Matagorda, TX to Intracoastal City, LA

Total Miles Traveled 1951

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The Texas winter weather pattern continues with fog most days and 20-30 mph winds every three or four days.  We held up at the Matagorda Marina for three days waiting for another weather window to continue east.   During our anchorage at Matagorda Bay, before arriving at the marina, our anchor washdown pump decided to fail tripping the circuit breaker, luckily it was a sandy bottom, and the anchor and chain came up fairly clean.  I disassembled the pump and motor and found the motor had seized.  I was able to free up the motor, reassemble, and put it back in service. I tested it every morning during our stay at the marina and so far, so good.

We departed Matagorda on March 4^th and traveled 48 miles to Freeport, Texas.  This was a great cruising day with light winds and sunny skies.  We only had to pass two or three barges, and all the ships in the Freeport ship harbor were at the docks.    At daybreak on March 5^th, we traveled 44 miles to Galveston Texas and anchored in Offatts Bayou.  This is a large body of water, but has several options for anchoring and access to Galveston.  We arrived early in the afternoon and decided to relax on the hook instead of taking the dinghy to town. 

Our original plan was to continue east, but the weather was not going to cooperate.  Future forecasts indicated high winds and possible severe weather in a couple of days, and since we must anchor for the next three days, we decided to cruise 32 miles up to Kemah, Texas.  We departed Galveston on March 6^th after the heavy fog lifted, and traveled up the ship channel to the Kemah Boardwalk Marina. 

Kemah is located off the western shore of Galveston Bay and about 35 miles southeast of Houston.  Kemah’s main industry is shipping, but the city has become a tourist destination for the area’s restaurants and attractions.  Kemah is ranked one of the top tourism spots in the greater Houston area.  This is a great well protected marina, with several restaurants and entertainment within walking distance.   There is also a Walmart and Home Depot within a mile, making the short scooter ride for supplies  handy.

Our friends Josh and Barb invited us to meet them and their boating friends for dinner at a local restaurant.  We had a great visit sharing our travel experiences.

Our planned short visit to Kemah ended up being 19 days due to several weather systems moving across Texas spawning tornados and high winds.  We took advantage of our extended stay to order and install a new anchor washdown pump, complete several small projects on the boat, exploring the city, and meeting new friends.

The view of Galveston Bay from Bubba Gumps

Taco Tuesday!

Hot muffins and coffee delivered to the boat, compliments of the Kemah Marina

Crawfish, Cajun Style

Aquarium Restaurant, pretty cool

Finally on March 25th, we had a weather window to cross Galveston Bay and return to the intercoastal waterway.  Galveston Bay is huge, 30 miles long and 17 miles wide, with an average depth of only 6 feet.  It doesn’t take much wind to make it uncomfortable for cruising while staying in the channels and avoiding passing ships and barges.  We traveled 82 miles from Kemah to an anchorage at Taylor Outfall Bayou,  about 30 miles from the Texas border.  

On March 26^th we only traveled 21 miles and anchored behind Shell Island, a short day due to the next anchorage from the island was 70 miles.  

Anchored behind shell island, our boat is the red triangle, notice the barge activity we have to deal with.

While anchored,  I checked the status of the Calcasieu lock that we must pass through the following day and found they had changed the maintenance completion date from March 6^th to April 6^th.  The lock was closed to all traffic from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.  On Monday March 27^th, we traveled 37 miles, crossing into Louisiana and to an anchorage on the Calcasieu River, about 6 miles from the lock.  Sunrise was a little after 7 a.m. so making the trip to the lock before closing was not an option and sunset was around 7:30 p.m so we wouldn’t have enough daylight to travel from the lock at 5, and make it to the next possible anchorage before dark.  Also, the tows are backed up on both sides of the lock.  We also found that the few marinas that are in the area were destroyed by two back to back hurricanes and 2020 and haven’t been reopened. 

After a few calls to the lockmaster, he suggested we anchor close to the lock and if he saw a break in the work activity which would allow time for us to pass through, he would call us for passage.  We had a break on Wednesday March 29^th to pass through the lock about 10 a.m. and traveled 45 miles to an anchorage at the Mermentau River. 

Finally seeing tall trees and hills as opposed to the flat terrain of Texas.    

We weighed anchor at daybreak on Thursday March 30^th and traveled 44 miles to a small marina at Intracoastal City, Louisiana.  The wind picked up during the day making dockage to get fuel, and to a slip very challenging.  With Fridays forecasted winds to be 15-25 mph, we chose to stay two days at the Shell Morgan Marina and depart on April 1^st.

Port Aransas, Texas to Matagorda, Texas

Total Miles Traveled 1594

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We have really enjoyed our two months stay at Port Aransas, Texas.  A big thanks to our boating friends Josh and Barb for their recommendation.  It’s a laid-back island with a lot going on to entertain the large population of winter Texans. There are several RV parks, condos, and boat slips to accommodate everyone.  Most of the out of state plates we see are from Minnesota, Wisconsin, and the Dakota’s.

We visited the Farley Boat Works, established in 1914 by two brothers who started out building wooden fishing boats for the surrounding communities.  The tradition has carried on to this day by teaching the art of wooden boat building to the public. 

One of the original Farley boats

Members of the community building new wooden boats.

The Port Aransas Garden Club created the Farley boat planters for a beautification project.  The planters are an artistic reproduction of the original Farley boats.  The concrete planters are about 7 feet by 3 feet and weigh about 1800 lbs.  The boats can be purchased for $525 including delivery to anywhere on the island. There must be hundreds of the Farley planters all over town, really cool!

 

We discovered something new to us on the beach, Bollard Buddies!  For the sixth year a Port Aransas resident and volunteers from several states have covered more than 300 yarn handmade creations to cover the vertical posts along a portion of the Port A beach.

A Liquid Natural Gas ship is leaving the ship channel for the Gulf of Mexico in the background.

High on a sand dune overlooking the Gulf of Mexico there is a little white Chapel, the oldest functional church on the island, built in 1937.

Belt Sander Races….Whaaaat?  Belt Sander racing is a longstanding tradition in Port Aransas.  One of the local bars “The Gaff”, is the Birthplace of Texas Belt Sander Racing.  Competitors race their power tools down a wooden track, yes they need a long extension cord.

While picking up a few things at the local grocery, we saw this guy with a really full head of hair.

Marti Gras Port A style……….Anything street legal on wheels is welcome to join the fun.  The most popular form of transportation on the island is by golf cart, and the parade was no exception.  We decided not to enter our scooters.

We visited the Marine Science Institute, which is an extension of the University of Texas.  The facility includes a campus, research center, and exbibits for visitors of all ages to learn about the local marine life and research. 

The winter weather on the coast of south Texas is much different than we’re accustomed to, fog almost daily and 20 plus mph winds about every three or four days.  We were fortunate to have a two day weather window to leave Port Aransas and start our cruise back east on February 27^th.  We traveled 73 miles crossing Aransas Bay, San Antonio Bay, and anchoring on Matagorda Bay behind a barrier island on the Gulf of Mexico.  Matagorda Bay is an enormous body of water covering over 244 thousand acres, so timing the wind is essential for anchoring here.

Aransas Pass Lighthouse

Whooping Cranes are the tallest American bird and is one of only two crane species native to North America.  They average around 5 feet tall and have a wingspan of over 7 feet.  They migrate from Canada to south Texas to breed in coastal marshes and estuaries.

Our plan was to anchor as close to the Colorado River lock system as possible on our first day,  as it is a bottleneck in the intracoastal waterway for heavy barge traffic.  Our anchorage at Matagorda Bay is only 25 miles from the Matagorda City marina, about a mile across the river and through both locks.  The lock chamber doors are normally open unless flooding is an issue, but the current through the locks can be swift during tidal changes, we had that experience when traveling west in December. 

So, our plan was to leave our anchorage around 10 a.m. on February 28^th and arrive at the locks just before high tide during minimal tidal current through the locks.  We awoke to dense fog with about 100 feet visibility, but it finally cleared to about a mile visibility at 11 a.m.  I called the lockmaster 30 min before arriving at the first lock and was informed they had divers in the water working on one of the locks and the locks would not open until 5 p.m.  There were 15 tows eastbound and 13 tows westbound waiting along the waterway for their turn to lock through and sunset was 6:23. Although tows have the priority when locking through, the lockmaster told me to anchor close to the lock and he would put us through first.  The locks were cleared for passage at 5:45 and we were secure at the marina dock at 6:15.

Passing through the West Lock before crossing the river.

Passing through the East Lock

Matagorda Marina