Biloxi, MS to Galveston, TX

Total Miles Traveled 1245

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We stayed two days at Biloxi, MS and pretty much stayed on the boat due to wind, rain, and cool weather.  Biloxi has very reasonable dockage fees and the lowest price we’ve paid for diesel since last spring.  Maybe on our way back we’ll have better weather to visit the town. 

On November 14^th, we traveled 31 miles to Bay St Louis, MS and stayed at the municipal marina for three days.  Another cold front was passing through and severe weather was forecasted for the 15^th.  I’m glad we were in a protected marina as the wind and sideways rain rocked our boat all night.  The rain passed but the wind continued to blow on the 16^th, so we walked around town and enjoyed a bowl of seafood gumbo at the local watering hole to warm us up.   

We departed Bay St Louis on November 17^th and traveled 40 miles leaving the Mississippi Sound and continuing on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway to an anchorage at Chef Menteur, a waterway connecting Lake Pontchartrain to Lake Borgne.  When planning our route west, I found that anchorages and marinas are far and few between, with a lot of shallow water at possible anchorages, so the weather will dictate our movement for this adventure.

New Orleans

The average elevation of New Orleans is currently between 1 foot and 2 feet below sea level, with some portions of the city as high as 20 feet at the base of the river levee in Uptown and others as low as 7 feet below sea level in the farthest reaches of eastern New Orleans.

Flood pump stations, wall, and lock.

The GIWW is roof level at normal pool.

On November 18^th we traveled 42 miles starting our day through New Orleans and across the Mississippi River.  Planning through this section is critical as there are several low bridges that must open for us, locks, flood gates, and heavy barge traffic. On weekdays, some of the low bridges will not open from 6:30 am, to 8:30 am or from 3:30 pm to 5:45 pm because of heavy morning and evening traffic.  Barges have priority for locking so we must wait for the first opportunity for pleasure craft.  Anchorages and marinas are limited so if we're held up for several hours it could force us to be on the waterway after dark…..not an option.

We did get held up at the industrial canal lock for two and a half hours waiting for three barges to pass.  After this lock and another bridge is the Mississippi River.  After crossing the Mississippi, there are two locks, one five miles upstream for recreational and small vessels, and one five miles downstream for commercial vessels.  Exiting both locks join the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway at a common intersection heading west.  After checking the lock status the previous day, I found that the upstream Harvey Lock was closed due to low water on the Mississippi River and all traffic must use the Algiers Lock downstream.  If the Harvey lock was closed, I was concerned of the depth going to the Algiers Lock.

We entered the Mississippi River and found 92 feet of water under our boat; the lowest depth was 45 feet for the five-mile journey downriver.  I couldn’t take any pictures as the river was very congested and busy with ships, barges, pilot boats, and a ferry crossing.  Both banks of the river were lined with barges and working tugs.  As luck would have it, there were no tows around the Algiers lock and we were able to enter the lock and “float” while the lockmaster operated the lock doors. 

We continued on to an anchorage at Bayou Villars, and arrived two hours before sunset, this was the best of two possible anchorages, and both were very shallow.  After setting the hook, we averaged between 1 and 3 feet under our boat as we would swing with the tidal current and wind. 

We're always looking for wildlife along the waterway, it's hard to grab the camera and focus on anything before it's gone.  I saw this coyote sneaking up on something, grabbed the camera and didn't get him catching it, but was able to take this shot as he was carrying it away. 

Young Eagle

Osprey

Some sections of the GIWW are heavy industrial.

We weighed anchor at daybreak on November 19^th and traveled 42 miles to Houma, LA.  This is a city dock with power and water, located next to a park between two bridges in a narrow canal.  The farther you go in the skinnier it gets.  A sailboat was tied to the dock at the entrance, so we had to go ahead of it and behind another boat to get to the dock.  I could get the bow to the dock, but the stern would not move in.  After several attempts, we made it to the dock with a foot and a half under the boat on the port side and 5 feet under the starboard dock side.  I must have plowed through some mud and silt to get in but had very little in the bottom of  my sea strainers.

The barges pass close behind our dock under the narrow bridges on the GIWW.

After dark, a huge mega yacht came into the canal, he plowed his way past the boat in front of us and after several attempts with his bow and stern thrusters, he was able to crab his way into the dock so I could catch his lines.   I took this pic as he was leaving the next morning, he must have cleared the way because we didn't have any issues backing out the following day.

We stayed a Houma for two days of rain and wind then departed on November 21^st traveling 38 miles to Morgan City, LA city dock.  Morgan City sits on the banks of the Atchafalaya River, a distributary of the Mississippi River and the Red River and is the fifth largest river in North America by discharge.  There is so much barge traffic in this area, and swift river currents, that it requires a special traffic control command center.  A special VHF radio channel is used by all vessels to monitor and get instructions for passage.  We used another vessel traffic channel when entering the Mississippi River from New Orleans.

We were looking forward to visiting Morgan City and planned on staying a couple of days visiting the shops and restaurants and reprovisioning at a grocery.  We found that the town is all residential with two restaurants that were both closed on Monday, the day we arrived.  The closest store was over a half mile walk.  After returning to the boat from our walk around town, another boat pulled up to the dock.  We met David and Claudia on m/v Stillwaters II back in 2015 while doing the loop.  They are from Texas and heading east to Florida.  We also passed them on the Ohio River in West Virginia during our Pittsburg trip in 2021.  A small world for sure! 

The dock was secure, and the city provided power and water for $30 a night, but we decided to keep moving west departing at daybreak on November 22^nd and traveling 64 miles to Intracoastal City at the fuel dock Shell Morgan.  We haven’t been too impressed with our travels west so far, but we can’t complain about the fuel prices and dockage fees in Louisiana.  We topped off our fuel tanks at $3.79/gal when our friends in Florida are paying $5 to $6 a gallon.  The fuel dock provides two transient slips for $25 a night with power and water.  According to the dated reviews for this stop, there was a grocery nearby, but we found it has been closed and the closest grocery was over a mile away.  The dock attendant offered to run us up to the store in his truck and bring us back.  While at the store, the cashier thought we walked from the fuel dock and offered to take us back to our boat.  We have met really great people on our travels west.

The area we've traveled so far ranges from swamp to salt marsh with a lot of gas and oil canals and equipment.

Some sections have a lot of thick vegetation floating in the waterway. 

A picture of our route on the GIWW, the canals are cut through the marshes and swamps to access oil and gas.

We departed Shell Morgan on November 23^rd and traveled 44 miles to an anchorage at the Mermentau River.  We stayed there for Thanksgiving and had turkey dinner with all the fixins.

Moni took some seeds from our favorite brand of tomatoes last summer and planted them in this pot. The plant has survived storms, salt spray, blistering sun, and cold nights......but the first tomato is ripe!

We had to have BT's for breakfast since we didn't have any lettuce 😕

On November 25^th, we traveled 71 miles to an anchorage at Shell Island. This was a long and very busy day with a lot of barge traffic and a very busy, and narrow fleeting area just after crossing the Sabine River.   We have arrived in Texas!  We anchored here for an extra day as another front was passing through and had protection from the GIWW traffic and wind. 

We weighed anchor on November 27^th and travelled 21 miles to another anchorage at Taylor Bayou Outfall.  We had to cross the Port Arthur Ship Canal and with the tidal current, we were traveling at 10.5 mph, but when we crossed the canal and entered the narrow cut under the bridge, we dropped to 3.7 mph at the same engine’s rpm against the opposing current.   We arrived at our anchorage met with several strings of crab pots.  Trying to determine where to drop the anchor and avoid swinging into a crab pot during tidal swings is a real challenge.  Getting one of those lines tangled in our running gear would not be fun.

A refinery located across the salt marsh from our anchorage provided a fire to watch as we sat on the flybridge after sunset.   Then the mosquitos arrived………….in November?

On November 28^th we weighed anchor and traveled 72 miles to Galveston, Texas. 

The terrain has flattened out and we're seeing wide open ranges.

Galveston Bay is like Mobile Bay on steroids, barges and ships traveling in all directions as the channel is an all-weather exit from Houston and Texas City to the Gulf of Mexico.  We arrived at the Pelican Rest Marina located in Offatts Bayou in Galveston.  We will be here for four days as a major storm system works its way through the area with 25-30 mph winds.

From the 1830’s to 1900, Galveston was the biggest and most prosperous city in Texas.  Its commercial center was then known as the “Wall Street of the Southwest,”.  The devastating hurricane of 1900 caused more than 6,000 deaths and brought the city to its knees.

Grand Rivers, KY to Biloxi, MS

Total Miles Traveled 779

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Well let’s see, where to start, I haven’t posted anything since July.  This has been a busy summer catching up on preventative maintenance and a few new projects we’ve been putting off since purchasing the boat in 2018.  On top of the annual maintenance that I normally do, this summer we replaced all the sanitary hoses, installed a new waste treatment system and head, rebuilt the overboard discharge pump, replaced all the through hull hoses, and most of the engine cooling hoses, cleaned and painted the engine room bulge sump and anchor locker, replaced and rerouted the bilge pump hoses, and modified the generator cooling system replacing the motor driven pump with an electric pump.

We were still able to get out a few times plus anchor out in front of the Kentucky Lake Hot August Blues Festival with our friends Steve and Jan on Forever Young.   

Our neighbor Johnny fishes for big cats off the back of his boat at Green Turtle Bay, this is one of the bigger ones he’s landed.

At first I thought this was a rat, peaking out of the rocks in front of our boat slip, but is was actually a mink.  Reminded me of my trapping days back home in Indiana...

We left our home port at Green Turtle Bay on October 13^th and had great weather all the way to our first lock at Pickwick Lake.   We anchored about 20 miles from the lock behind Diamond Island with another boat and left at daybreak on the 14th.  I called the lock about 30 min out and was told they would have the lock ready for both of us when we arrived.  After about 15 minutes, the lock master called back and said a downbound tow called and we would have to wait for him run half his load through the lock, then lock back up to get the remainder of his barges.  After waiting 3-4 hours, several other boats arrived behind us, plus two more tows.  We finally locked through with 14 other boats, luckily, we were the first boat in and didn’t have to raft up to anyone.

We anchored at Zippy Cove on the Tenn-Tom waterway after locking through and watched deer feed along the shoreline.

On October 17^th we secured dockage at Safe Harbor Aqua Yacht Marina for a few days, a cold front was passing through and we wanted to visit our friends Charlie and Robin on The Lower Place.  We departed on October 20^th, anchored at Wilkens Lock, then arrived at Columbus Marina on the 21^st.  We were able to visit our friends Sonny and Phyllis on Corkscrew, Larry and Linda on Lila Blue, Ted on Bluegill Heaven, and Steve and Libby on San Souci.  Although it was a short visit, it was great to see everyone again.

 Just hate to see water spaying from the lock walls of an 84 foot drop.

We departed Columbus Marina on October 23^rd and with a one day stop at Kingfisher Bay Marina at Demopolis Alabama to reprovision, we continued down the Tenn-Tom Waterway anchoring until arriving at the Alabama River Cutoff on October 29th. 

The weather forecast changed the morning of the 29^th for the Mobile area, from possible showers or an occasional thunderstorm, to possible severe thunderstorms and strong gusty winds.  Protected anchorages are far and few between in this section of the waterway and it was 73 miles from our last anchorage to the Alabama River Cutoff.  After setting the anchor for possible strong winds, we scanned our TV for a local station at Mobile, what a sick feeling watching the Mobile weatherman showing live video of tornadoes dropping from the clouds then going back up again.  There were two major waterspouts one in the Gulf and one in Mobile Bay, we were anchored 26 miles north of Mobile Bay and the storms were heading north, northeast.  We were very fortunate that the severe weather bypassed us and were blessed with only heavy rain.  There were six confirmed tornados in the Mobile area.  Needless to say, we did not get much sleep that night.  

We scheduled to have our boat hauled out for bottom cleaning and new bottom paint (due every 3 years) at Sauder’s Yachtworks, Gulf Shores Alabama on November 3rd.  We also had a depth sounder transducer through hull that needed resealed, and the port shaft seal required replacing. 

Since we would be on the hard for about a week, we rented a car and drove to Green Cove Springs, Florida.  After about 15 minutes at the courthouse, and less than an hour at the tax collector’s office, we are now officially Florida residents with an address, drivers’ licenses, and plates for our vehicle. 

Best Mate is finally back in the water on November 10^th and after a short cruise on the GIWW to check for leaks, we are ready for our next adventure.

Our original plan for the 2022-23 season was to return to the Florida Keys, but since hurricane Ian destroyed a large portion of our cruising area, the uncertainty of anchorages, marinas, waterways, and a record number of boaters heading south this year, we have decided to explore the coastal waters from Mobile Alabama to Brownsville Texas.   

On Friday, November 11^th we departed Gulf Shores Alabama, crossed Mobile Bay, and cruised a large portion of the Mississippi Sound arriving at the Biloxi Mississippi city marina.  Mississippi Sound is a huge body of water stretching 90 miles west from Mobile Bay.  Biloxi is a very unique town, there are 9 commercial and 2 Indian gambling casino’s in Biloxi. 

Oil Rigs?.....a new experience for our cruising area.....I guess they'll have to convert them to windmills since that's the direction our country is heading.

A cold front is passing through this weekend with wind and rain so we may venture out and explore the city tomorrow, before heading west Monday. 

I will start updating the blog at the first of each month during our new adventure west.

Columbus, MS to Grand Rivers, KY

Total Miles Traveled 3153

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We spent six weeks at the Columbus Marina in Mississippi.   After visiting family and friends in Indiana in May, we returned to our boat and started the project of stripping all our teak trim “brightwork” down to bare wood then applied one coat of primer then ten coats of varnish.  The product we were using could not be applied when greater than 86 degrees or 95 percent humidity.  Who would have thought it would be 100 degrees almost everyday in June.  We could only apply one coat per day early in the morning to stay within the guidelines, then sand in the afternoon and recoat the next day.  It took a little over a week to strip, sand, and tape before applying the primer.  This was our first experience refinishing brightwork and although it was a steep learning curve, we are very pleased with the results.

During our brightwork project someone came into the slip across from us on a jet ski, it turned out “Mike” is doing the loop on his jet ski named “Y-Wait”.  Mike started the loop on the upper Mississippi River.  Since I had a vehicle, I took him to his hotel in Columbus then picked him up the next morning so he could continue his adventure south.  I checked today and he has made it down to Cape Coral, Fl,

The refinishing project took much longer than anticipated and we had plans for the fourth of July holiday with our family at our home port in Grand Rivers, Kentucky.   We made the 308-mile trip from Columbus Mississippi to Green Turtle Bay in four days.  On the first day, we passed through 7 locks, traveling 81 miles, and anchoring in Bay Springs.  

On the second day June 27^th, we were only able to travel 60 miles as we were held up 5 ½ hours at our last lock on the Tennessee River at Pickwick Lock.  The main lock chamber has had a structural problem for over a month, so they must use the auxiliary chamber which is much smaller.  When we arrived at the lock, there were three tows waiting to lock through.  We anchored behind Wolf Island on the Tennessee River after passing through the lock and just before dark.

 Sunrise at Wolf Island

We didn't see a deer crossing sign but this deer swam across the Tennessee River in front of us as we cruised north.

On our third day, June 28^th, we traveled 101 miles and anchored at Richland Creek on Kentucky Lake and on June 29^th we traveled 66 miles to our home port at Green Turtle Bay.  The number one boating rule is to never have a schedule on a boat proved true for us as we are totally exhausted.  We have been getting up at daybreak every day since starting our brightwork project, then back-to-back days of cruising, so were ready for some rest and relaxation.

Our family stayed with us for a week during the 4th of July holiday, we had a great time on the water, but returned to the slip to cool off in the evening.  At 11:30 pm July 5th it was still 86 degrees.

This will probably be my last blog for the summer.  We will be at Green Turtle Bay most of the time while cruising around Kentucky and Barkley Lakes and also completing a few maintenance projects.  We plan to start heading south again sometime late September when I will resume publishing the blog. 

Niceville, FL to Columbus, MS

Total Miles Traveled 2845

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On May 7^th we departed Bluewater Bay Marina at Niceville, Florida and cruised 70 miles to Pirates Cove, an anchorage near Orange Beach, Alabama.  The Emerald Coast is an unofficial name for the coastal area that stretches about 100 miles across the panhandle of Florida and Alabama.

We were in a narrow channel near the inlet at Pensacola and Fort McRee, a Coast Guard boat came flying close by us rocking our world and anything not tied down.  I thanked them for the slow pass on VHF channel 16.  I assumed they were enroute to some sort of emergency but found they were just doing a routine safety inspection and had a boat stopped about 2 miles from where they passed us.  Moni was taking inventory below of any damage when I heard a siren and saw the Coast Guard on us with flashing lights announcing they wanted to board us.  I slowed down for the boarding but first told them how upset I was for the inconsiderate pass in the channel.  The senior officer apologized as the captain of the Coast Guard boat was new and inexperienced. 

Three of them boarded our boat and completed a detailed safety inspection, I believe it was a training exercise as two of them were reading the instructions on each item as they completed the inspection form.   I took the senior officer throughout the boat for most of the checks and everything was in order.  After they returned to their boat, they drifted back behind us as we continued, but then they speeded up and started to pass us close again???  We started waving our arms for them to slow down and they finally got the message.  Evidentially the senior officer didn’t explain a slow pass to the captain yet.  We continued on to our planned anchorage at Pirates Cove near Orange Beach, Alabama.

We will usually anchor at Pirates Cove for a few days, it’s a great place to hang out with the locals and enjoy a great cheeseburger followed up with a bushwacker…..or two.  The weather God’s have been kind to us, and the river system is in great shape to keep moving.  In the past, we have been held up in this area for three weeks waiting for flood waters to recede in the rivers. 

On May 8^th we departed Pirates Cove at daybreak and entered Mobile Bay around 8 a.m., with calm winds and sunny skies.  We crossed into the shipping channel around 1130 an found very little congestion and boating activity.  This can be a very busy place with ships, barges, tows, and tour boats moving in all directions at the same time. There were not any ships at the loading docks, but shipping containers were stacked everywhere.

Our original plan was to anchor at Briar Creek, about 12 miles up the Mobile River but a pesty log just loved to keep circling around our boat.  The log had several limbs underwater and I was afraid it would hook onto our anchor chain.  The river was up a little and we are still in tidal waters, so the log and our boat kept drifting around in a circle.  I could have dropped the dinghy and secured the log to shore but we decided to keep moving up river and anchored in the Tensas River….a 94 mile day….just before dark.

We departed our anchorage on May 9^th at daybreak and exited the Coffeeville Lock a little past 6 p.m., we are now out of tidal waters and SALT.  We continued upriver to an anchorage at Okatuppa Creek after traveling 87 miles.  We decided to sleep in on May 10^th and make a short cruise to our next anchorage at Bashi Creek.  Our friends Mike and Jan on m/v Trust Me caught up with us later that evening.  We spent the winter together at Key West and they are heading to Green Turtle Bay, Grand Rivers, Kentucky. 

Channel markers for the most part are non-existent from previous flooding.

This is a serious catfish fisherman.

On May 11^th, we departed our anchorage at daybreak and arrived at the Demopolis Lock around 3 p.m., then continued to Kingfisher Bay Marina at Demopolis.  We stayed at the marina a couple of days to visit with Mike and Jan and the use of the courtesy car to groceries. 

As long as we have had great weather and river conditions we are continuing to travel north.  We departed Demopolis on May 13^th and anchored at Cooks Bend with m/v Trust Me, then on May 14^th arrived at the Columbus Marina at Columbus, Mississippi.  Mike and Jan stayed a couple of days then continued north but we are going to stay here a month or so to complete a few preventative maintenance items on the boat and to attend one of our grandsons graduation from high school.

We decided to bring our vehicle back after attending the graduation in Indiana but could not find a one-way car rental.  The weekly rate for a car was the same price as a flight to Indiana so we scheduled a flight for Saturday the 21^st.  I had Lyft scheduled to pick us up at 4 p.m. for the commute to the airport but the flight was cancelled on the 20^th and rescheduled for Sunday the 22^nd at 6:30 a.m..  I rescheduled a Lyft for 4 a.m. Sunday morning.  At 4:10 a.m.  I received a text that a Lyft driver was not available, I tried Uber and again, no drivers were available.  With non-refundable tickets we were in a pickle to get transportation to the airport.  A boat had arrived at the transient dock the previous day so as much as I hated to, I walked over and pounded on their boat to wake them up.  It took four attempts but finally someone came to the door……without a weapon!  I explained our situation and they graciously agreed to take us to the airport with the courtesy car.  It turns out, they had just purchased the boat in Florida and were taking it to our home port at Green Turtle Bay.  They are starting the loop in the Fall, so we’ll probably travel with them as we head south in October.

We had a great visit with family and friends and were able to see Eyan graduate during our week in Indiana.