Mississippi River - St. Louis-gctid377809

[Eyeman]

I have a meeting in St. Loius in the near future and thought I'd drag the boat down there rather than fly. Has any BOC member cruised this area of the river? Any must does? Marina suggestions would be helpful too. The Admiral will likely be along for a 3-4 day stay. We typically like cruising something less than 100 miles per day.

[Guest]

We are from the Peoria area which is 163 miles north by river but we have visited the area twice. I don't believe many people boat the Mississippi around the St. Louis city area but north of the Alton lock there is a great marina at Alton and a few miles north you have Grafton which also has a great marina and staff. Both Alton and Grafton have nice, older downtowns with things to do. We stayed at Grafton for 7 days and the staff was great. Marina has a pool, bar/resturant, ships store and fuel. The river cruising on both the Mississippi and Illinois rivers is very nice.

[Guest]

As Trich said the pool just North of the city is great for boating. Lots of marinas and resources. Good sand bars, nightlife, etc. Here is a great website that basically covers much of the area and beyond. If you want to pm me I can point you in the right direction on where to stay (so you can be close to your meetings and the boat), where she can shop while you are working, where to eat, etc. Happy to help show off our little piece of the world. Just let me know.

www.riverbills.com

[Eyeman]

Thanks folks. Nice web site. Free Mexican buffet and margarita's at the yacht club. We may be headed down tomorrow morning.

[Download_Complete]

One thing I can tell you from running the Upper Miss near Dubuque - its a lot different than lake boating. The big thing you need to know is if you don't know the area, buy charts, and stay in the middle between the markers.

THe Upper 'Sippi has a lot of wing dams that come out from shore, and they vary from a few feet deep to just below the surface. Also, the depths are constantly changing due to current. What was a perfectly navigable channel last year is .5 feet deep this year. Just be careful if you venture out of the channels.

http://www.encyclopediadubuque.org/index.php?title=WING_DAMS

[Guest]

Very true Matt. Nasty things and we definitely have them. Here is a link where you can download the charts. They help, but they are only as good as when they were made. Things change. But these do help.

Index Group 3 Charges UMR

You'll want to make sure you've got charts numbered 118 through 125 at least. That should cover pool 26. You can also link to them off Riverbills.