Sat. 3/19 - Rabbit Island. Fair start, 9:00 Madisonville Bridge, fueled up (15 gal), 11:00 Causeway Bridge. We didn't have to wait for it to open. He was opening as we came in. When we were under the bridge he opened a window and hollered hello. I thanked him for the best opening we've ever had. Sailed close hauled half way to Hwy 11 then the winds lightened up. We ended up following another sailboat "Linda Gail" bare stick thru Hwy 11. He took off to Eden Isles and we headed for I-10 twin spans. Again we got under with a foot or two extra. The shallow "Middle Ground" seamed deeper (9+) then I remember. Hwy 90 Rigolets and passed that little old lighthouse at Rigolets point I love. The Rigolets were very calm. CSX Rigolets in sight and a sailboat before us called in. CSX said the bridge was broke. The other boat was rude to the tender. 20 min later when we were at the bridge we called in. No answer but we could see two maintenance cars on the tracks and Patty could see the tender climbing the stairs. Got a hold of him and asked how long. He said maybe hours. We had checked the charts and the only other exit without going back to New Orleans was the Pearl River. We've never gone that way and the charts show only six feet. That rude boat got stuck in front of us and used a powerboat to get him out. We stayed in the center of the channel and didn't have any trouble, not much water though. We were still sweating the Pearl River sand bar (6' on the charts) and getting close to the CSX Pearl when we heard another sailboat coming in. We radioed the "Eva Marie" and ask about the depth. They reported 8'. We were relived. When we passed them in the river they radioed us and I thanked them for the info. They were coming back from the Bahamas. They wanted to know where we were headed. Told them Port St. Joe and found out they were there ten days ago. We say the rude boat going UP the Pearl?? (No charts!) Thru the CSX Pearl, shot the channel and made it (nervously). Doubled back and got to Rabbit Island just after sunset. Had to set the anchor twice to get a good hold. Some bugs were out and biting. Got dinner at 7pm and went to bed. Mike
We pulled out of the slip and marina at 8:20. Made the 9am Madisonville Bridge - stopped at Del Ray and got fuel. Motored all the way to Causeway. Wind dead in out face. Great opening at Causeway - tried to sail between causeway and Hwy 11. Still had the wind in our face but we did over 7kn with motor and sail. Went through Hwy 11 with the Linda Gayle. She went on in to Eden Isle and we continued under I-10. Plenty of room at I-10 today, didn't scrape the antenna at the top of our mast. Water was flat and the wind is still on our nose. Heading for the Rigolets Bridge. Wind got a little cooler. Got close to the Rigolets and heard on the radio the Rigolets (CSX) was broke. The tender told another boat that he had to go through Pearl River CSX. We waited till we got closer and called the bridge. Yes we had to go through Little Pearl. Mike and I paid close attention to the depth as the sailboat before us looked stuck on the mud. As we got closer the sailboat took off and went the wrong way (up the Pearl). We kept on heading for CSX Pearl. As we got closer we heard another sailboat call in. He was coming into the Little Pearl. We were worried about the depth on the outside. After the Eva Marie came thru Mike talked to her about the depth and other things for a while. We finally made and cleared the CSX Pearl then headed back for the Rigolets and Rabbit Island about 6:30. Dropped anchor, fixed dinner, then went to bed. Patty
Sun 3/20 - Left Rabbit Island at 6am. Weather was moving in so we decided to make a run for Ingram. Motored sailed for a few hours then just motored with the wind on our nose. Ran for 13 hours at 3,000 RPM and only throttled down once for some barges. It was nice to have the computer for navigation backup. Also the autopilot was like having another person aboard. Then the sun set at Dauphine Bridge. There are a new range marks at the bridge from Bon Sequre "157" that is beautiful. #"157" changed to a "5 Q" which makes it easy to pickup. The two million-candle power cordless spotlights is a must from now on, you could see the next mark in line before you passed the one you were at. Only had one bad time when I slowed and made room for two barges in the Alabama Canel at the new bridge. I bumped something on the bottom. Except for that it was a perfect trip. At Ingram 11pm. USED 30 GAL of fuel - 21 hours at 3,000 RPM ~ 8Kn!!! I'm surprised; I must have not filled it up correctly when we left. We need to get fuel tomorrow. Mike
Salty woke up at 6:00 Mike got up and brought Salty to me to get warm. It was a little cool inside the boat. Mike went on deck and got the anchor up and we were on out way. Salty and I stayed below and fixed breakfast. Salty and I had our food then I put Salty down for a nap and took Mike his breakfast. The wind had picked up a little but was still blowing in our face. Motored all day. Got caught in a small shower and rough waves around Horn Island. Then the sun came out and nice skis for a while. Everything started getting dark about Dauphine Bridge Mike played spot light tag with the markers all the way to the ditch. After getting in the ditch I tried to go lay down. Mike reduced speed due to a barge and I came up to check it out. Just as I started to climb back in bed Mike hit something by the Quarry area. After that I stayed on deck till we hit *Ingram About 11pm. Dropped anchor and went to bed. Patty
Mon 3/21 - Spent the day at Ingram cleaning the water line and dove the prop to (it was clean) and fixed things around the boat. Mike
Spent the day recuperating after all nighter across Mobile Bay and Bon Secure. Mike cleaned the water line and checked the rudder. He got wet, said the water was cold! After Mike did the boat he took me for a dingy ride to check out the tugboat that was left after the hurricanes. Small tug and the engine room were flooded with water and diesel. Then I rowed him over to the barges that were one half sunk. After that Mike pulled me around for a bit and then we headed back for Camelot. Had a nice dinner and went to bed. Patty
Tue 3/22 - Storms, Hurricane damage, fog, and ghost ships. Had thunderstorm in the morning so we stayed in Ingram. When they broke we went to Southwind to get fuel and it was gone. The restaurant was missing and most of the docks were damaged. Decided to head back to Ingram when the fog moved in. Had to navigate by compass and watch. We could hear the barges coming on the radio but couldn't see anything. Not much fun! Saw lots of wrecks from the hurricanes. One ketch (sailboat) at Bear Point was under water with his masts sticking up with the sails still flying all tattered. Made Ingram for the night. Mike
Weather still not in our favor to head for Port St Joe. Decided to stay in Ingram another day. About 1pm listened to the weather forecast. Decided to go get fuel and ice at Perdido marina. No more Perdido Marina! Decided to head for Big Lagoon and Southwind Restaurant. Got to where Southwind should have been. It was wiped out by the storms. All that was left was the pilings for the pier. Headed back to Ingram and we got caught in a fog bank. Man was that scary - especially since there was a loaded barge headed towards us. We went nice and slow due to the fog. Could not find the markers or barge and with no fuel in the tank. Met up with barge about half way back. Fog was lifting slowly. Decided we would stay the night at Ingram and try to get fuel at Bear Point on Wed. AM. Did not fix dinner, to nervous to eat because of the fog and barge. Patty
Wed 3/23 - Got fuel, water, ice, and beer at Bear Point. Narrow entrance but good depth. Made our way out Pensacola entrance and set sail with following seas/wind. Patty hooked an Aku (Bonito tuna) and had fun landing it. After dark Patty went to bed and I was all strapped in with tethers. I set the kitchen timer for 15 minutes (30 minutes after we were outside of the shipping lanes) and would doze in-between watching for ships. Mike
Did a little clean up before we left Ingram. Headed for Bear Point Marina for fuel. Tried calling on the radio, no answer. Mike could see with the binoculars people at the marina. Decided to go on in. Just as we made our approach in, another sailboat started backing down. Thought he was coming out so we stayed out of the way. Bear Point has a narrow opening. After doing circles for a while and still no answer on the radio we went on in. Made it to the fuel dock with no problems. The boat that was backing down was in the next slip having its prop inspected and they were on their way to Algiers, LA via the Industrial Canal. We got 34.5 gal. Fuel, ice, beer, and ICECREAM for $96.00. After we left Bear Point we headed for Pensacola Pass, our outlet to head for Port St. Joe. On the way Mike and I ate our ice cream. The closer we got to Pensacola Pass the narrower the channel got. As we were going thru the Pass it reminded me of Destin's East Pass, but not as bad. After getting out to the Gulf, I put the fishing poles out and Mike got to put the sails out. Just before dusk I noticed that one of the lures was underwater so Mike started reeling in. Then he handed off to me so that he could slow the boat down. Finally had to hand the pole back to him. I was having trouble fighting the old reel. We caught a small tuna and threw it in the ice chest waiting to be cooked. Stayed up with Mike till 7PM then tried to go to sleep. This was a night passage. I woke up every two hours for one reason or another. Patty
Thur 3/24 - Sunrise had us about 20 miles outside of St. Joe Bay. Patty took the watch while I slept on deck. She ran the entrance and we found a deep spot to anchor out in a place called Sharks Hole. Had some food and I took a nap while Patty fished. The wind picked up from the south and it got a little rough on the hook but it looked like a good spot for the night. Mike
Got up on Thur. morning thanks to Salty. We were still several miles from St Joe. Stayed on deck with Mike so that he could have a little snooze. Finally made St Joe about 9:30 and dropped the hook and ate. Had showers and took naps (Mike). I started fishing. Woke Mike up and had some coffee. Listened to the weather report. We are going to head back tomorrow (Fri.) because the weather is not in our favor for staying longer. If we did, we might not make it back in time. We'll leave early and head for Panama City Beach and stay there, then on Sat. head for Pensacola Pass and Ingram Bayou. Patty
Fri 3/25 - Weather is going to move in on Saturday and this spot is to exposed. Wanted to make a run for Panama City but woke up to thick fog. We left at 10AM still in fog but I could see the first mark. That was all we saw for a while. The fog was patchy thick and some of the channel markers were lost our sight but we could here them (bells). Made the deep water and set course for Panama City. We could see airplanes but the fog still laid on the water. Finally we broke into sunshine and saw Crooked and Shell Islands. Sailed all the way up it the entrance to Panama City and motored inside. Found a perfect spot down on Shell Island east of Spanish Shanty Point. There is a large point with trees and just west there are seven pines in a row by themselves. Anchored in 12 ' of water with lots of scope for the incoming storms. Patty cooked up the Aku and we ate well. Stayed up fishing for a while but no luck. Mike
Both of us got good nights sleep and got up with Salty at 5:30. Did a couple of chores around the boat while waiting on the fog to burn off so we could head for Panama City. The fog never did clear so we headed out anyway. Boy what fun trying to find the buoys in the fog. We actually ended up on the wrong side of several, missed a few completely and found others at the last second. After we cleared the last mark at St Joe Bay we headed for Panama City and put the fishing poles out hoping to catch more fish. We could hear several of the military airplanes fly by but never saw them till later in our run when the fog started lifting. Made it to Panama City Beach around 4PM. The entrance was a little rough. Found a good spot to anchor and had an easy night. Great sunset and moonrise. Patty
Sat 3/26 - After breakfast we rowed the dink into shore on Shell Island and walked the beach. No roads out here but the boater's get in allot. The storms rolled in about dark and it got rough. The anchor is holding well and we just held on through the night Patty baked me a cake for my birthday and we had the last of our salad stuff on our tacos. Ran the motor for an hour for the batteries. Mike
Happy birthday love - Got woke up by Salty again. He is an early riser (with the sun). Made muffins for breakfast and checked the fishing poles. Mike and I decided to give Salty a nap so we went ashore in the dink and walked the beach for a while. Baked Mike a birthday cake after. Found a horseshoe crab on the beach and Mike tossed him back in the Gulf. Beach combed for a while and then decided to comb on the inside of Shell Island. Found come crabs and clams to use as bait. Came back to the boat due to the rainstorm coming. Had tacos for lunch. It's a quiet sort of day. Not many other boaters out due to fog and rainstorms. Started to go back to the beach but the weather picked up again. Nasty storms after dark. Stayed below and read awhile then slept. Patty
Sun 3/27 - Took a long walk on the beach down the island to the east and all the way down to the park to the west. It started to rain and by the time we got the dink in the davits it was blowing again. The fridge shutdown so we ran the diesel for two hours to charge the house batteries. Mike
Easter Sunday - Woke up to overcast skies. After breakfast, Mike and I went to the beach to search for treasures. I found a plastic shark and teased Mike with it, then saw a water snake. Scared me. I wasn't looking for him. Spent the rest of the day on board, just relaxing. Patty
Mon 3/28 - Bad night. The storms moved in after dark and by 10PM I was on deck on anchor watch. I spent the night wrapped in the quilt hiding under the dodger trying to stay out of the wind. The anchor held all night but we had a wind switch with the storms that blew us into eight feet of water on a lee shore. With 30-knot winds, it means that if we started dragging I had less than a minute to do something to save the boat. I couldn't take my eyes off those seven pine trees. (They were at our beam now and were the best thing to show any movement.) About 4am the wind really started picking up. With the increasing winds and the long fetch (across St. Andrew Bay) the waves got huge. We were taking splashes over the bow like a good day sailing. I thanked the gods of ground tackle for my 44 pound Bruce anchor, 40' of 5/8" chain, and 120' of 3/4" road I had out. She never moved an inch. BUT, with the 5 to 6' waves with only 8' under our 6 1/2' keel we were hitting that packed sand bottom at times. It's not like the Mississippi River mud at home, this stuff was hard. When it got a little light (false dawn) I got Patty up to help me go look for deeper (and more sheltered) water. Getting off the anchor was a bitch. Patty had to throttle up quite a bit just to move the boat. I would get maybe 10' of road in and the bow would swing and I'd have to cleat off just to keep from loosing ground, relax on the anchor to straighten out the boat and start over again. I left the original cleat knot in so if we lost all control we would only go back to our original position. At one point up near the chain I was trying to get an extra foot of line in and waited too long to cleat it off, got fingers wrapped in the knot (not willing to loose my last gains). Two fingers got crushed when the line came tight (not bad) and burned pulling them from under the tightening knot. Had to power off the anchor at full throttle (very deep in the sand) and Patty felt the loss of control, turned the wheel for deeper water. At one point I had the road put away, hatch closed and was laying down on the bow to put the pin in the anchor to secure it. Patty was in the center of the bay and was heading into the wind. We took a green wave over the bow, I just ducked and hugged the bow with the pin in my teeth and let the water roll over me. If I had been sitting up it would have washed me back but with the low profile I had it just kept going over me. I got the pin in, made my way back to the cockpit and took inventory. My watch cap was soaked and a little water trickled down my neck but with that new Gor-Tex foul weather gear we got for the holidays the rest of me was dry. Found some protection near the entrance behind a little hook in the island. Set lots of road in 20+' of water. Super set the anchor, shut down the diesel and went below to make coffee and towel off. We were still in 3' waves but under the circumstances it felt like we were home. Not long after, we were listening to all the radio traffic and heard a CG boat in the gulf advise that the Gulf was very dangerous with 14' waves and ALL vessels should seek immediate shelter. About an hour later that same CG boat was very excited trying to call a cutter here in port. They switched off to a CG radio so we didn't get to here what was going on but about a half an hour later we heard the woman captain of the cutter advise that she was heading out "at speed". We could see the entrance channel so we peeked outside to watch her go by. I've never seen that big a boat go so fast. She was spraying water way forward and doing 40 knots (I'm no judge of speed but it was FAST.) We stayed hunkered down all day waiting for the wind to blow itself out. Mike
What a rough night. Sometime during the night, Mike got up to check on our anchor. He ended staying up all night, due to the winds and rough waves. Camelot was being pounded with the waves and into the sandy bottom. At first light, Mike got me up and we moved Camelot to the lee side of the shoreline. It was a little bit better, but not by much. After listening to the weather report, we have decided to leave on Tuesday for Pensacola. The weather is supposed to get really bad. Patty
Tue 3/29 - Weather was looking better and we decided to make a run for Pensacola. Went to Panama City Marina for fuel and supplies. Not having seen the marina before we eased in and checked out the docks. There was a big shrimper fueling up taking up most of the dock so we decided to wait for him to move off. Got water, fuel and groceries and headed out to the Gulf. We had to go south for a while to get around a navy research vessel set up in front of Panama City Beach. Made the corner and set sail with a nice beam reach and steady winds ~ 10 knots. Set up the fishing poles and got five Aku onboard. I started the diesel and used reverse to slow the boat down so we could land the fish. We had a large pod of dolphins come for a visit and stayed for an hour. Patty really enjoyed watching them. Patty took a nap but got up to help me take down the sails and get in Pensacola pass. As soon as we got the sails down and turned into the entrance the following seas were pounding us. The diesel was running rough (fuel filter). We lost a buoy almost inside and had to make a circle looking for it. Dropped anchor just around the corner (west) from the narrows with two other boats in sight. Mike
Started out at 8:30 to get gas and some much-needed supplies (toilet paper). After waiting for 1/2 hr because of a fishing boat who was also getting fuel, we finally got to the fuel dock. After leaving the fuel and heading out of the pass, we heard on the radio that the Coast Guard had to go rescue one of its own boats. After getting past the pass opening, Mike and I put out the fishing poles. Got to see a lot of dolphins trying to ride the waves. Took some pictures. First time my pole gets a hit, I snap the line and there goes our favorite lure. Mike started catching fish, while I was rigging up a new lure. After a while, my line starting spooling out. I've got another fish. Yea, right! I got this fish to the boat and it snapped my line. Mike decided that my line was bad, took all of the old line off and put new line on. By the time all of this was done and over with, it is after 5 p.m. and Mike and I just reeled in our last fish of the day. Over all for our trip we hooked 8 and caught 6. Great tasting fish. Went to lie down for a while, since I knew that I was going to have to get up to help Mike get into Pensacola Pass. It got rough during the night, and sometime while the waves were rough, Salty fell off of his perch and broke a blood feather, though we did not find that till the next morning. Finally got into Pensacola pass and dropped anchor. Slept for the rest of the night. Patty
Wed 3/30 - When we woke up we found out Salty had a broken blood feather, probably in the rough entrance to Pensacola Pass. Scared us both. Took care of Salty and cleaned up a little. Cleaned out the Racor fuel filter. Eased into Bear Point Marina again for water and fuel for the run home. Got to Ingram and did boat chores. Nice quite day. Mike
Mike got up with Salty and brought him to me so that he could cuddle to warm up. That is when Mike found that Salty broke a blood feather. Scared both of us. We kept an eye on him all day. We went and picked up anchor and headed for Ingram bayou after a quick stop for fuel at Bear Point. Going in the entrance at Bear Point is scary. It's way too small (not enough maneuvering room). Got to Ingram and dropped anchor. Spent the rest of the day getting ready for when we get up in the morning to head for home. Had a nice quite evening. Patty
Thur 3/30 - Made a run for home early. At one point of the Alabama Canel a road runs alongside the levee. Patty brought me up breakfast and coffee and we were watching the cars driving to work and really felt glad to be on vacation. Got into Mobile Bay and it smooth as glass and not a breath of air. Over towards Dauphine Island Bridge a huge power cat (70') came by us on plane but he wasn't making much wakes. Over on the west side of Dauphine Island it started raining. We could hear three powerboats talking to each other on the radio. We kept an eye out and sure enough they were coming on our nose. I moved off course (enough water under the keel) and to my surprise the boats also moved off course giving us room. AND the lead boat dropped off plane for us. I could hear the lead boat worn the others about us. Before they could come off plane I called them and told them to keep on cruising. Not long after, we were in some thunderstorms. A little after dark I was checking out the boat and found that the autopilot mounting bolts were loose. Now it is dark, stormy and we have to steer by hand. (Boy it didn't take us long to get spoiled with the autopilot.) By the time we got into Louisiana waters we were added shallow water to the dark, rain, and wind. We were also getting really tired. Made Rabbit Island OK but by this time our spotlight was loosing its charge. We were inside at our anchor grounds, in the dark and rain and afraid to move. Got our backup on deck found that we were only about fifty feet away from where we dropped the hook. In the middle of the night I went on deck to watch a barge come in and anchor. (On the other side thank goodness). Mike
Mike got up early and headed out of Ingram on our way home. Its gray, overcast skies with some fog. Made it out of the ditch with no problems. When we hit marker 157, it was still cloudy and starting to rain. The whole day was spent in foul weather gear (rain jackets and pants). The weather just kept getting worse as the day wore on. Mike suggested that we spend the night at Smugglers cove, but since we did not know what the weather was going to do we kept on heading for the Rigolets. That was a mistake. It really got bad as the night wore on. We had waves that were breaking over the boat and trying to push us in a different direction then where we wanted to go. Finally made it to the Rigolets about 10:30 p.m. and dropped anchor. Patty
Fri 4/1 - Got up to head home. The cockpit cushions were soaked and the bugs were all out after the storms. Made all the bridges in the Rigolets and headed across Lake Pontchartrain. Got our opening at Causeway and just after the wind really kicked up to 30+ knots on our port bow. I had opened our ports to get rid the bugs out so I closed all the port side ports. By the time we got to the river the waves were steep enough that we were taking allot of spray. I didn't think but all the spray on deck had to run off somewhere and half was going over to the starboard side where I left the ports open. I had soaked the whole starboard side of our main cabin. Just when we were going thru Madisonville Bridge the diesel quit. Got it started again but just barely. Put Patty on a quit spot of the river sailing the haul downwind while I drained the Racor fuel filter. Didn't work, we got around one bend of the river and it quit again. Drifted out of the middle of the river and dropped the anchor. I changed both of the fuel filters. When I got the filter part of the racor off I peeked inside and it was full of junk. The diesel ran so smooth all the rest the way home; I should have changed it long ago. Got home and tied up. Brought Salty on deck and I've never seen a bird get so excited. As soon as he recognized that he was home he was very happy. Mike
I got up with Salty, so that Mike could sleep in. We both had a rough night. Had to wait for the train trestle to open. Went through with another sailboat. It was a pleasant day. No problems with any of the bridges even made it through Causeway with any problems. The wind and waves picked up after we went through the causeway. Mike had opened up the hatches to let some fresh air in and the waves were washing over the decks and into the hatches. The inside of boat got soaked. Not that that mattered much, everything was wet anyway. Finally made it to T2 and the waves were hitting us broadsides. Mike really worked to get us to T6 and in the channel. Once we entered the mouth of the Tchefuncte River, we were registering 30-knot winds/steady 27's. Just as we are going through the Madisonville bridge opening the engine cuts out. Mike got the engine started again, but it still was acting up. Finally had to drop anchor and change the fuel filters. Engine sounds much better. Pulled into the slip about 4:40. Did a little cleanup, went and got burgers for dinner and went to sleep. Starting tomorrow, its cleanup time. Patty
Trip lessons:
No major breakdowns, first time. Two million candlepower cordless
spotlight was good; the navigation software was very good (especially
when you really need it). The new autopilot was amazing, like having an
extra crew onboard. We made it thru some bad situations without to many
problems so we must be learning something. I think I'd like a boring
lazy trip for a change.
Mike
What a great vacation/adventure. Look forward to next vacation. Patty