| Seabrook, Tx to Houma, La January 28, 2007, Sunday ~ Blue Dolphin Marina, Seabrook, Tx. Today is the day, we begin our great adventure. We leave the dock at 9:00 am. Jerry, Cristina and Troy, all friends and neighbors, are at the dock to see us off. I wish I had a lei to throw in the water as we leave! I have many different feelings as we go ~ excitement, sadness, apprehension, resolve, relief, anticipation. Jerry, Cristina and Troy follow us out for a while in Kemper’s Island. The bay is very rough, but as soon as we get to the Houston Ship Channel it smoothes out and life is chilly, but good. We get to Shell Island anchorage about 7:30 p.m. We discover a problem with the generator. We have no heat for tonight. It is very cold. Fortunately, we have many blankets. We all sleep great. January 29, 2007 ~ Monday ~ Shell Island When morning came, we went up to the fly bridge to discover a terrible burning smell. A spot light which we left off, but plugged in, came on and burned a hole in one of our new cushions. Fortunately, it did not catch fire or burn all the way through to the other side! Phil stuffed an old towel in the hole, put plastic over the hole and flipped the cushion. Lesson learned~ don’t ever leave any light on the fly bridge plugged in when you go below! We are very blessed, despite having a bad generator January 30, 2007 ~ Tuesday ~ Omstead Boat Yard, Lake Charles, La. It was very cold in the morning. We left for Nalmar Fuel Dock to refuel. We put 70 gallons in each tank, enough to get to Intercoastal City, La. Because it is the cheapest fuel on the Gulf Coast and perhaps the U.S.! We left the fuel dock about 10:00 for Intercoastal City. We went through our first lock on the Calcasieu River. It was uneventful, except for the strong, swirling current. A tugboat, with a long tow, had to back out because it did not have enough power to make it through the lock. We saw many, many refrigerators, lying on the sides of the waterway near Cameron, Louisiana. So sad – so many people lost everything. It is still very cold. Phil brought a little heater up to the fly bridge. It was very nice, cozy, chilly, but comfortable. We saw many hawks, great blue herons and barges/tows. Our high for the day was at dusk. There were no other boats near us and around a curve, out of the dark, came a black boat. It looked like a tiny version of the Black Pearl from Pirates of the Caribbean. We laughed and said it looked like a pirate ship. We were so shocked and fascinated that we didn’t even think about taking pictures of it! It turned out to be one of the replicas of Christopher Columbus’ 3 boats, in particular, the Nina. It is touring the U.S. and had been in Houma, Louisiana, for a week, being toured. Phil had toured it in Corpus Christi and said the inside was just as it had been when Christopher Columbus “sailed the ocean blue”. It is really stark, cramped and drab. We can’t imagine taking that boat touring and staying on it, let alone crossing the Atlantic with your animals around you. When you tour it, they won’ t let you go below deck. It costs $5.00 to walk around the deck. I guess that in itself would be an experience. Anyway, I will never forget seeing that boat, such a surprise! We got to Leland Bowman Lock and had to wait about 30 minutes for a tow to come through the lock. When we finally got to Shell Morgan Fuel Dock, it was dark. It was very windy and cold. There was a boat tied up in the middle of where we wanted to tie up. We tried 3 times to tie up behind it, but the wind was too strong and there really was not enough room, anyway. So we decided to tie up to the fuel dock itself. The owner came out and helped us tie up. He said the other boat had been there 3 days, tied up in the middle and he was going to tell him to move on! _____________________________________________________________ January 31, 2007 ~ Wednesday ~ Shell Morgan Fuel Dock, Intracoastal City, La. The fuel dock opened at 6:00 am and we were waiting to fuel. We were where we had spent the night, so all we had to do was get the fuel lines hooked up and let the man start it. We left at 6:50 for Houma. This was a very busy place. There were lots of crew boats and, of course, that one boat tied up in the middle of the opposite side. There was a very strong current, so our progress was slow. We passed a couple of huge tows, being manhandled by at least 3 tugs. They really were big. It was very cold and rainy. The fly bridge was very cozy in the morning, but once again we had trouble with the generator. It was freezing on the fly bridge in the afternoon. February 1, 2007 ~ Thursday ~ Houma, Louisiana We slept late, which means 8 or 8:30! It rained and rained. The boat leaked in both staterooms and the dinette! Rats! It really was not too bad, but it shouldn’t leak at all. However, I’m about to think that all boats do have occasional leaks! We rented a car from Enterprise. They came and picked us up at the marina. We went to breakfast at IHOP. We met two cute ladies, a mother and her daughter, at the next table. Their names were Miss Hazel and Sandra. We visited and they told us about a serial killer who has recently been caught and is in jail here in Houma. It seems he murdered 23 men, some homeless and some of not. He had confessed, but then before the grand jury, he pleaded innocent. The man was Miss Hazel’s bingo partner for 2 or so years!! She was shocked and said she didn’t sleep for 2 nights. She said he was always so nice, getting her ice tea and taking care of her. “Such a nice young man…” We laughed later because we had not been in Houma for 24 hours and we had already met the serial killer’s bingo partner!! Jim, with Phil’s help, spent most of the day working on the generator. We went to Radio Shack and Home Depot for supplies. While the men were in Radio Shack, I went to Supercuts and had a shampoo. It was wonderful! The generator turned out to be not fixable. We definitely needed a new one. February 2, 2007 ~ Friday ~ Houma, La Jim wanted one more shot at the generator. The idea he had did not work. Phil spent most of day on the phone, finding a dealer who could put in a new generator. He found a company called Gulf South Armature who could do it on Monday, February 5. We went and talked to the people who were very nice and seemed very competent. It seemed like a long time until Monday. However, we were in a safe place, had, by this time, good television reception on one station, CBS, and, as Nanci and Jeff were quick to remind us – had our health. During the next 2 days, we went grocery shopping, searched for the perfect local crawfish etouffee, ate at Big Al’s (Miss Hazel and Sandra’s recommendation), Dave’s Cajun Kitchen, and Boudreau & Thibodeau’s (again Miss Hazel and Sandra’s choice), did the laundry, made several trips to Home Depot, Wal-Mart and Target, wandered through an old cemetery, drove around to look at pretty old homes, read books and watched television, including the Super Bowl, which the Indianapolis Colts, the team we were supporting, won. February 5, 2007 ~ Monday ~ Houma, La We got up early this morning to go through the bridge before the curfew from 7:30 to 9:00am which the bridge keeper had told us about last Friday. We got to the bridge at 7:06, only to find out that the curfew is from 7:00 until 8:30am. Terrific. We were supposed to be at Gulf South Armature at 8:00 to have new generator installed. We turned around, went back to the marina, had cereal and bananas and waited until time to go back to the bridge after the curfew. We arrived at Gulf South about 8:35. It was really hard to get the old generator out of the boat. We all went to lunch. We got Subway’s and brought them back to the Gulf South office, where the owners play musical instruments at lunch. Smitty played the violin, his wife, Yvonne, the accordion, and another man played the guitar. They were really good and so nice. They gave us an autographed picture and a CD of them. They used to tour all over the United States, but are now too confined to their business to do that. The name of their group is the “Cajun Friends Band”. They still play once a week in Houma. It is now 4:45pm and we are still at Gulf South Armature. February 6 ~ Tuesday ~ Houma, La. We went back to the marina, took our laundry by to be done, went by Wal-Mart (of course!), returned the car and were taken back to the marina. Phil and Jim walked to the laundry place and when they returned, we threw off our lines and left Houma for New Orleans. We got as far as Boomtown Casino (still in the ICW) on the outskirts of New Orleans and tied up to a bulkhead for the night. We were tired so did not walk to the casino. Selected Pictures along the way from Seabrook to Houma (these are some of the more unusual or special ones) |
Our Travel Log
Travel Log
This morning we found that it had indeed been cold – there was
ice on the deck! We left Shell Island Anchorage about 8:00 am. It
was very cold and raining.
We went straight to Lake Charles, Louisiana to Omstead Boat
Yard. “Fluffy”, the third generation owner of the yard, worked on
our boat. He replaced two breakers, one of which was bad, and
declared the generator fixed or as much so as he could repair it.
We said “Hooray, hooray!!” He checked the water pump for
strange noises that Jim heard, but Fluffy could not hear. He did
not find any problem, imagine that! We stayed at the boat yard
and watched television that night. We got good reception and we
stayed warm..
ice on the deck! We left Shell Island Anchorage about 8:00 am. It
was very cold and raining.
We went straight to Lake Charles, Louisiana to Omstead Boat
Yard. “Fluffy”, the third generation owner of the yard, worked on
our boat. He replaced two breakers, one of which was bad, and
declared the generator fixed or as much so as he could repair it.
We said “Hooray, hooray!!” He checked the water pump for
strange noises that Jim heard, but Fluffy could not hear. He did
not find any problem, imagine that! We stayed at the boat yard
and watched television that night. We got good reception and we
stayed warm..
We tied up in Houma, Louisiana, at 6:15 pm. The
weather had been gray, cold and misty or rainy for
days. We walked to a Chinese restaurant for dinner.
It felt great to walk, although it was a little farther than
Jim’s 5 or 6 blocks!! It was more like 12 blocks. We
took a taxi back to the boat. We were all tired that
night. We had no television reception which was fine.
We all went to bed early. We were hooked up to
shore power, so we had heat. We all slept well!
weather had been gray, cold and misty or rainy for
days. We walked to a Chinese restaurant for dinner.
It felt great to walk, although it was a little farther than
Jim’s 5 or 6 blocks!! It was more like 12 blocks. We
took a taxi back to the boat. We were all tired that
night. We had no television reception which was fine.
We all went to bed early. We were hooked up to
shore power, so we had heat. We all slept well!
It was very
heavy and with
the confined
opening in the
boat, it was
impossible
without “Big
Randy’s” help.
Apparently he is
the “strong
man”.
heavy and with
the confined
opening in the
boat, it was
impossible
without “Big
Randy’s” help.
Apparently he is
the “strong
man”.
The new Northern Lights generator was finally
in Harmony and could be counted on to provide
all of our electrical needs when we were away
from shore power.
This was supposed to be a 4 or 5 hour job, but
like most jobs, it has taken more than twice as
long. We hope to go back to the marina after
the afternoon rush hour curfew at the bridge.
This morning we drove over to Gulf
South Armature for hot biscuits and
cherry crumble crunch. We had to be
there at 7:15 or we would miss the
food. We were actually a little late, but
they waited on us and there was plenty
to eat. We visited for a while,
The houseboats are the only two we've
seen along the ICW, the smaller one
crossed the Gulf of Mexico and was
being delivered to Lake Conroe north
of Houston. The seaplane zoomed
over the top of us from aft and we
thought we were being straffed or
bombed, it appeared that he was going
to fly under a high bridge and then he
disappeared. We later saw him tied to
this tug. Probably delivering crew or
parts.
The sunset is just one of many from an
anchorage. We have many sunsets
and sunrises that are all spectacular.