2004 CRUISE
TRIP 1 LOGS
Houston, TX to Covington, LA
March 14 - 25, 2004

Houston, TX to ICW Mile 270, Sunday, March 14, 2004

     It was raining the day we left, but I wanted to go anyway.  It had been months since we had the boat out for a cruise, and I had been trying hard to get everything on the boat working at the same time.  Sometimes that seems like an impossibility on a boat.  If we could have loaded the boat before Saturday, we would have left then; but we actually were still buying some things, like propane, on Sunday morning.

     It was windy, and forecast for offshore waters was iffy - 3 to 5-foot seas.  We went down the Houston Ship Channel and straight out the jetties at Galveston.  I wanted to go offshore to the Calcasieu River if possible, and buy fuel there.  The last fuel we bought was in August 2003.  As we cleared the jetties we decided it was too rough.  The stabilizers would help on the rolling from left to right, but the seas were also close together and at least five feet if not six.  So, we turned around, carefully, and retraced our path back to the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW).  There we turned to the east and headed for Port Arthur/Beaumont.

     There's a great anchorage near the mile marker for Mile 270, near Shell Island.  We have used it several times and also liked it.  After we passed Port Arthur and Beaumont and the Neches River, we came to the anchorage.  We listened on the radio and heard the TMCA boats headed for Lake Charles.  That was the so-called Geezer's Spring Forward Cruise, which had just begun and was scheduled to be a week or more.  We pulled into the anchorage and dropped the hook in about 20 feet of water.  Ed and Marion Herndon were there in  S/V REMEDY, and the cruise leader was Frank LeGrand and his wife, Sue, on S/V LE GRAND AMOUR.  There were half a dozen other boats, and I don't recall all their names - some were MYSTIC BREEZE, REVIVAL, and LAST TRADE.  Due to the rain we didn't visit between the boats but cooked and ate dinner on our own vessels.

     Galveston is Mile 350 on the ICW, so we ran 80 miles from the Houston Ship Channel to the anchorage.  We figured we had come another 35 miles from Clear Lake to the jetties and back up to the ICW, so we called it 115 statute miles for the day.  Our running hours were 7, and we were anchored by 4:15 in the late afternoon.  After dinner we turned off the generator and slept without heat or air conditioning.  The high for the day may have been 70 or a little lower; we had rain but no thunderstorms.

ICW Mile 270 to Intracoastal City, LA, Monday, March 15, 2004

     The weather forecast still did not sound good for going offshore, so we stayed in the ICW and went through the Calcasieu Lock.  It was surprisingly pleasant; we only waited about fifteen minutes and the lockmaster was nice.  We had turned on the generator at 7am and pulled up the anchor at 8:10am.  By 11:30 we were through the Calcasieu Lock, and by 4pm we had cleared the Leland Bowman Lock, which was also a pleasant experience.

    I still didn't trust our fuel situation.  We were told when we bought the boat that it had three 300-gallon fuel tanks.  I had run the forward tank dry in 2003, and it took 218 gallons to fill it up.  I had been concerned that we only had two 300-gallon tanks and one 200-gallon tank.  The gauges tended to read lower than they should, based on the fuel it took to fill the tanks.  Anyway,  I had no belief we could actually make it to Intracoastal City, and I had been planning to buy fuel somewhere west of there.  Things didn't work out that way, and we kept going and made it fine.  We stopped at Shell Morgan and filled up with 780 gallons of diesel.  We probably still had over 100 gallons in the tanks.  A few photos of Intracoastal City follow.

     

     We paid the $20 to spend the night there, but we could not use their 30-amp power.  I had a Smart Y, but I had neglected to get a 50-foot power cable to be able to reach another 30-amp outlet in addition to the one nearest the boat, an oversight I corrected at West Marine in New Orleans later that week.  So, we grilled meat again and slept again without the generator, a pattern that worked for us for four nights in a row.  We did not want to use their well water, so we didn't get water until we reached our destination.

     We figured our day's run at 9 hours running and 110 miles made good.  The weather was overcast and cool in the morning, with a little light rain about 6pm.  In between it warmed up from 63 degrees at 7am to 68 at 1pm and 71 at Lafayette at 4pm, a pretty nice day.

Intracoastal City to Hero Canal, Tuesday, March 16, 2004

     At 3:30am I thought it was 6:30, so I started the generator and made the coffee.  The inverter was alarming due to low battery anyway.  When I put my glasses on I realized my mistake, and Angela was unhappy with me over the early wake-up call.  (She does like to sleep.)  I went back to bed but left the generator on.

     We left at 7:15am, and we ran until 6pm, an 11-hour day.  The Louisa (swing) Bridge was being replaced by a 73-foot high bridge, but it also had a drawbridge section in it.  I spoke to the bridge tender as we passed, and he said they wanted to be able to open the bridge for some high loads that were expected in the future.  Those may be new ships, or tall equipment for the salt domes or the oil and gas industry.

     As we approached Morgan City I called Charles Culotta on the telephone.  I had called him before and wanted to meet him, but that was not to be the day for it.  We did speak with him, however; and he gave us some valuable information.  The L & N Railroad bridge over the Industrial Canal was closed from 6pm to 6am, so we had better get through it before the curfew on the New Orleans side of the Mississippi River.  That decided several things for us.  We needed an early start at the Harvey Lock, so we decided to not stay the night in Houma, as we had planned.  Morgan City photos follow.

     

     We called Berwick Traffic before we reached the Atchafalaya River and followed their instructions through the several channels around Morgan City.  It seemed like we were fighting a current as we went upriver, and we verified that later.  The Atchafalya River was up and rising further.  The Bayou Boeuf Lock was open at both ends because the river was pushing fresh water out, and no salt water could get in (there was no need for the lock at that time).  Going through the lock our speed picked up about three knots; we were doing about 9 knots at idle speed!

     

     The Morgan City area is interesting to me.  They build ships, boats, casinos, oil platforms, etc. there; and some of them are very large and complex.  We took a few photos to show the diversity of the industry there.

     

     

     We slowed down going through Houma, LA and took some pictures of interesting sights, such as pretty homes.  We called friends we used to see in Houma but could not find anyone home.

     

     

     We went on to the Hero Canal at about Mile 7 and dropped anchor about half way down the canal.  It was a fine anchorage, but I could see it would not be under some circumstances, such as if there was a lot of boat traffic.  We cooked and ate dinner.  We heard some load noises and looked outside.  A boat with three young people in it was coming towards us from the ICW.  They were having a great time and were not in any hurry.  When whey go to our boat they stopped and chatted with me for a while.  One boy wanted cigarettes, but we didn't have any.  They were off school for some reason and enjoying the time on the water.  They said they lived In Belle Chase, LA.

     I was a little paranoid about the three boys and continued to look out for them.  I expected them to pass us again on their way home.  Not being familiar with the Hero Canal, I could not imagine what they must be doing down there at the end (away from the ICW).  Finally it dawned on me there must be a boat ramp down there, and they were on their way home and would not be passing us.  I got out a map of Louisiana and spotted the location of Belle Chase.  It was not far from us; we could practically see the lights from the town - they were truly not far from home.  Finally I saw a car drive down a road that I had not known was there; and the noises ceased, allowing me to relax.  They were nice kids just having some fun on the water - no threat to us at all.

Hero Canal to Covington, LA, Wednesday, March 17, 2004

     We pulled up the anchor and cleaned the sticky mud off it at 7:30am.  Then we motored over to and reentered the ICW and headed for the Harvey Lock and the Mississippi River.  I called the lockmaster, and he said to hurry up and we could go into the river with the current lockage.  So we did.  We saw some interesting sights along the ICW on the way to the Harvey Lock.  The lockmaster and lock attendants were polite and helpful.

     

     Once into the Mississippi River, after a lift of 7 or 8 feet, we took photos of downtown New Orleans, starting with the Port.  The steamboat AMERICAN QUEEN was tied up at the Port of New Orleans.  Then we passed by the Convention Center, the Riverwalk Mall, and some downtown hotels and office buildings.   At the end of Canal Street we saw the paddle-wheeler NATCHEZ and the ferry that transports cars across the river.  The Aquarium if there, followed by the French Quarter and the Jackson Square complex and the St. Louis Cathedral.  It was a pretty day, and we got some great photos.

     

     

     After turning more to the south in the Mississippi River, we turned into the waiting area for the Industrial Lock.  I called the lockmaster on the radio and let him know we wanted to go through the lock.  Then we tied up to a barge on the right side of the waiting area.  A tow with barges came in after us and tied up on the left side.  We eventually followed him into the lock.  Our wait was not too bad, and the lock personnel were nice.  The attendant who dropped lines to us was an older woman, and she was motherly in her attentions to us.

     

     The river is always higher than these side canals, so we dropped a few feet and left the lock.  When we got to the L & N railroad bridge we were told we had a wait of about 35 minutes, so we tied up to a dolphin on the left side, right at the bridge.  There was quite a current coming through there.  We were turned and turned by the current until we got our connection to the dolphin just right.  Angela photographed some of the pelicans she saw there.  We saw a beautiful, large yacht on the Industrial Canal after passing through the bridge.  

     

     Finally the bridge went up, and we went through it and on to Lake Ponchartrain.  The lake was peaceful, the weather was great, and we cruised out to the Causeway where there was clearance for us to go under the elevated roadway.  That bridge is almost 25 miles long as it crosses Lake Ponchartrain from New Orleans to Mandeville, and it's one of the longest in the world. 

     We spent about an hour crossing it, and we identified the entrance channel to the Tchefuncte River.  We followed the buoys exactly, making a hard right and then a hard left as indicated near the shoreline, and we had no problems with depth there.  Cruising slowly up the river we came into Madisonville, and what a cute little town it was!  There were a couple of marinas, new and old homes on the river, restaurants, and a swing bridge that opened on the half hour.  We waited around for 15 or 20 minutes and then went through the opened bridge.  The lady bridge tender was very pleasant. 

     

     I had emailed a man named Cappy who lived in Natchez, MS; and he said he kept his 55' Fleming just above the bridge.  We motored over to see it and to see the 80' wooden boat, M/V LE BON TEMPS ROULE .  Both boats were berthed in the same area.  Both were very attractive, although very different in age and design.  Then we went up the river about 12 miles to Interstate 12.  After going under the I-12 bridge, we met Dwayne, our friend and host for the balance of the week.  Dwayne led us up the small channel to the left to our berth for the next two months.  It was behind his neighbor's house, because his neighbor's 60' Hatteras was in Costa Rica.  We also went to see Dwayne's house from the water.  It was a great area.  I particularly liked the house just across the water from us, which was on a small canal of its own.

     

Lay Days, Covington, LA, Thursday - Thursday, March 18 - 25, 2004

     We slept late and explored the area for the next few days.  Dwayne loaned us a car, so we went into New Orleans and went to the West Marine store.  We also went to the airport and rented a car and made our plane reservations for a return for the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival a month later.  We had several great meals at the home of our hosts, Dwayne and Adrienne.  On Sunday we drove into New Orleans for a trade show, and we worked the show Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday morning.  On Wednesday afternoon, when the trade show was over, we took the boat down the river into Madisonville and back.  Then Angela and I made our way back to Texas on March 25..

   

   

Statistics for the trip:

Running Hours:  38
Miles:  470
Generator Hours:  49
Fuel Used:  780 gallons
Fuel Costs:  $850
Running Days:  5
Lay Days:  6
Travel Days:  1
Total Days  12
Average Speed:  12.4 mph
Average Fuel:  1.66 gals per mile, 20.5 gallons per hour
Average Fuel Cost:  $ 1.09 per gallon
Average Miles Per Running Day:  94
Average Running Hours Per Running Day:  7.6
Locks  5