ????

We made it to a great Marina which was closed for the night so we docked at the fuel dock and had dinner in their restaurant.

Our neighbor, boy am I going to miss Chicago.

Captain Larry found my blog after seeing us sail into Chicago and sent me his contact info. I called and he came down to see the boat and regale me with stories from the sea. Larry is Captain of one of the cruise boats on the Chicago River and also worked as a bosun on a cruise line on the Columbia River.

                                    
           

Crew change. This is Jeff's second round on this trip. I really wanted Jeff for the trip across the big lake to Chicago. Dave is my "river rat" mate.

                                   

View as we left port this morning.

                                     

View just 20 miles after we left port.

Dave remembered the drill for getting through locks.

These are very large locks, that is a 36 foot boat in front of us. The first drop was 42 feet.

The river was full of barges. Some were rafted 3 wide and covered the entire channel I learned a new nautical term today. A barge captain radioed we could pass on "one whistle side". I sheepishly asked if that meant port side and he chuckled and said, " Yes Captain". I suspect two whistles represents starboard.

We had a beautiful day on the water and were nearly blinded by the evening sun.

We docked just before dark at Spring Brook Marina at mile marker 251.8. The Illinois River runs 325 miles from Chicago to where it joins the Mississippi River.