At Biloxi - Whew

We are here in Biloxi at Point Cadet Marina.

So here we are. It was the right decision getting Capt Rob to help and going the route around all the swollen rivers etc. It was an adventure and we learned a lot about the boat and us. So chalk it up to a Good time and one we could repeat by ourselves if needed. A third or forth hand would be helpful though.

   The first day was miserable - The trip down the river was uneventful. At one point we though a oil tank was on fire but it was the angle we were at to the flare.

When we hit the gulf, the waves were low as predicted at 1-2 ft but the Swells were high 4+ ft and 5-7 seconds therefore the boat pitched a LOT. Very uncomfortable if one tried to walk around. When Carol went to the cabin, she experienced a not so good feeling like motion sickness so she mainly stayed on the flybridge. At one time we went below to test if it was really motion sickness or just a combination of everything. It was motion sickness. So back to the flybridge for the whole day/night where she was fine. But she had fixed a lot of stuff for sandwiches/snacks so no one went hungry. Swells started diminishing as night wore on but a light fog started showing up.

   The second day; starting at midnight - harrowing - lots of FOG - was clear with a great moon and then the fog seemed to show up out of now where, visibility was very very low. Great idea to have, NO you need to have, Radar and AIS. later in the morning (still dark and foggy) the Stabilizer started acting up and fins would move causing directional issues - turned off. Luckly as we approched the area before Tiger Pass the fog cleared and the moon was brillent. And then came Tiger pass. We  entered Tiger Pass at 2200. - the Capt earned his money - Entrance was confusing with all the lights. Had a couple of low water issues but did not stick. Then because of the flooding of the Mississippi we stated incountering a heavy current which increased the closer we got to Venice. At times the current wanted/did  take control of the boat but we prevailed.Got into the marina a bit after midnight.

   The third day was not that bad - After tieing up at the marina, we had an arrival nightcap and got a good night sleep. Woke up to heavy fog, had a breakfast and decided to wait out for the fog to lift, leave and anchor short of Biloxi that night. When we fired off the engines, Steve discovered a SMALL fuel leak (a drop every 1-2 seconds) around the lift pump. He would have nothing but to fix the leak. Finally fixed by tighting some screws and that resealed the gasket (will replace while in Biloxi -- is not leaking now but ......). Great trip from there (Venice LA) to an anchorage in the gulf about 50 miles from Biloxi. The Mississippi current helped us. At one time we hit 10.1 knts. Out in the Gulf we saw lots of these.

Carol fixed us a supper along the way of Sausage, green beans, and pasta with a presto sauce while we traveled. After we anchored, we all had a Margarita and slept well.

   The fourth day was the best there was. Started off with a bang through - the line from the anchor marker float wrapped around the stabilizer fins but we secured it and left. Sea was FLAT and we can't say much cause we just enjoyed the day cruising and the porpoises playing in the bow wake. Arrived at the marina at 1310, refueled $$$$, parked the boat in the slip, had an arrival, found the Capt a car (was a hassle as the rental agents said no cars due to spring break but steve got one on line through a travel agent), sent him off to go back to Houston (his home) and we settled in for a great rest time.

We will stay here a while. Marina Cost is GOOD here. Going to spend a couple of days doing light house chores and RESTING. Then the Admiral says we will have the stabilizers and auto pilot working before we make the next leg or there is no next leg (Ha Ha). After fixing, then we play tourist for a couple of days and leave at the next good weather window.

The Boat is getting stronger each leg so there are a lot of the basic things we just need to check now cause they are ready to go and they seem to like the cruising life and just need attention and maintaining every once in awhile. Soon we will have the next level stuff working the way we want and then the nice to have and at that point we will just be cruising and maintaining.

Will try and keep you up to date and let you know what our next plans are. For now all be safe and enjoy, we are.

Leaving BowTie Marina - heading off shore to Biloxi

We are leaving in the morning to continue heading east. We found a Captain who has made the trip many times before and he will be here tonight to help us. So we leave a great place that we will return to again. We will miss a lot from here, the people, the food, and the quite restful surroundings. Each morning coffee on the back deck is great with the fish eagle, the raccoons, possems, fish, etc. But it is time.

We will travel from  here, down the river to the Gulf, across the Gulf to Tiger Pass and then overnight in Venice La. From there we travel north through a pass and the Mississippi Sound to Biloxi. 3-4 days depending on wind, current etc. and the Mississippi (we will be in it for 3/4 mile) is already 2' higher than normal.

The Spot will be on and we will let you know when we are in Biloxi.

Still at BowTie Marina in Lake Charles

Well, the elbow could not be fixed. As one of the guys said, it would make a great anchor for my duck decoys but ain't worth much more than that.

 Ordered from Houston and  they had one in stock, they sent it and gaskets etc for two as well as ordered us a spare they will drop ship to here.

We really like it here. Don't know how long we will be here but with our schedule we don't really care cause it is a nice place and nice people and we are relaxing. Got everything ready  to install the new part when it gets here and cleaned up the mess I made getting it out. This delay will allow us to fix a few more things that we would delay till later also so all is well and we will be tourists also. But it is great just to sit on the aft deck and watch the critters. And we have a critter that lives close to us (about 30 ft right of the end of the dock). Right now it is a keep the cat away from there chore and we stay away also. Look by the rock (concrete) for the gray rope, that is a water mockison about 4 ft long with a head that is about 4" wide - no i did not catch, measure, and release - this is as close as i got and will get.

 

Of course it was Mardi Gras, wow these people love this time of year. It is fun watching and talking to them about it. Here is one of the boats decorated for the parade (boat parade in lake).

O'yes got to tell on myself, the docks here are not floating so before we went to night-night and because there was a storm coming (it is here) I checked and tightened all the lines. Woke up this morning and the boat had about a third bubble tilt (it was level when we went to bed). Checked boat for leaks etc. etc. etc. all was well. Went on back deck with coffee cup to look around and lo-and-behold all the dock lines were bango string tight. DUH, tide came in. Loosened and all is well. Lesson learned and glad the tide here is not that great.

This marina also houses the local Coast Guard Station. They have 12 pumpkin boats (what the marina owner calls them) and  2 small fiberglass boats.  They regulary have 2 on patrol, 2 in the water and the rest on trailers "ready to go". 

The river at Morgan city is rising to flood +. Am not going to fight the current, debris and no dock space due to the flooding.  May stay here a bit longer  but had a great idea from Mark. Am going to check into going out into the Gulf and going around with help. Am looking into getting someone with local knowledge to go with us. Checked with the owner of the marina and he knows a few good captains that do that kind of thing so we are setting up a chat with a couple next week.

Other than that we are enjoying the hospitility of the natives, the GOOD food and relaxing a lot. Carol is even starting to read a book.

At Lake Charles LA - BowTie Marina

Taylor bayou was great. Forgot to take a pic.  The bugs run us in a little before sunset. The trip through Port Arthur was uneventful except for the fog. Visibility was good when we left TB but socked us in (visibility 1/2 mile) after the MLK bridge. One inbound tanker dropped his anchor in the middle, turned on his fog horn, and reported that he was sitting it out till it cleared.  We turned all detection equipment on and kept going at a very reduced speed, finally the for cleared then it got foggy again. Other than that all went well as far as the trip went.

During one of the checks of the engine room found we had developed a water leak in the starboard engine exhaust elbow. It was just a drip about every 15 seconds but one we kept a watchful eye on till we got to Bow Tie. Will remove it today and get it welded. Hope to NOT break off a bolt but bet I will as  it is rusted in that area. Looks like it had a slow slow slow leak for a long time and finally got a pin hole in it.

Love Bowtie, everyone here is great.  Fill up with fuel (excellent price). May stay here awhile with the engine issue and also because the weather has an FLOOD alert for the river that goes through Morgan City.  It is supposed to flood the city marina and have some serious currents. Glad we have no schedule and will wait till that is safer till we go there..

Ok it is morning, started work on the engine and Yep, busted off one bolt, also it is Mardi Gras and work will slow down/stop on Tesday for the next few days and found another area with a small leak so will get it all done and have a bit of fun while we are at it. Hope to get you some pics of the parade Tuesday.

Here are a couple of views from our boat at BowTie.

On the "water ways" again - Anchored in Taylor Bayou

Well it has been foever since last we updated what's happening. What is happening now is we left Kemah yesterday  (Tuesday). There were no intentions of staying that long. We were ready last week. All provisioned, car back to the nieces, etc. etc. etc. waiting on a weathere window. Then got a wild hair. You know we drug anchor and had some issues. Yes it was a storm, but a good properly sized anchor should hold in a storm. So with a little idle time, we did some research, checked with some friends and decided to upgrade our anchoring system. Got the  secondary anchor Thursday and main anchor last Friday. Then had friends over on Friday, Sat and Sun and the weather was crappy on Monday and we pulled out at 0800 Tuesday.

Wow, it is loads of fun in the Houston Ship Channel, especially with a bit of North Wind. But that is what it is all about. Spent the night anchored in Teacup (next to the Galveston Yacht Club). what a rocky night. Lots of boat traffic but slept well and the anchor held great. Left Teacup at 0700. Managed to cross the HSC with out getting run over and then the fun started. There were two chemical barges entering the ICW just before us  and with the current and traffic we followed one for awhile until we all had to hold in place while a barge was stuck  ACROSS the ICW. Another tow put his barges on the bank and went and helped the one across the ICW. We idled in the lee and along side of the tow/barge we were following and when the tow/barge cleared the ICW it was time to go again for about 10 of us. All orderly and very helpful of each other.

Our next little adventure occured when we were fixing to go  under a bridge that was followed by a SHARP turn. Under the bridge was a tow/barge getting a crew change. We slowed down and chated with them and we started by and then noticed that there was a tow coming towards us on the other side of the turn (thank goodness for AIS). We called the tow and found out he was 900 ft. First choice was for us to idle or go back west and let him make the turn but we were two close to the bridge to idle and the crew changing tow had us blocked and had just started his movement. So, between the Captain of the tow we were meeting and the great skill (yea right) of the captain of Sandpiper we made the turn and all was well.

Recommendation to ALL - get AIS if you are going to go on the ICW It was and will be a great help. It could save your bacon. Without it i have no idea what would have happened. We have the receive only version and it seems to be all we need to keep out of the way of traffic and to allow them to move thru narrow/high current areas without any danger to us.

And for all you who don't like tow drivers, we have found the vast majority of them to be  VERRY VERRY helpful. We owe a lot to acouple of them already.

And this is a great anchorage but be in before dusk. Lots and Lots of sketters.

Tomorrow on to Lake Charles. Will spend a couple of days there, then to anchorage in a river. Am trying to time it so we go through NO Locks on Sun which is the reacommendation of most.

Hey, it is fun and is just begininng.