Offshore Route Gives Coastal Trip New Edge

Article Titled
Offshore Route Gives Coastal Trip New Edge
May - July, 1999

     Houston, TX is the location of the greatest concentration of recreational boats between Miami and Los Angeles.  Typical cruise destinations for the boaters in Houston include points west and south, such as Galveston, Freeport, Corpus Christi, Port Aransas, Port Mansfield, and Port Isabel, near the Mexican border; and points east, such as Port Arthur/Beaumont in Texas, Lake Charles, LA, New Orleans, LA, and on to Florida. Our most recent trip to the east was different for us since we went offshore all the way to Mobile, AL.

     Usually the weather does not encourage passage in the Gulf of Mexico.  Seas of 3 – 5 feet would encourage me to stay “inside”, in the Intracoastal Waterway.  Since ports are some miles apart, once you go offshore, you will be out there for most of the day; and the winds pick up in the afternoon.  Angela and I were not interested in cruising offshore overnight.  We wanted to drop anchor or plug in at a marina for the evening, in calm waters.

     So, on Saturday, May 22, 1999, when the weather looked like it would be favorable, we took the opportunity to go offshore, first from Galveston to Lake Charles, LA.  The actual route was from Clear Lake (Houston) to Galveston Bay to Galveston and the Gulf of Mexico.  We eased out a few miles to a depth of 36 feet, which was pretty constant at a constant distance from the shore.  Then we ran on a heading of 67 degrees for 80 nautical miles to the Calcasieu River.  We turned up into the river and ran 36 miles to Lake Charles and the marina by the casinos.

     It was a long run to that marina from the coast, and we did it because we wanted to see and have dinner with friends in Lake Charles.  If we had only been looking to get “inside”, we could have stayed at Cameron, LA, which is right on the coast.  (I didn’t see any marinas there when we passed through.)

     We left Clear Lake at 7:15am and pulled into the Players Island Casino Marina at 5:20pm.  Our Carver 440 runs at 15 – 18 knots, and offshore there are usually no delays for passing barges, fishing boats, or other traffic.  We covered 148 miles in 10 running hours.

     On Sunday morning we left at 6:45am and went to Cameron, LA.  I had seen an L & L Oil Co depot there, and we bought diesel for $0.60 per gallon.  Then, it was offshore again for the run to the Atchafalaya River.  We went offshore about 10 miles and ran 100 miles to the mouth of the river. 

     The Atchafalaya could have become the outlet for the Mississippi River, but it is prevented from doing so by the US Corps Of Engineers flow control structures on the Mississippi River above Baton Rouge, LA.  Like the Mississippi, the Atchafalaya carries a lot of silt, which is deposited on both sides of the main channel when the river enters the Gulf.  The water turned brown and shallow before we found the deep ship channel and turned upstream.

     Morgan City, LA was 27 miles up the river, bringing our day’s total run to 163 miles.  We called Berwick Traffic at Marker 36; there’s a sign there that says you have to check in.  The US Coast Guard operates a VTS (Vessel Traffic Service) in Morgan City and in about 6 – 8 other busy ports in the USA.  There were several very shallow places outside the channel; we were careful to stay inside the buoys.

     The City Dock at Morgan City offers a few free places to tie up for the night.  Electricity and water are also provided, all at no cost.  We were fortunate enough to find one open, and some local shrimpers helped us get into an open spot and get tied up.  Then, Bobby, from the City of Morgan City, came by with brochures on the City and its attractions.  He offered us a ride to Rita Mae’s Kitchen (a local restaurant), which we accepted.  After a pretty good Cajun meal, we walked the  4–5 blocks back to the boat.

         The people in Louisiana were some of the friendliest I've ever met anywhere, especially on or near the water.  They have a good time and want you to have a good time, too.  There was a real beauty in the French names of some of these bayous and streams, and grandiosity, also.  I liked being on the water there, and I liked the cooking!

     Monday the 24^th of May was Angela’s birthday.  We left the dock at 6:45am, so she didn’t get to sleep late.  We called Berwick Traffic on the VHF radio and received permission to leave the dock and proceed down the river.  Their control area is all a no-wake zone.  We went offshore and turned east towards the Mississippi River.

     One of the big benefits of using that offshore route was the fact that below a certain point there were no levees and no locks required to cross the Mississippi River.  About 3:30pm we arrived at the Gulf end of Tiger Pass.  After 11 miles in that pass, we came to Venice, LA, which is situated so you can go east or west across the Mississippi without the use of a lock.  (The locks in New Orleans were usually good for several hours of delays.)

     We bought fuel (I like to fill up at the end of the day, so we can leave whenever we like the next day) and got a slip at Cypress Cove Marina.  It was the nicest marina in the area, I believe – full of sport fishing boats.

     When we left Venice the following day, we went north on the Mississippi River to Bayou Baptiste Collote, where we turned right and ran about 10 miles to the open waters of the Gulf.  There was a tremendous amount of activity in the bayou and in the Gulf, with oil rigs everywhere.  I looked back to see if I would recognize that opening, but I knew I would not.  Knowing the latitude and longitude was the only way to find it again.

     We went east until we were sure about our depth (there are some really shallow spots there, and they change and move around).  Then we turned to a more NE heading for Mobile Bay, which we entered about 1pm.  We pulled into Fairhope, AL at the Eastern Shore Marina, in time to borrow the marina “courtesy truck” and go to town.  Fairhope was a lovely old town with flowers everywhere.  The Marriott at Point Clear was very impressive, too.  I hope to stay there sometime, when I slow down.

     In four days we had traveled 578 miles and reached a destination on the east side of Mobile Bay.  I could hardly believe it.  Our first time to New Orleans had taken four days, and that had been my standard for years.  Now we had found a new way, if the weather cooperated, of course.

     The following day we went to Ingram Bayou, just north of Orange Beach, AL.  We spent two nights there, and I look forward to anchoring in Ingram Bayou again.  It was peaceful and interesting, with no wakes and lots of wildlife to observe.  We dropped our dinghy and explored the bayou and one of the small creeks that flows into the bayou.

     Next we went into Orange Beach, where we had cruised before.  We fueled up and got a slip at a marina, and stayed there two nights.  It was Memorial Day weekend, and the beaches were crowded.  We knew a friend there who loaned us his truck, and we drove to Foley, AL to the outlet shopping mall there.  We also ate out and relaxed in between thunderstorms.  We found the bottom several times in Cotton Bayou; it was shallow there.

     Destin, FL was our next stop, at the SanDestin Resort, 80 miles east of Orange Beach, AL.  It was pretty rainy all that day, but when we arrived we went to the beach to see the resort property.  It was a large complex (2400 acres), with condos, hotels, restaurants and shops, and golf courses.  Later we found the outlet mall there, which was very nice.

     We spent Memorial Day in the rain, moving from Destin to Panama City, FL, where we had rented a slip for two months.  Initially the rain was light; then it rained hard and long.  When we approached and went under the six-lane Highway 98 bridge, we couldn’t see it, it was raining so hard.  We used radar and paper charts (my GPS charts had run out by that time) to keep us in the channels.

     The Bay Point Marina was a part of a large complex like SanDestin.  We got there by entering Grand Lagoon from the Panama City Ship Channel.  On site were hotels, restaurants, condos, and golf courses, in addition to the marina.  We used the marina courtesy car to do laundry, buy groceries, and see the area.  On the other side of the Ship Channel was Shell Island, an uninhabited island with beaches and shells on both the Gulf side and the inland side.

     After returning to Houston by plane to do some work, we had a family reunion in Panama City.  Relatives drove to the area from Greeneville, TN; Birmingham, AL; and Jackson, MS.  My son, Chuck, and his wife, Marina, flew in from Houston with us and stayed on the boat.  We ate at Capt. Anderson’s on Grand Lagoon, probably the best place to eat in that area.  Most of the relatives stayed at Edgewater Beach Resort, a large beach complex of condos for rent.  Everything was full for the July 4 weekend

     We swam, snorkeled, and scuba dived in the emerald green waters; and we sunbathed on the white sands.  The area was very nice for that type of family fun.  The people were friendly, and the costs were generally reasonable.

     We collected shells on Shell Island, and we motored 13 miles east to Crooked Island for more of the same.  We watched the billfish boats arrive at Bay Point Marina on July 8 and depart at midnight for 48 hours of offshore fishing.  The largest marlin weighed 548 pounds and earned the owner a prize of $100,000.  We prepared our boat for our upcoming Gulf crossing, and we looked forward to more family fun in that warm, friendly area.


Written for Heartland Boating magazine
Published in the June 2002 issue