West End - New Orleans

Third Breakdown

On Thursday afternoon we pulled into Shubert Marine's fuel dock at West End - New Orleans. The trip through the Harvey Canal, Mississippi River, and Industrial Canal went well. Morele's first lock experience where you actually tie up to the lock wall. It's important to have your boat well fendered when laying up to those concrete lock walls. We followed the Lady KK, another boat traveling from Houston to Destin. Larry D the boat owner hired a skipper to help on the trip so they have been running hard.

We fueled up then headed into the French Quarter for a great meal at Irene's. When we got back to the boat we discovered that the generator had shut down. No power, no lights, no head, no air con, bunch of stuff in the freezer. I can't describe how p o'd I was. After a restless night I was up before dawn and with the help of a good samaritan boat neighbor rigged up 15 amp power to the boat which kept the fridge lights and head going.

Mechanic arrived about 9:00 and discovered blown fuse. This wasn't just an ordinary fuse this was a very exotic "slow blow" fuse. Of course the mechanic didn't have one in his truck and wasn't sure he could find this fuse without special order from the manufacturer. What a CROCK.
Mechanic takes off on a wild fuse chase. In the meantime I walk over to Shubert Marine's office and explain my problem. Dale picks up the phone and in 5 minutes locates the fuse at a supply house in Harahan about 20 miles away. John, owner of Shubert's drove me over to pick up the fuse. I can't say enough good stuff about the Shubert guys. Well, about noon the mechanic calls to say that he has located the fuse and is returning to install it. Because I didn't know what had caused the fuse to blow in the first place I decided to let the mechanic reinstall the fuse. He did and the generator started right up and has been running since. The mechanic's bill was $900. That's right $900 to change a fricken fuse.

Because of the delay we lost the weather window for the Mississippi Sound crossing. We decided to stay in New Orleans for the weekend. Mother's here we come. Acme too. Cafe du Monde for Sunday morning coffee and beignets. Not so bad after all.

Houma to New Orleans

Ghosts From the Past

This fine looking gentleman is Lenny D. Lenny and I started out together in 1975 at the ill fated Arthur Andersen & Co - New Orleans office. Lenny and Carol were good friends and even though our individual careers led us apart the bonds forged in the 18 hour work days we put in are strong to this day. Lenny is recently retired from Seacor Marine. A smart and straight-up guy.

The guy on the left is Mr Rodney C. Rodney and I worked together at Offshore Logistics in the late 70's and 80's. Rodney is an International Opns Manager for Seacor. Most of his career was in personnel therefore the grey hair. If you need a deckhand in Timbucktu, Rodney is the man to call.

Second Breakdown

We departed Intracoastal City and headed for Houma on Tuesday. We decided to bypass the Morgan City traffic and Bayou Boeuf Lock so we turned south in the Atchafalaya and headed for the Avoca Island Cutoff where we turned out of the river and headed northeast until we met the Intracoastal again at Bayou Chene (Mason you can figure it out). About 15 miles west of Houma we lost our port engine. It was running but wouldn't respond in either forward or reverse. So we continued on to Houma on one engine. Morele was steering while I was down in the engine compartment trying to figure out what the problem was. Things got a little dicey witn oncoming barge traffic. Morele had a few tense moments but she made it okay. We docked at the Houma Municipal Docks which are very good facilities for transient boaters.

There was one other boat in the facility. Bill and Margie are transiting to Baytown, Tx. We walked into downtown and had a good meal at an Italian restaurant.

The next morning I arranged for a mechanic to check out our problem which turned out to be a throttle cable problem. Although it was fixed by noon we decided to stay over and leave the next morning.

Houma is headquarters to Seacor Marine. this leads us to my next post.

Quick Update

We are docked at the Houma municipal dock. Good facility. Will head through New Orleans today. More extensive post tonight.

First Breakdown

We arrived at Shell Morgan fuel dock in Intracoastal City on Sunday afternoon. Tied up to a bulkhead across from the dock.

Plan was to depart the next morning. Well don't you know our port engine starting battery crapped out. Our close friend George Small lives nearby so he came over and drove me into Abbeville to pick up a replacement. By the time I got the new battery installed we decided to stay over another night. Later that afternoon a 40ft sailing ketch pulled in . It was being single handed by a guy who is a project manager for an international diving contractor. He came over for drinks and told some good stories. As an aside, on my last trip from Houston to Florida we broke down in the same place. My luck is not good in Intracoastal City.

Heading for Da ILONS

We departed Lake Charles at our normal time and progressed a short five miles when we were delayed by a ship topping around in the Calcasieu River. When we were able to get by we headed for Calcasieu Lock. (see picture immediate left). We were delayed for one and a half hours waiting on traffic. We finally made it to the Forked Island Bridge at about 3:00. Forked Island is part of a chain of ILONS. There's Cow Island to the north and Pecan Island to the south. Pecan Island is where I once had a perfectly good hunting camp, pre Hurricane Rita.

Pirate Attack

Lake Charles has pirates. We were able to escape with no casualities. Onward to Intracoastal City tomorrow.

Family Day

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We had special guests today. The picture to the far left is Morele (Marlee) with my youngest brother Herbie. Next picture is my mother , Joyce, my sister, Marlene, and Marlene's friend Dawn. Marlene and Dawn teach in Catahoula (aka Cataloo). Pictures of my four other brothers and sisters will follow at some point on this trip. We had a good visit. Had lunch at L'Auberge du Lac and visited our friends Frank, Laurie & Miss Mellie Mac who were at the casino breaking the bank.

Lacassine Special

Yesterday we departed Sabine Pass at 7:15 and made 65 miles to Bridgepoint Marina in Lake Charles at 2:00. We met this ship in the Sabine Neches waterway in Port Arthur. The bridge in the background is the Pleasure Island bridge. We had to hold up for towboat traffic at the Ellender Bridge. The location is pretty tricky due to a barge fleeting operation on both sides of the bridge.

After we arrived we set to cleaning up the boat for family day. My mom and sister and brother are driving over to Lake Charles from the Crawfish Capitol of the World to visit. Will post later with pictures.

Texas Two Step

We departed Galveston at 7:15 and made the 70 miles to Sabine Pass at 2:30. Lots of towboat traffic. The picture is our friends Frank and Laurie passing us like a scalded dog. They were heading to Lake Charles with four other boats for a long weekend. We may try to hook up on Saturday.

The name of this post is "Texas Two Step" cause of the 360's I did in the Sabine Pass marina trying to get into a slip. Wind was about 20. No harm, no foul but a few of the liveaboards in the marina were concerned.

Pelicans at Sunset for Gail

Gone Pecan

For non cajun readers the title of this entry is "gone puh-kaun" (not gone pee-kan). We departed Southshore Harbor at 10:15 am.

The Houston Ship Channel was choppy due to a southeast wind at 15 to 20 mph. We arrived at Galveston Yacht Basin at 1:30. The ship is one of a couple that we crossed today. Overall traffic in the ship channel was light.

Almost Time To Go

We've got most everything on the boat. Still need to stock the fridge. Plan to depart on Wednesday the 21st. Long range weather forecast is not too promising. Going to see Johnny Lang tonight then spaghetti dinner tomorrow with Robin and Jason. Saw Luther and the Healers last night at Outriggers with Jim, Dee & Corey and Brannon & Jennifer.