In retrospect, perhaps this wasn’t the best year to cruise the 1500 miles (2500 km) up the Mississippi River from New Orleans to Minneapolis. This year, or at least this time of the year, the “Mighty Mississippi” isn’t that mighty. Water levels are at historic lows; sandbanks that are usually deep under water are now exposed. Tugs pushing upto 40 barges or more at a time along the river are now down to 20 or fewer.

We board at Baton Rouge rather than New Orleans because of low water levels and port congestion. Today we’re stationary for more than 12 hours as a tug pushing a bunch of containers lost control scattering them across the river, some running aground blocking river traffic. In many areas of the river, there’s just one shipping lane open, with Army Corps of Engineer dredgers valiantly trying to clear the one channel to a depth that will allow ships to pass. Because it’s harvest time, southbound traffic has priority which further slows us as we move aside to let fully laden barges pass through.

At our three stops in Mississippi: Natchez, Vicksburg and Greenville, the low water level forces our ship to have to be tied up at temporary moorings adjacent to sandbanks with ad hoc “jetties” being set up to allow us and our fellow cruisers (quite a few of whom are barely mobile) to get off and on. We can’t actually tie up in Greenville…..our temporary mooring is across the river in Lakeport, Arkansas.

Even before our journey began, Viking let us know that we would be offloaded in Memphis, spending two nights there before being bussed on to St. Louis for a further two nights before finally re-embarking in Hannibal, Missouri. Again because of low water levels and congestion which would make landing and excursions unlikely.

So perhaps Stuttering On The River would have been a more appropriate title!