M/V ILLUSIONS                             EARLIER CRUISES            

1995 CRUISE LOGS Houston, TX to Pensacola, FL and Return January 6 - April 1, 1995 TRIP 1 LOGS Houston, TX to New Orleans, LA January 6 - 14, 1995     January 6 was our departure date from Clear Lake and Houston, Texas.  We filled up with fuel at South Shore Harbour before we left.  In those days we filled up every day, sometimes twice a day. Our friend, Wally Moore, was along for the ride.  Just outside Port Arthur, he had the wheel and he hit something in the water, never seen before and after.  It seemed we were right in the middle of the ICW (Intracoastal Waterway) channel, and we were near a dock for some petroleum enterprise when it happened.  That was about 3:30pm.      Anyway, we limped into Port Arthur using one engine; the props were both a mess, but one worked better than the other.  I made a decision then that was one of the more foolish of all those I've made; I called for a diver.  We found one, too; and he came out just as it was getting dark.  He weighed 250 pounds or more, and he had a son or some helper with him, as I recall.  After a very long time getting him into his wet suit and getting the air flowing to his mask, he got into the water and looked at our props.  His conclusion: they were bent!  He suggested we limp up to Rainbow Marina and spend the night.  The boat lift there and a nearby prop shop could help us the next day.      So that's what we did, after paying him $170, of course.  I could have saved the money.  Now, I know what needs to be done when you have vibration like that.  We got into the marina area and somehow got tied up at Rainbow Bridge Marina without hitting anything (it was narrow in there and we only had one functioning engine and prop).        The next day we filled up with gas and water while the guy at the marina called Rainbow Boat Lift.  Then they lifted the boat up and removed our props.  That was about noon on a Saturday.  We had a good lunch at Dominque's, and we took a short ride on our dinghy (a Sea Rayder jet Boat).   We had dinner at Esther's and waited for the props.  Coastal Propeller did a great job straightening and repairing our props and got both of them back to us about 10 pm the same day.  They said the port shaft was bent a little, but they could not do anything about that in a short period of time.  I needed to get to New Orleans, and we all decided the shaft was not so bad we couldn't use it to go ahead and get there.  That was January 7.      From there we moved eastward, buying fuel at Shell Morgan in Intracoastal City on the 8th.  We went to the grocery store in the small town there, and we spent the night at Shell Morgan, just off the ICW.  It was a little bumpy, as the ICW traffic went on all night.  Our bow was pointed right at the ICW, and we did get some waves in there.         On the 9th we were in Morgan City, at the Rio Fuel location just north of the ICW channel about noon.  We were in position to get fuel when a much larger boat approached and radioed the fuel attendant to get us to move aside and give them some room.  I moved to do just that, and as my foot slipped and slid along the side of the deck on the boat, I fell into the water between the boat and the dock.      The vertical portion of the dock by the boat was made up of 6 or 8 horizontal timbers about eight inches square, fastened to uprights with some spaces between them.  It was almost a ladder.  My first thought was "I'm going to come up under the boat and not be able to get any air".  That wasn't a problem; I came up right in between the boat and the dock.  My next thought was the boat was going to move towards the dock and crush me.  That didn't happen either.  My wife was coming down those horizontal timbers, suspended like a ladder; and she didn't swim!  Wally was also pushing the boat away from the dock so it wouldn't come back and crush me.      I managed to get myself up onto the dock, with help from Angela and from Wally.  But I noticed one of my fingers was a mess.  Apparently I had grabbed onto one of the lifelines on the way down and held on to it too long, or something like that.  Anyway, my finger was broken.  One of Rio's workers drove me to the nearby hospital emergency room, while Angela and Wally moved and secured the boat.      People who love boats and boating often seem crazy to people who don't; and as you can see, I fit in the former category.  Who else would call this "having fun"?     Underway again at 2pm, we pulled into Houma, LA and called our friends, Royce and Brenda.  We were able to see them and to spend the night tied up to a very small dock in a canal near them.  The next morning, January 10, we stopped at United Diesel and went in to see Danny Blanchard.  It was good to see him again; we had a cup of his good Community coffee again.  We stopped in Larose for fuel and were through the Harvey Locks at 2pm.      We hurried over to the Industrial Canal to try and beat the curfew, and we locked through before 4:30.  We arrived at the West End marina area, at Schubert's Marine, about 6pm, where we had arranged to have our shaft fixed.  Mr. John Chantry took Wally to the airport about 7pm so he could fly home.  Angela and I walked to dinner at Broning's  and then walked back to the boat.      For the next three nights we attended a trade show in New Orleans and slept on the boat at night.  I had a large splint on my broken finger, which was very tender to the touch and occasional glancing blow. That was an interesting experience, as the boat was hauled and blocked so they could remove our shaft and rudder.  There was a ladder at the rear of our boat that allowed us to get on the swim platform.  From there we climbed the ladder to the aft deck, went in, and went down two sets of stairs to the aft stateroom.  We had water and electricity, but no air conditioning due to no water for the air conditioner.  One of my associates had driven my van to New Orleans, so we had a vehicle starting January 11.  We drove home with Bob and Debra on January 14 when the trade show was over.   TRIP 2 LOGS New Orleans, LA to Pensacola, FL February 19 - 27, 1995      We had a trade association meeting in New Orleans from February 19 - 22, so we flew in on the 19th and stayed in the Royal Sonesta Hotel in the French Quarter.  We were actually late and had to change flights because we had just returned from a trade show in Maui, and our luggage was late arriving in Houston.  We didn't stay on the boat that time, but we took a cab out to the boat and back on the evening of February 20 to get a few items.      The meeting was over on the morning of February 22, and we were on the boat and fueling up at noon.  The boat had been at Orleans Marina from January 26 - February 22; they charged us $332 ($11.45 per day).  The repairs were expensive: straighten the port prop, replace the starboard rudder, etc.  We also had a bottom job while we were already up and out of the water.  Schubert's replaced the generator muffler and exhaust piping; and they arranged for the Kohler dealer, Air Cooled Engines, to come over from Harvey, LA and service the generator.  It was always a lot of trouble.      We left the West End area about 1pm, and we went east across Lake Pontchartrain.  We went through the bridge at The Rigolets, and we were in Mississippi Sound.  The day markers from there east were sometimes a mile or two apart.  We arrived in Biloxi, MS about 7pm.  Point Cadet Marina was our destination, and I seem to remember a rainstorm that night.  Don't ever expect any assistance from the staff at that marina.  The casino next door, Isle of Capri, had a buffet that was large on quantity and moderate on quality.  The marina slip was $14.23 for the night.      On Thursday, February 23, we slowly got up and about, bought fuel, and pulled out of Biloxi at 11am.  We went to the ICW and proceeded east, passing Dolphin Island by 1 or 2pm.  About 4pm we broke down; the starboard engine "threw a rod", quit, stopped, etc.  We moved ahead on one engine while we tried to find someone to help and someplace to stay the night.  At 5pm or so we had pulled into Garris Propeller Service and Boatyard.  Mr. Garris had come down and listened to our engine and fixed us up with shore power.  He called Mr. Mike Cline, who came over about 6pm.  Mike suggested a place to move the boat to the next day, so we ate on board and went to sleep early.      The next day, Friday, February 24, we found out again how hard it is to move a twin engine boat with only one engine.  Each of the two engines tends to turn the boat, and the directions are opposite and cancel each other out when both are running.  But with only one engine running, the boat always wants to turn; with the port engine running, it turned to the right in forward gear.  Add wind and/or current to that situation, and sometimes "you just couldn't get there from here".       We moved east following Mike's instructions, and the waterways got confusing.  We had to get out of the ICW and motor over to the "inlet" to the Gulf, then turn right and negotiate across a small lake and get into a narrow marina, then back right into a slip.  The last part couldn't be done.  They pulled us in by hand and ropes.  Walker's Marina was our new home.  The marina wasn't in our cruise guide books.  It catered mainly to locals with long term slips.  It didn't have 220volt, 50amp power, at least in the slip where we were located.  We needed 30-amp adapters, which Mr. Walker got for us and billed us; and they were expensive.  Mike Cline met us there and we struck a deal for him to replace our engine.  Mr. Walker helped us get a rental car from Enterprise in Foley, AL.  We ate dinner at Bayside Grill in Orange Beach.      On Saturday, February 25, we drove around the area.  I had heard of Gulf Shores, AL but not Orange Beach, which was the town where we were.  We drove east on the beach road and soon got trapped in some holiday traffic.  It was still Mardi Gras out there on the beach.  We pulled into a Holiday Inn and had lunch and waited for the traffic to unsnarl.  We drove to Destin, FL and Fort Walton Beach.  We played tourist and checked out the area, took some pictures and bought some postcards.      On Sunday, February 26, we dropped the dinghy and took a ride.   Our dinghy at that time was a jet boat held in a horizontal position on the back of the boat.  The lift would lower it into the water or raise it up about four feet off the water.  We motored over to Zeke's and had lunch and shopped for clothes at their tourist shop.  I still have a belt I bought there.  It was a very interesting area, with islands, coves, white sand, green water, pine trees and palm trees, cruisers and sportfish and small fishing boats - lots to see and do.  We were just fooling around while waiting for our flights home.  I think we ate pizza for dinner.      We had already reserved flights to home from Pensacola, which was our original destination.  So we used those tickets at their scheduled time on Monday, February, 27.  We learned something about Enterprise; they would not allow us to take their car out of AL.  We certainly couldn't turn it in at the Pensacola, FL airport.  I think Mr. Walker took us to the airport.  He was the kind of guy who would offer to do something for you, and when you accepted and offered to pay him, he would say "whatever you think it's worth".  He probably got paid more that way.  I believe the folks in Jersey City haven't heard of that method.  We negotiated and paid Mr. Walker $250 for a month's slip rental at his marina. TRIP 3 LOGS Pensacola, FL to Houston, TX March 24 - April 1, 1995      We flew from Houston to Pensacola on March 24, and Jerry Walker picked us up just after 9pm.  He was a very nice man.  He stopped at a convenience store so we could buy some breakfast supplies.  The next morning we borrowed his truck after breakfast to provision for the continuation of our cruise.  Mike Cline had replaced the engine during the time we had been away.  We gave Mr. Walker $50 for picking us up and loaning us his truck.      We bought groceries and filled up with fuel.  Less than 4 hours after leaving Orange Beach, we were at The Moorings in Pensacola Beach.  It wasn't much further east, but it was the destination and endpoint of our cruise and we wanted to see it.  That was Saturday, March 25.  The Moorings provided a restaurant for dinner and a slip for the night.      On Sunday, March 26 we left Pensacola Beach and came back to Orange Beach  and filled up with gasoline at Bear Point Marina.  It was expensive there, probably because their location was just off the ICW.  We covered 60 miles in about 3 hours.  We left Bear Point and arrived at Biloxi"s Point Cadet Marina about 8 or 8:30pm, a 12-hour day covering around 170 miles.  In trying to find our slip in the dark and wind, I hit the dinghy lift against a piling and broke one of the bunks (wood 2X6 covered in carpet) supporting the little boat.  It was just cracked, not broken off entirely.      Monday, March 27 we left Biloxi at 9:30am after filling up with fuel.  We went through the The Rigolets about 2:30, and arrived at Schubert's Marine in New Orleans at 6pm.  We went out to dinner at Carmine's and to see friends in the area.  That was about 90 miles on the day in 8 hours.  The dinghy lift gave us no problems that we noticed.      Early on Tuesday, March 28 we filled up at Schubert's and headed out into Lake Pontchartrain, but the weather was windy and the water was rough.  Our problem with the dinghy lift became acute, and the jet boat was slipping off its perch on the lift.  We were afraid we might lose it, so we turned around and went back to Schubert's.   They replaced the 2X6 and fixed us up good as new again.  We had lunch and went back to the lake about 1pm.     We went through the Industrial Lock at 3:30pm after a two hour wait.  We went through the Harvey Lock on the other side of the Mississippi River at 4pm or so.  It was so late we pulled into Hero Canal, a long straight canal located 7 miles west of Harvey Lock.  (Harvey Lock is Mile zero on the ICW heading west.)  We started dinner.  We cranked the generator, and it ran 30 minutes and died.  We had made 35 miles on the day.  We reminded ourselves we were having fun.      Wednesday, March 29 I was awake at 4:45am due to loud thunderstorms.  We ate breakfast and pulled up the anchor at 7am.  We bought fuel and oil at Southport in Larose, LA, mile 35; and we filled our water tank, too.  Then we motored over to Houma where we had friends to help us get the generator repaired, which we did.  Our directions were just like those you give a person in a car: go to Bayou Terrebonne, take a right, after the bridge take the first canal on the left, stop at Gulf Armature.  They knew us; they had worked on our generator before.  We spent the night in Houma, having covered 50 miles on the day.   It rained all day, but the thunderstorms were over by 10am.  We only had pizza when we were in Houma with those friends.  There was probably some great creole cooking there, but we never checked it out.      On Thursday, March 30 I tried to start the generator at 6am, and it wouldn't start.  My opinion of generators was never good until 1997.  This one had blown a 5amp fuse, which I replaced.  Then we left the dock at 8:30am and arrived in Morgan City at noon.  Boy, were they glad to see me back at Rio Fuel!  I'll bet they wished I had gone somewhere else, since I'd broken my finger there back in January.  Then we went to the lock at Bayou Boeuf and hung around for an hour or so.      We left there about 3pm and anchored in Vermillion Bay at 7pm.  We cooked pork chops in the rain and had a fine meal there below Avery Island.  At 1am the generator quit and wouldn't start.  At 5am it started, and I went back to sleep.  We got up at 7am, ate breakfast, and left the anchorage at 8am.      Intracoastal City was a "must" fuel stop for us, and we were there at 9:30am on Friday, March 31.  We pushed on to the west and got to the Calcasieu Lock at 5pm.  By 7pm we had crossed into Texas, and by 8pm we had anchored behind the small island at Mile 270.  We were hurrying then and using 2.0 gallons per mile of gasoline.      Home was within range as we awoke on Saturday, April 1, 1995.  Our fun trip was about to be over.   We were up at 6am and underway at 7.  We bought 200 gallons of gas at Rainbow Marina, and motored through the Port Arthur Ship Channel.  We were back in South Shore Harbour Marina by 5pm, in time to unload and have dinner with friends that Saturday night.      Our estimates at the time were 1,200 miles using 2,226 gallons of gasoline that cost about $3,000.  Our cost for the new engine was about $5,000, but overall repair costs were over $12,000.  Insurance paid for some of that; and some of it, such as a bottom job, would have been needed anyway.  We spent $650 on marina slips, $345 on groceries, $300 on meals ashore, $450 on airfare, and so on.  We think a two week cruise to Greece with a Captain and a Cook would have been less expensive, but we're not sure it would have been more fun!