22 Oct 13; Wilmington, NC - Houston, TX
22 Oct 13 Up early, followed by a quick breakfast at the hotel. We had to run back to the boat to take a few headsail measurements that I had forgotten to do earlier. Then, we drove to Raleigh-Durham to get our late afternoon flight back to Houston. Daughter Ashley picked us up at the airport and we...
21 Oct 13; Harbor Village - Anchors Aweigh Boatyard
21 Oct 13 Up at the crack of dawn for the final push. We moved the boat over to the fuel dock to top up the diesel tank and pumped out the holding tanks, followed by pumping in a bit of anti-freeze and odor preventer. Then, at 10:30, I pushed off the dock and Terri drove the rental car over to Ancho...
19 - 20 Oct 13; Topsail - Harbor Village Marina
19 Oct 13 We were up early (for us), got the hook up and motored the 3.5 miles to Harbour Village Marina. We got into the slip with help from the neighbors, and immediately started stripping down the boat. Cleaned the scum and barnacles off the bottom of the dinghy and the kayaks, pulled the genoa d...
17 - 18 Oct 13; Wrightsville - Topsail Inlet
17 Oct 13 We met this morning with a couple of guys from Bluewater Canvas to see about getting an Isenglass enclosure built around the cockpit. Hopefully, they will give us a good quote in a couple of days. Yesterday, I got the wrong anchor shackle (too big), so back to West Marine to get a smaller...
16 Oct 13; Carolina Beach - Wrightsville
16 Oct 13 We are apparently turning into a couple of bears; every day, as the days get shorter and the temperatures cool off, we sleep more. We did not get up until 09:00 today. Seapath Marina in Wrightsville confirmed that they had a spot for us tonight, so after lunch we moved the 10 miles north o...
13 - 15 Oct 13; Southport - Carolina Beach
13 Oct 13 Forecast for today was not good yesterday afternoon, but this morning it is not too bad, so we decided to move on up the coast a bit; destination - Carolina Beach. We waited until 14:30 to catch the flood up the Cape Fear River, to Snows Cut and then into Carolina Beach, where we picked up...
10 - 12 Oct 13; N. Myrtle Beach - Southport
10 Oct 13 Weather forecast is better today (cool, overcast, wind NW15 - 20, but no rain), so we got up and moved east to Southport. It was cold (2 T-shirts, one PolarTech and a foul weather jacket kind of cold) all day and the wind was actually east of north all day long and flukey, so we never were...
7 - 9 Oct 13; Osprey - N. Myrtle Beach
7 Oct 13 Weather forecast for today is rain, but with a south wind, so we decided to move on up the coast a bit to North Myrtle Beach. We got away just after 10:00 and motored all the way to Myrtle Beach Yacht Club, arriving about 15:00. Shortly after we arrived, we were invited up for docktails wit...
6 Oct 13; Bull Cr. - Osprey Marina
6 Oct 13 We upped anchor and moved a few more miles up the ditch to Osprey Marina, at the south end of Myrtle Beach, SC. We pumped out, fueled up, did laundry, washed the boat, filled up the water tanks and went to dinner at Scatoris (Italian restaurant), followed by a quick grocery shop.
4 - 5 Oct 13; Prince Cr. - Bull Creek
4 Oct 13 Another beautiful morning. We moved a couple of miles over to Bull Creek. We went about two miles further up the creek than either of the anchorages recommended in Active Captain; still plenty of water and the anchor grabbed immediately. Just after we got hooked, we spied an alligator swimm...
2 - 3 Oct 13; Jericho Cr. - Prince Creek
2 Oct 13 Up early this morning to catch the last of the morning flood; at least that was the plan. We did get the engine going at 08:25 and finally got the anchor up and cleaned up by 08:50; very muddy anchorage this. The Waccamaw River loomed up about 09:15 and we continued north on this beautiful...
30 Sep - 1 Oct 13; Georgetown - Jericho Creek
30 Sep 13 And yet another beautiful, clear, cool morning. We topped up the water tanks, washed the boat, and headed into town to look for industrial strength velcro. The frame shop agreed to frame our print of “Iverna Yacht at Full Sail, 1895”. We also had to stop at the UPS store and get a bit more...
27 - 29 Sep 13; N. Santee R. - Georgetown
27 Sep 13 Slept in till 08:00. LW is not until 10:10 and there is no point in starting the 15 mile run to Georgetown before half-tide. We read and played guitar and knitted (well, Terri did) all morning. About noon, we started to get ready to go and thought the wind seemed a bit “fresh”. Turned on t...
25 - 26 Sep 13; Bull Cr. - N. Santee River
25 Sep 13 We were up in time for the sunrise, which does not happen these days until after 07:00. After breakfast, we got ready to move, picked up the anchor and headed for the next anchorage at the N. Santee River. On the way, we passed Alligator Creek and, sure enough, right at the mouth of the cr...
23 - 24 Sep 13; Charleston - Bull Creek
23 Sep 13 Yes, we actually, finally managed to pull ourselves away from Charleston (it is a hard place to leave). Naturally, the wind was smack on the nose all day: forecast NE 5 - 10, was actually NE 15 - 20 all day. We covered about 19 NM and anchored in Bull Creek, off Price Creek, which is betwe...
31 Aug - 22 Sep 13; Church Cr. - Charleston
31 Aug 13 Spent a bit of time trying to resolve the problems with the anchor winch, but no luck. About noon, it was so hot and still that we got going; i.e., manually hauled up the chain and anchor and headed off up the ICW to Charleston. The route took us alongside Johns Island (on the starboard si...
30 Aug 13; Tom Point Cr. - Church Creek
30 Aug 13 Another short trip today and high water is not until 12:00. We slept in till 09:00 and had Swedish pancakes for breakfast. When we finally got ready to go, the anchor winch would not work (either the winch or, more likely, the control system is not working). After looking for obvious fault...
29 Aug 13; Morgan I. - Tom Point Creek
29 Aug 13 Short sail - only 10 nautical miles to go - to our next anchorage at Tom Point Creek, so we slept in and lazed about in the morning and got underway about 11:00. We sailed a little bit early on, but then the wind got fluky and we motored most of the way to the anchorage. We got in about 13...
27 Aug 13; Beaufort - Morgan Island
27 Aug 13 LW is at 08:22, so we left after that, getting away from the dock about 9:50, after pumping out the holding tank. We motored all the way to the Observatory Point anchorage, south of Morgan Island, which is a U.S. Government-run breeding spot for Rhesus monkeys (for research purposes?). App...
21 - 26 Aug 13; Mackay Cr. - Beaufort, SC
21 Aug 13 Slept in as we are waiting to time our arrival at Beaufort for LW slack - 16:00, which means we need to leave about 13:00 or so. We read and lazed about all morning and then about the time to go, noticed there was a huge storm right over the top of Beaufort. We waited for nearly an hour an...
20 Aug 13; Cooper R. - Mackay Creek
20 Aug 13 We pulled out of the Cooper River Anchorage at 8:45, just after high tide, to make sure we had plenty of water to get into Mackay Creek, which is on the west side of Pinckney Island, just west of the north end of Hilton Head Island. We motored all the way to the north end of Skull Creek an...
19 Aug 13; Isle of Hope - Cooper River
19 Aug 13 Up early to catch the tide; high water at 7:40. Good to be on the go again. We motored past Savannah, passing the 32nd parallel early, crossed the Savannah River and entered South Carolina, through Fields Cut, along the Wright River, through Walls Cut, up the New River, along Ramsford Cree...
15 - 18 Aug 13; Warsaw - Isle of Hope
15 Aug 13 After breakfast, we took Luke and Tessie ashore to see the beach on the Atlantic side of Wassaw Island. Again, miles and miles of deserted, white sand beach. And not a beach boy or a fresh drink to be found. About lunch time we left and headed back to Isle of Hope Marina. 16 Aug 13 Tessie...
14 Aug 13; Isle of Hope - Warsaw Island
14 Aug 13 We lazed around in the morning, although Luke and I tackled the in-line engine room blower fan. We ditched the relay, although I’m not convinced that it is not working, and replaced it with a toggle switch. The fan seems to work fine now. We left the dock about 14:30 and headed down the Ve...
10 - 13 Aug 13; Warsaw Creek - Isle of Hope Marina
10 Aug 13 Away from the anchorage just after 09:00 to catch the flood up Ossabaw Sound, Vernon River, and Burnside River to the Isle of Hope Marina, where we will stay for a few days until Luke (Terri’s brother) and Tessie join us for a few days of hot cruising. We arrived at the marina at noon and...
8 Aug 13; Blackbeard I. - Cane Patch Creek
8 Aug 13 Greeted this morning by a 4 or 5 ft alligator swimming up the creek alongside the boat; glad I did not know that yesterday afternoon while I was in the water. I thought they did not like salt water; so much for conventional wisdom. After breakfast, we got the hook up and ambled 24 miles alo...
7 Aug 13; Rockedundy R. - Blackbeard Island
7 Aug 13 After a very restful night, interrupted only by a passing shrimp boat at about 4:45, we got the anchor up about an hour before high tide and headed north again; destination - Blackbeard I., reputedly the place where Blackbeard the pirate spent some time. Another quiet anchorage; we were the...
6 Aug 13; Brunswick - Rockedundy River
6 Aug 13 We got up and left just before high tide (at about 9:00) and made our way north along the ICW, crossing Altamaha Sound and entering the Little Mud River. It was windy - E15 - 20 - most of the time, so we sailed under full genoa most of the way to the entrance to Rockedundy River. We went ab...
4 - 5 Aug 13; Jekyll I. - Brunswick, GA
4 Aug 13 Up early (for us, anyway) to catch the last of the ebb tide for a short run across the Brunswick River and St. Simon’s Sound to Hidden Harbor Marina, which happens to be the closest place to the Brunswick UPS store. We got in by 11:00 and then spent the afternoon escaping the heat in the co...
1 - 3 Aug 13; Cumberland I. - Jekyll Island
1 Aug 13 Up early-ish to catch the best part of the tide on the run to Jekyll Island. We had a very pleasant trip through the salt marshes of southern Georgia, past the Kings Bay Naval (nuclear attack submarine, but don’t tell anyone I told you so) Base and across St. Andrew’s Sound to Jekyll Island...
29 - 31 Jul 13; Fernandina Beach - Cumberland Island
29 Jul 13 We got up and got the boat ready to move on, then hopped in the car to go to the UPS store (to pick up the machine screws and wind scoops I bought; they showed up just as we got there, which was good timing) and return the rental car. Then, it was off to Cumberland Island. We motored and s...
27 - 28 Jul 13; Fernandina Beach Marina
27 Jul 13 We rousted ourselves about 9:00 and I tried the generator again; it works fine now, so I guess it just over-heated last night, which does not bode well for any plans we have to stop on either a mooring ball or the anchor - don’t know how we will keep cool. After breakfast, dropped the moor...
25 - 26 Jul 13; Jacksonville - Fernandina Beach
25 Jul 13 Up early-ish, to catch the flood tide north on the ICW to Fernandina Beach. This is supposed to be a narrow, challenging pilot, but was a piece of cake; Active Captain kept us off the bottom the whole way. We picked up a mooring ball at Fernandina Harbor Marina about noon and went into tow...
23 - 24 Jul 13; Ortega Landing - Jacksonville City Free Dock
23 Jul 13 I woke up not feeling quite 100% (some sort of sinus infection or something), but we went ahead with the final preparations for departure. We got all the back-up docklines cleaned up and stowed, lashed down everything on the foredeck, stowed all our personal gear below and got away from th...
18 Jun - 22 Jul 13; St. Augustine - Jacksonville
18 Jun 13 Since we needed to wait for the tide a bit, we did not leave until 08:45. We caught the last of the ebb down the Matanzas River, then turned up against the current (last of the ebb) into the Tolomato River. We fought the ebb for the next 4 hours and got to the high point just in time to ca...
17 Jun 13; St. Augustine mooring field
17 Jun 13 After breakfast and settling up with the marina, we left the marina and moved down-river through the bascule bridge to the mooring field (to save a few dollars). Once settled in, we took the dink back over to the dinghy dock and took a tour of “El Galeon”, a replica of Ponce de Leon’s ship...
13 - 16 Jun 13; Palm Coast - St. Augustine
14 Jun 13 It is a short run (only 22 N-m) to St. Augustine Marina and there is no point in arriving there much before high water slack at 13:51, so we lazed around the boat in the morning and finally got off the dock at about 09:40. Interesting run up the ICW with a couple of light showers. Lots of...
13 Jun 13; New Smyrna Beach - Palm Coast
13 Jun 13 We slept in again - hard habit to break - and headed north about 09:30. Originally, we planned to stay at the Marineland Marina, because they are cheap, but they have a bar that we can only get across +/- 2 hours of high water. Since we do not want to get stuck there, we decided to stop fo...
12 Jun 13; Titusville - New Smyrna Beach
12 Jun 13 After the fireworks of last night, we slept in a bit and headed north about 08:30. The trip up through the Mosquito Lagoon was again uneventful - although we did see a bunch of manatees - and we arrived at New Smyrna Beach City Marina at about 13:00. We got tied up and unlimbered the bikes...
11 Jun 13; Melbourne - Titusville
11 Jun 13 Today, we are headed for Titusville, about 35 miles up the ICW (or Indian River). We slept in and got away about 09:00. After an uneventful trip up the ICW, punctuated only by the appearance of the NASA Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) off in the distance - it is HUGE! - we arrived at Titus...
10 Jun 13; Ft. Pierce - Melbourne
10 Jun 13 Slept in till 06:30 then left about 07:00 on the ICW route headed toward Melbourne. Sam and Steve are going to go all the way to Cocoa, but Terri and I plan to anchor out somewhere. We tried a couple of reputedly good anchorages, but ran out of water on both of them before we got all the w...
9 Jun 13; Lake Worth - Ft. Pierce
9 Jun 13 Another early start - 06:00 away from the dock - on the way to Ft. Pierce. We had SE 15 - 20 most of the morning, but it started to die away late morning. We sailed and motored in very lumpy quartering seas all the way to Ft. Pierce, arriving without incident (or thunderstorm) at about 13:0...
8 Jun 13; Ft. Lauderdale - Lake Worth
8 Jun 13 Well, another fine adventure under our belts. We left Ft. Lauderdale at 06:00 with the plan of getting to Lake Worth by 14:00 before the daily afternoon T-storms set in. Once out of Lauderdale and 2 miles offshore, we picked up a 3 - 4 knot following current; we were making 11.4 knots SOG f...
3 - 7 Jun 13; No Name Harbor - Ft. Lauderdale
3 Jun 13 We were up early, but hung around the harbor for a while watching a couple of local thunderstorms trying to develop to the south and west. About 08:30, things cleared up a bit and we decided to go for it, exiting back out via Cape Florida and then turning north parallel to and about 2 miles...
2 Jun 13; Rodriguez Island - No Name Harbor
2 Jun 13 We were up at 07:00 and underway by 07:30 in absolutely clear, calm, flat conditions. We motored nearly all the way (except for 1 hour of sailing with the asymmetrical spinnaker out) to No Name Harbor, arriving at 14:30, after taking the short-cut in by Cape Florida (south end of Key Biscay...
1 Jun 13; Boot Key - Rodriguez Island
1 Jun 13 Up at 7:30. I dinked in to pay the mooring fee (a long-winded process, for one night) and then we got away about 9:30. Picked up a gallon of gasoline for the dinghy on the way out. As soon as we got out of Marathon harbor, the anemometer started going crazy; we initiated the re-calibration...
31 May 13; Stock Island - Boot Key
31 May 13 After our restless night, we were up early getting ready to get away from the dock and over to the boatyard. I called 3D boatyard at 08:00 sharp and they said they could do a quick haul at 09:30. We finished breakfast and got the boat ready and were at the travelhoist by 09:10. They took u...
21 - 30 May 13; Boatyard - Stock Island Marina
21 May 13 Jason finished all the paint work on the starboard side, re-glassed the blister on the rudder, and installed the new thru-hull fitting on the transom locker. Brent picked up the new alternator after lunch and we got it installed by 16:00, although the pulley is smaller than the old one, so...
9 - 20 May 13; A&B Marina - Stock Island Marina boatyard
9 May 13 Finally checked out of A&B Marina and headed over to the boatyard on Stock Island, about 7.5 Nm away from A&B. We motored and motor-sailed with no problem, arriving at 11:45. We were on the travel-lift by 12:15. Met with Jason Gold, who will do a bottom job while we are up on the blocks and...
3 - 8 May 13; Garrison Bight - A&B Marina
3 May 13 We were already scheduled to move back to the A&B Marina for the weekend, but now it is essential to start work on the repairs. When we started the engine, we found out that the oil pressure sender (which prevents the low oil pressure alarm from alarming) also got fried by the lightning, al...
30 Apr - 2 May 13; A&B Marina - Garrison Bight (Lightning Strike!!)
30 Apr 13 To save a bit of dosh, we left the marina and moved to the Garrison Bight Mooring Field on the north side of Key West. It’s only a mile or so away, as the crow flies, but much less expensive. After getting secured and checked in, we pretty much just hung out and took care of boat chores fo...
26 - 29 Apr 13; Naples - Key West
26 Apr 13 Weather forecast is the same, so we decided to go straight to Key West. It is a 20 hour trip, so we decided to leave about noon, with the intent of arriving at the Northwest Channel (entry to Key West) at about sunrise on Saturday. We had a nice walk into the Starbucks in Naples and stoppe...
25 Apr 13; Ft. Myers Beach - Naples
25 Apr 13 We left early (09:00) for the run down to Naples, where we spent the night at the Naples Bay Boat Club. Naples is a neat little town with a 35 ft max height building restriction, so for the first time since we arrived in Florida, the horizon is not jammed with high-rise hotels and condos....
22 - 24 Apr 13; San Carlos Bay - Ft. Myers Beach
22 Apr 13 We decided to exercise discretion and move to the mooring field at Ft. Myer’s Beach. Ft. Myer’s Beach is a typical beach town with a number of bars, restaurants and T-shirt shops. We chilled in the afternoon and then took the dinghy to Doc Ford’s for dinner with Pat and Sam. Guitars and wh...
21 Apr 13; Sanibel - San Carlos Bay
21 Apr 13 Weather forecast for the next 24 hours is good: NE 10 - 15, so we headed out of the marina 4 miles to an anchorage in San Carlos Bay. The anchorage is open to winds from the S or SW, but the forecast does not show that, so we should be good. Famous last words. We got anchored about 13:00 a...
19 - 20 Apr 13; Useppa - Sanibel
19 Apr 13 Up and away from the anchorage by 10:00. Hated to leave but the forecast for the next couple of days is not so good, and we have arranged for a mail drop at Sanibel Marina, so off we go. Wind S15 - 25 (on the nose, of course) all the way, although I did get a bit of genoa up on a couple of...
18 Apr 13; Venice - Useppa Island
18 Apr 13 Up early for a 40 mile run to Boca Grande. The forecast was E - SE, so we decided to go outside. After we rendezvoused with Sam and Pat and collected our dink, we headed out to sea about 09:00. Unfortunately, after we got out of the Venice Inlet and got the sail up, the wind went almost im...
17 Apr 13; Sarasota - Venice
17 Apr 13 After a healthy breakfast, I went for an early haircut and Terri had a quick shop at Whole Foods. Then, we departed for Venice, FL. Sam and Pat got a berth at the Venice Yacht Club, via a friend of theirs, but we could not get in, so we went another 3 miles, and two bascule bridges, furthe...
11 Apr 13; St. Pete - Longboat Key
11 Apr 13 We had decided to press on to the south, so naturally the wind was SE 15 - 20, but we decided to press on anyway. We motored and motor-sailed to Sarasota Bay, stopping at Longboat Key Club Moorings, which is a very nice resort facility. After getting docked just after noon, we took the fre...
12 - 16 Apr 13; Longboat Key - Sarasota
12 Apr 13 Longboat Key Club Moorings is a bit too posh for the likes of boat-trash like us (not to mention seriously expensive), so after topping off water tanks and emptying out holding tanks, we moved over to the mainland side of Sarasota Bay, to Marina Jacks, where we picked up another mooring ba...
9 - 10 Apr 13; Maximo Marina - St. Petersburg Municipal
9 Apr 13 John was ill during the night, but we have diagnosed it as dehydration; northern boy not used to southern heat and humidity. After showers, we left Maximo and made our way around the southern end of the St. Pete peninsula, though another couple of bascule bridges and into Tampa Bay. We pick...
8 Apr 13; Clearwater - St. Petersburg
8 Apr 13 Up with the sun - not - and headed south in the general direction of St. Petersburg, passing through 5 bascule bridges, all of which had to open for us. We decided to stop on the west side of town at Maximo Marina, mainly because of it’s proximity to West Marine and Publix (our new favorite...
7 Apr 13; Anclote - Clearwater
7 Apr 13 Slept in late this morning - do you see a trend here. After breakfast, we took off for Clearwater Beach Marina. The wind was light from the east so we went out into the Gulf and anchored for lunch just offshore of Caladesi Island. We were enjoying a nice afternoon nap when a TV helicopter f...
1 - 6 Apr 13; Anclote Harbor Marina
1 Apr 13 Our friends, Bill and Becky Martz, now living in Orlando, have invited us for a visit for a few days, so we decided to move the boat to Anclote Harbors Marina; looks like a better (and less expensive) place to stay for a few days. Bill and Becky arrived about 15:00 and we then drove back to...
29 - 31 Mar 13; Panama City - Tarpon Springs
29 Mar 13 Weather forecast for the next 3 days still looks pretty good, so we have decided to go for Tarpon Springs, planning to depart just after noon. We fueled up and took off by 13:00. The wind was on the nose, so we motored all afternoon and evening. At 14:00 local time, we executed a flag sign...
26 - 28 Mar 13; Fort McRee - Panama City
26 Mar 13 Up at 02:30 again. The wind abated during the night; we now have NW 7 - 10 in the anchorage and the forecast is NW 10 - 15. We are going for it, but it is COLD (38 deg F in Pensacola). Got the anchor up at 03:10 then crept out of the anchorage and down the Caucus Channel (exit from Pensaco...
24 - 25 Mar 13; Pensacola - Fort McRee
24 Mar 13 Rained during the night, but the day dawned clear and beautiful. We went into town for coffee and WiFi. Then, after refueling and emptying holding tanks, we headed out about 13:00 for the Ft. McRee anchorage at the south end of Pensacola Bay. We had a challenging sail down as the wind was...
17 - 23 Mar 13; Big Lagoon - Pensacola, FL
17 Mar 13 Up early and decided to take on one of the big #48 genoa sheet winches; another big job - finally finished about 13:30. We took the dinghy to the island and walked over to the GOM beach side and had a nice walk along the beautiful white sand beach. Afterward, we weighed anchor and motored...
16 Mar 13; Ingrams Bayou - Big Lagoon, FL
16 Mar 13 Another beautiful morning at Ingram’s, but today (for the first time since we came back out from Houston) we did not have to turn on the heater. After a pleasant morning watching the porpoises and pelicans, we left about 10:00 for an anchorage on the Big Lagoon, just north of Perdido Key....
14 - 15 Mar 13; Homeport - Ingrams Bayou
14 Mar 13 Short trip east on the ICW brought us to Ingram’s Bayou and a lovely, quiet anchorage it is, indeed. We saw porpoises on the way in (and a porpoise watching boat coming out), and then saw them several times during the day. We took the dinghy out for a ride further up the bayou and watched...
12 - 13 Mar 13; Biloxi - Homeport Marina, AL
12 Mar 13 Up at 06:00 and away from the dock at 06:45. Talk about COLD!?! I had on eight layers of clothing and was still cold all day. Forecast for the wind was N 8 - 10, so naturally it was ENE 10 - 15, shifting to NNE 15 - 20, which made for a brisk day. We managed to get the foresail up by the t...
8 - 11 Mar 13; Gulfport - Biloxi, MS
8 Mar 13 Cleaned the boat deck, moved the whisker pole, kayak and folding bike all to the port side, which seems to have reduced our list to starboard a bit. Then, after pumping out the holding tanks, we pulled out of Gulfport and headed for Biloxi. As soon as we cleared the harbor channel, we turne...
6 - 7 Mar 13; Rabbit I. - Gulfport, MS
6 Mar 13 Up anchor by 09:00 and on the way to Gulfport. Motored and motor-sailed the whole way, arriving just after 14:00 at Gulfport Small Craft Harbor. Neat little town with loads of restaurants and bars within walking distance of the marina. This place was virtually destroyed by Katrina. The wate...
5 Mar 13; New Orleans - Rabbit Island, LA
5 Mar 13 Collected the folding bike from the marina office and assembled it. Returned the rental car to Enterprise and they kindly gave me a ride back to the marina. It was just after noon and the weather still looked good, so we decided to head for Rabbit Island anchorage on the ICW, about 20 miles...
16 Feb - 4 Mar 13; Lafitte - New Orleans, LA
16 Feb 13 Up early and away (the anchor windlass finally worked - hooray!!!) by 08:00 on the 24 mile trip to the Big Easy. We passed under 2 bascule bridges and locked through the Harvey Canal Lock, which lifted us 8 feet up to the Mississippi before noon. Had a blustery cruise down the Big Muddy, p...
15 Feb 13; Houma - Lafitte, LA
15 Feb 13 We pulled out of Houma about 09:00 and headed on east for an anchorage at Lafitte (named for and former hang-out of notorious pirate Jean Lafitte). The 37 mile trip was cold, with a 15 - 20 knot wind out of the north blowing all day long. We shared dinner with Pat and Sam on “Longhawk”.
14 Feb 13; Morgan City - Houma, LA
14 Feb 13 Pulled out of Morgan City about 9:00 and headed east through the Bayou Boeuf Locks. About 10:30, we pulled into the McDermott Fabricators’ slip in Amelia and cruised up to see the decks of the Alen platforms, which have been loaded out on a huge, ocean-going barge for the trip to Equatoria...
13 Feb 13; Charenton Canal - Morgan City, LA
13 Feb 13 After our exciting night, we headed out about 8:30 for Morgan City. Starting to get into the cypress swamps now, so the scenery is changing. Still seeing lots of ospreys and quite a few bald eagles, but no alligators. Cold, damp and generally unpleasant in the cockpit, although the wind wa...
12 Feb 13; Avery I. - Charenton Canal, LA
12 Feb 13 The weather was cold and rainy on this Mardi Gras morning, so we decided to pass on a visit to Avery Island and headed on out to the ICW. Fog was a bit of a problem a few times, but we managed the 25 mile trip to Charenton Canal without too much delay or challenge, although it was cold and...
11 Feb 13; Delcambre - Avery Island, LA
11 Feb 13 After a long weekend in Lafayette with our old friends Steve and Mimi Anderson, visiting and celebrating Mardi Gras, we got back to the boat Monday afternoon at about 14:30. Weather was cool (55 deg F) and breezy (wind ENE 5 - 10), with intermittent rain showers through the afternoon. We...
7 Feb 13; Mermentau - Delcambre, LA
7 Feb 13 Thursday morning we left the anchorage at about 06:45 and motored to Talen's Landing, where we filled up the diesel fuel tank. Then, on through Intracoastal City, across the Vermilion River and into Bayou Petite Anse and the Delcambre Canal. After 6 miles up the uncharted channel in water d...
6 Feb 13; Lake Arthur - Mermentau River
6 Feb 13 Wednesday morning, we got back on the trail again early, headed for a recommended anchorage on the Mermentau River, although by now, I was beginning to be seriously suspicious of these recommendations. We successfully negotiated the Calcasieu Lock, Bayou Black pontoon bridge and Grand Lake...
4 - 5 Feb 13; Port Arthur - Lake Charles, LA
4 Feb 13 We had a restful, but short night, and got underway Monday morning by 08:00; planned destination Bayou Choupique, just south of Lake Charles, LA. The trip across the rest of east Texas and into Louisiana was picturesque and otherwise uneventful, until late in the day. We passed under the El...
3 Feb 13; Redfish I. - Taylor Outfall Canal
3 Feb 13 After a quiet, restful night on the hook, we weighed anchor about 11:00 on Sunday morning and headed for Stingaree Marina on Boliver Peninsula, about 7 miles up the ICW from Boliver Roads. We arrived at Stingaree at about 16:00, very nearly high tide, but were unable to get within 50 feet o...
2 Feb 13; Kemah - Redfish Island
2 Feb 13 After a send-off from Waterford Harbor Marina by friends and family from Houston and dock neighbors, Terri and I pulled out of our slip at 21:00 (that's 9:00 pm to you land-lubbers) on Saturday night, 2 Feb 13, and motored in pitch dark across Galveston Bay to anchor at Redfish Island. We w...