We had a large day today covering the longest day hop yet of 120 miles as there are no marinas between here and Havana. Only one lock today and we had a quick 30 minute transit and made it to Grafton by 2pm after leaving Havana at 6.30am. We are about to enter the state of Missouri and St Louis is just 30 miles down stream but we will stay here a couple of days. Grafton is known as the “Key West” of the mid west with lots of bars along the waterfront. The marina has a swimming pool which I’ve already used because it is over 30 degrees C again today. The photo below shows the view down the Mississippi towards Elspah Cliffs.

We had another instance today that reinforced the use of our AIS. We were aware of a large tow of 18 barges of about 600 ft pushed by one powerful tug coming around a blind turn in a narrow part of the Illinois River before it visually appeared. It was the largest tow we have seen so far with six long and three wide.  The AIS gave us plenty of time to keep out of its way.