April 23, 2014
Biloxi - Point Cadett Marina
We got up early, headed over to the marina for fuel and a pump-out, and then helped the others get out of their slip. We had an 8:30 bridge call and it opened without a problem so we were on our way.
The trip through the sound was fine and we had really decent wave action. The treck up the Biloxi Channel was a bit rolley, but not too bad. We settle in, walked Miss Lexi and met the others to go to dinner. We had a very nice dinner at Red's in the Casino. Early evening... then off to bed.
April 24, 2014
Orange Beach - The Wharf Marina
The morning was beautiful and we got a nice early start. We made good time across the east part of the Mississippi Sound and on through Mobile Bay. It was a bit choppy the last way until we were inside the land mass but we made our way to the marina without any major "wake" from the flurry of go-fast-boats that always speed through there... and on a Sunday, it was just terrible. Coming in, we noticed these odd shaped concrete things that we found out were artificial reefs. Cool.
We got up the next day and got our dinghy's down and had a fun ride down to Lulu's for our usual Cheeseburger in Paradise. I looked for one of my favorite T-shirts, but the were out. On the way back, Diane and I stopped for a geocache.
We left on Tuesday with the Eddingtons, who had rented a car, to head back for a quick trip home. I have to say, being in the back end of a Kia for 10 hours was not my idea of fun. But getting to the kids was well worth it. The kids are getting so big and are really starting to interact more and we had such a great time with them.
On Friday, we got up at the butt-crack of dawn and headed back to Orange Beach. When we got to the boat, Al walked in to a water coming down through the a/c vent in the salon! The floor was wet and we had a mess on our hands. We got things cleaned up, pulled out the barrel fan and started trying to figure out what was going on. Josh and Barb had rented a car and gone to Pensacola to nail down a slip for themselves so that they would have a place to stay while they went home for Daniel's graduation. Since they still had the car, and we had ours, we headed over to the Bar-b-que for dinner. Al and I were dog tired being in the car, discouraged by the water issue and not so hungry, but they do have good food. We shared a little pulled pork sandwich plate. And then when done we went back to the boat and called it an early night. The A/C in the back did not seem to have a problem so we were good for the night and decided we would get to bed and deal with our A/C problem in the morning.
Saturday we were up early and started dealing with the a/c. We could not determine if it was just condensation or if there was an obstruction in the drain line... or maybe the new gulper shower pump did not sense the water and turn on to pump out the condensation. Al use a water hose to blow out the drain line and we put tape down in our master floor drain to help with the pump air lock in case it might be that.
We went with the Eddingtons to pick up some insulation tape and ran a few more errands then went to the beach road to have some "she crab soup" at the Crab Trap. We had been talking about it all weekend.... well, we got there and it was not available.... out of season. Disappointed. But we grabbed something any and headed to Flora-Bama. A bar on the state line that we had heard so much about. Really cool place. Huge, rambling bulidings down to the beach. There were several different bands set up in throughout, each playing and people milling about. It was really nice because it was not very busy. I imagine it would be a zoo when busy. We played a Shuffle Board match.... which I lost for us because I was on the phone. Then we headed back to the boat so we could go to the car show. There was a huge event, well over 100 cars, at The Wharf and we strolled around for a while. When we got back to the boat we wrapped the duct work under the helm to try to stop some of the air leak and seal it to try to stop some of the condensation. We headed over to Ginny Lane for dinner.
Sunday, we got up and Al called Greg Heck to ask about the water. He confirmed that it was just the condensation. The humidity here is awful. 98% and dripping... and not that terribly hot. So we cleaned everything up and decided we would just make sure we have a pad down to catch any leak for a while.
Al added transmission fluid to the reservoir and pumped it up then we cleaned up the fly bridge and got things back to normal. The girls went for groceries and then the guys went to West Marine and I got the boat cleaned up downstairs and groceries put away. I did a few loads of laundry and then we just hung out on the boat the rest of the afternoon watching golf and napping.
We went to dinner at Hot Spot with Josh and Barb. Diane and Curtis went into Biloxi to have dinner with friends. We had a nice dinner and when we got back Al worked on our A/C issue. He disconnected the condensation lines to the gulper pump... left it open as an air vent and we will see how it works.
Tuesday we got the boat ready to leave and decided to spend the day on a dinghy run with the Eddingtons. We first went to check out Barber Marina. It is a really nice facility. Pretty isolated but they do have a courtesy car. But it is a good, safe, cheap $1/ft slip alternative. We plan to go there on our way back.
We then stopped at Flippers for lunch. A terrible marina... but wonderful restaurant. We went on down and around to the gulf outlet but it was so rough we did not stay long and never got out of the dingy. We then headed over to Orange Beach Marina to top off our gas tanks. On the way back Diane and Curtis stopped for a geocache but were not able to find it. The water on the way back was really rough. But it was a really good day.
We rushed to get back and dressed for dinner and met Barb and Josh at the Mexican restaurant. It was $2 Tuesday Tacos. The were not anything to write home about. Now... we are off tomorrow for Pensacola.
Saturday, April 23, 2016
Monday, April 18, 2016
2016 Going East Adventure #3 - April 18-23, 2016 - Houma to Lafitte and then to New Orleans
April 18, 2016 - Lafitte, LA
We found a short weather window knowing that the trip would start out windy it would eventually die down some before we reached Lafitte for the night. We decided that if we did not go now we would be caught in Houma for another week. We had already been there so long that we dubbed ourselves "The Houma Homesteaders" and said we should just go ahead and register to vote.
We left Houma not really knowing where we would stay the night. Boomtown had been our go to place, but they no longer allow anyone to tie off there. Having ruled out Hero Canal, Jean Lafitte Fuel Dock in the Barataria Waterway, and the Cemetry anchorange we decided to just look at the Lake Salvador anchorage, the barge past the bridge and even the bulkhead at the boat dock. Even though under normal water levels we would never be able to go there, it just might be possible.
We stayed at the boat dock bulkhead. Got there at high tide as we were able to tie up without a problem. And there was very little barge traffic over night so we did just fine overnight
Our next concern was having enough water when we got up so that we could leave.
But the Cruising Gods shined this morning when we were still floating. We were underway and headed to the Algiers lock by 6:30.
We had to wait until 8:30 for the Belle Chasse Bridge to open. Once it was opened we had clear sailing. We were instructed to stay to port in a holding area just before the lock, and we were next! Yay...
Uh Oh. Lock gate won't open to let the barge out that we were waiting for to clear out so we could go in.
In the meantime, we hear that Industrial Lock was closed because of its gate...... So, we called them and they said we could tie up on the freedock wall behind the dolphin...... Hmmm.
Well, glad we got through Belle Chasse... looks like that bridge has an issue. So we are now stuck between the bridge and the lock.... great. ;-(
Good news, while sitting here waiting for Algiers Lock to re-open we heard that Industrial Lock was open again.
We made it through Algiers lock with ease. All lined up like ducks in a row and had us tie on to the bollards on the concrete wall. We were raised 8'. When we entered the Mississippi we were sucked out into the river. The current and wave action was just terrible. We had about a 4 kt current so made about 4-5kts. There was lots of ship traffic and we stayed to port until we got to 92. We crossed as quickly as we could with a ship coming downstream at 14kts. We made it across safely, but I can tell you I was elated when we finally made it to the calm waters of the Industrial Canal. We held to port in a holding area just before the lock until everyone was there and a west bound barge cleared the lock. We were then able to move right in and tie up to port in the lock. They were dropping lines, but we just used ours. We were against the wall and Last Trade rafted to us. Again we moved 8'.
We made it through Algiers lock with ease. All lined up like ducks in a row and had us tie on to the bollards on the concrete wall. We were raised 8'. When we entered the Mississippi we were sucked out into the river. The current and wave action was just terrible. We had about a 4 kt current so made about 4-5kts. There was lots of ship traffic and we stayed to port until we got to 92. We crossed as quickly as we could with a ship coming downstream at 14kts. We made it across safely, but I can tell you I was elated when we finally made it to the calm waters of the Industrial Canal. We held to port in a holding area just before the lock until everyone was there and a west bound barge cleared the lock. We were then able to move right in and tie up to port in the lock. They were dropping lines, but we just used ours. We were against the wall and Last Trade rafted to us. Again we moved 8'.
We popped out the other side and headed for Seabrook Marina. A lot of current getting into the slips, but there were deck hands ready to help and with some time and lots of ropes we were in the slip by 1:00.
We got settled and rested the afternoon. Exhausted and spent from the stressful couple of days we called it an early night and chilled.
When got up on Wednesday, we rode our bikes over to Pontchartrain and caught the shuttle downtown.
We got settled and rested the afternoon. Exhausted and spent from the stressful couple of days we called it an early night and chilled.
When got up on Wednesday, we rode our bikes over to Pontchartrain and caught the shuttle downtown.
Friday, April 8, 2016
2016 Going East Adventure #3 - Houma Highlights - April 8-18
April 8, 2016 - Houma LA.
When Ray came by to welcome us and collect our money he presented us with a flyer that contained info about restaurants and area attractions. But, look what was on the front of it. It is a photo of our group when we were there in 2012. We are famous!
Friday Morning we got up early and all went over to the hospital for breakfast. Still waiting to see if we would be able to get into Pontchartrain Landing we wanted to be up and ready to leave if we could. However, we did not get slips.
Since we knew we would be here for several days now we had to do something about electricity. After what seemed somehow to be a Mexican train wreck, Jeff and Crystal moved back making way for Sweet Tides to switch to their power pedestal. Then finally Josh moves Last Trade back instead of us having to move back and around them into the space where Sweet Tides had been... we were able to back up to them and tie into their power pedestal. After shuffling back and making power cord length adjustments we all found a suitable spot and all had full electrical access. It will be nice to have power outlets and A/C on the boat again.
Shortly after we got all of our electricity set, another trawler "Gold Looper" came in and pulled into the spot we had just moved from. Shortly after that the Electrician showed up and was able to get them 2 30Amps so they were set.
We decided to walk to the Scarlet Scoop. A great little ice cream/yogurt shop. We walked down there, but they were closed until they could get "good" ice cream... probably a Blue Bell vendor... and they will reopen early spring 2016. Well... its already past "early" spring 2016 and almost summer... So, rather than waiting, we walked to the gas station and bought a Klondike Bar!
Back at the boat we had lunch and Al got a long over due haircut. What a wonderful day on the lay-a-long. Its a bit warm, but our sundeck is due east and we have wonderful shade.
Before we know it, another boat arrives. A catamaran. Woody and Dee on 'We Bailed' from Gulf Shores. They are headed to Corpus Christi. During our stay there the entire pier was filled and we had boats turning away.
April 9, 2016 - Houma
Today was a down day for us. I cleaned inside and we watched the Masters. The Eddingtons and we road our bikes up to 1921 Seafood Restaurant. We met the others there. They had walked.
The food was just terrible. Al got a shrimp salad with 6 small rubber shrimp... that were cooked so long that the shells were fused to the shrimp. I had gumbo and crawfish and they were ok. But not awesome.
On our way back we stopped by a military museum cache and Al found it!. Then we rode over to Christiano's for a nite cap. It is such a great place.
April 10, 2016 - Houma
We slept in. It was so nice to casually get up, enjoy a cup of coffee and then we strolled over to The Pit Stop for a great breakfast. LOVED the grits! Al is not doing too good with his food choices again. The hot cake was not too good.
We got back to the boat and gathered all of our dirty clothes and headed over to the laundry mat. It was nice to get everything washed up. We then spent the rest of the afternoon watching the finals of The Masters.
We ended the afternoon bringing out our grills and having a cook out and dish to share in the park. We have a great time getting to know Pat and Sam and Jeff and Crystol. They will be continuing with us for a while.
We have found out that we can't stay at Boomtown Casino. And, we can't get slips at Pontchartrain. This leaves up trying to decide what we will do from here. We hope to be able to rent a car tomorrow and drive into New Orleans and check out our options.
Tomorrow is another day.
April 11, 2016 Houma Louisiana
We got up early and went to the Hospital for breakfast then were picked up by Enterprise to go get our rent car. Curtis, Diane and Josh went along to check things out. We drove to check out Boomtown area for an anchorage, Pontchartrain Landing for room at the inn, Hero Canal for an alternative anchorage, Seabrook Marina in the Lake and Lake Shore Marina in Slidell. We found no real plan to move forward and with the coming weather we decided we would stay put in Houma through this week and weekend and see how things shape up next week.Oh, and we stopped along the way to get a geocache..... Blue Angels. Fun.
We grabbed lunch and headed back to hit Walmart for provisions. Another beautiful evening and we sat out and enjoyed docktails and visit.
Later, Cristol and Jeff needed to go to Walmart so I took them and Diane and Curtis and I went to Chick-fil-a. We called it a night.
April 12, 2014 - Houma
We got up early and returned the car to Enterprise. It was a rainy day.
We hung out in the sky bridge most of the day. We researched all of the mileage and hours needed to get to options from anchorages to tie ups. I did reach Kristen at Jean Lafitte Marine... formerly C & M Fuel. The new owners are doing some repairs and upgrades. She said we could all five tie up to the lay-a-long. They would charge only $25/night. There are only a few electrical outlets so not everyone would have power.
Later, everyone ended up in our sky bridge for an impromptu docktail party.
April 13, 2014 - Houma
We woke up to storms. So we just hung out in the boat all day. About 10:00 the Last Trade took a hit to their power. Burned their splitter.
We were on the same power pedestal so we turn all our power off and Al got out and pull off both of our cords as well as Last Trade's. The electrician came over really quickly and got the outlets changed. The marina bought Josh a new power cord.
That evening we walked over to Cajun Cafe.... a local establishment that has a dance club. A Cajun dance club. Right out of the Circle 8 category. Pat and Sam had wandered in there the night before and said we just had to go. They had a pot luck meeting first... then we were able to go in and have some fun.
The band was just terrible... but we had so much fun. It was a real culture shock, I think, for some of our group.
We were presented with "Honorary Cajun Certificates" We were just the main attraction. You would have thought these people had never seen "normal" people before... LOL
April 14, 2014 - Houma
When we were at anchor in Taylor Bayou we lost our anchor windlass. It was kaput when Al tried to bring in the anchor.
I spent some time on the internet trying to find a replacement so that we would not have to totally reconfigure the footprint. It was a Simpson Lawrence windlass and they are out of business. Of course. After lots of research I ran across a website of a fellow in Scotland who had worked for Simpson Lawrence and when they went out of business he had purchased all of its inventory and went into business for himself. He was able to replace the windlass with the exact replacement for much less than a new one would have cost us.
We ordered a new windlass from the guy in Scotland and we had it sent to Ray's house.
Al had quite a time trying to get the old windlass off, And the only issue we had was that the bolts with it were a little too short so we had to go all over town looking for some thread to cut to length. We finally found some at a very old hardware store, Davis Hardware, that had been around for ever.
Josh wired in the new windlass for us.
Diane worked on installing some snaps in our dingy to hold the oars on. The velcro on the old straps had worn out.
There is a pump out at Houma. But to get to it we had to shift all of our boats around. So we spent the morning doing the Potty Shuffle.
It is not unusual to find crew change and package delivery right at the end of the dock. With the ICW passing right along the pier we saw one such package delivery that didn't go so well. A fellow was throwing boxes of "bug spray".
But Curtis and Diane came to the rescue. They recovered it and got it back to the crew on the barge
House boat without steering came in at dark. Everyone was out making sure they did not bounce off of any of the boats.
April 15, 2016- Houma
Picked up our rental car and took Lexi to the Groomer. Cajun Canine. They did a great job and said that Lexi was very well behaved.... LOL... Like I believe that!
We then headed to New Orleans. Went by Pontchartrain and Seabrook to see if there would be any slips. We were able to secure 5 of them at Seabrook. Drove to the Quarter, snagged a cache and headed the Le Booze for a drink... Picked up some Secret Sauce and went to New Orleans for a great (but terribly expensive) dinner. Everyone tried the char grilled oysters.
April 17, 2016 -Houma
Almost every day these two ladies, out for a walk, stopped by to say hello during our docktails hour. They kept saying that they were going to join us one afternoon. Well, they did. Monica and Alice were their names. They brought some wonderful food and then they took us over to a great restaurant for dinner.
That pretty much wraps up our stay in Houma. Here are a few more photos of our time there.
When Ray came by to welcome us and collect our money he presented us with a flyer that contained info about restaurants and area attractions. But, look what was on the front of it. It is a photo of our group when we were there in 2012. We are famous!
Friday Morning we got up early and all went over to the hospital for breakfast. Still waiting to see if we would be able to get into Pontchartrain Landing we wanted to be up and ready to leave if we could. However, we did not get slips.
Since we knew we would be here for several days now we had to do something about electricity. After what seemed somehow to be a Mexican train wreck, Jeff and Crystal moved back making way for Sweet Tides to switch to their power pedestal. Then finally Josh moves Last Trade back instead of us having to move back and around them into the space where Sweet Tides had been... we were able to back up to them and tie into their power pedestal. After shuffling back and making power cord length adjustments we all found a suitable spot and all had full electrical access. It will be nice to have power outlets and A/C on the boat again.
Shortly after we got all of our electricity set, another trawler "Gold Looper" came in and pulled into the spot we had just moved from. Shortly after that the Electrician showed up and was able to get them 2 30Amps so they were set.
We decided to walk to the Scarlet Scoop. A great little ice cream/yogurt shop. We walked down there, but they were closed until they could get "good" ice cream... probably a Blue Bell vendor... and they will reopen early spring 2016. Well... its already past "early" spring 2016 and almost summer... So, rather than waiting, we walked to the gas station and bought a Klondike Bar!
Back at the boat we had lunch and Al got a long over due haircut. What a wonderful day on the lay-a-long. Its a bit warm, but our sundeck is due east and we have wonderful shade.
Before we know it, another boat arrives. A catamaran. Woody and Dee on 'We Bailed' from Gulf Shores. They are headed to Corpus Christi. During our stay there the entire pier was filled and we had boats turning away.
April 9, 2016 - Houma
Today was a down day for us. I cleaned inside and we watched the Masters. The Eddingtons and we road our bikes up to 1921 Seafood Restaurant. We met the others there. They had walked.
The food was just terrible. Al got a shrimp salad with 6 small rubber shrimp... that were cooked so long that the shells were fused to the shrimp. I had gumbo and crawfish and they were ok. But not awesome.
On our way back we stopped by a military museum cache and Al found it!. Then we rode over to Christiano's for a nite cap. It is such a great place.
April 10, 2016 - Houma
We slept in. It was so nice to casually get up, enjoy a cup of coffee and then we strolled over to The Pit Stop for a great breakfast. LOVED the grits! Al is not doing too good with his food choices again. The hot cake was not too good.
We got back to the boat and gathered all of our dirty clothes and headed over to the laundry mat. It was nice to get everything washed up. We then spent the rest of the afternoon watching the finals of The Masters.
We ended the afternoon bringing out our grills and having a cook out and dish to share in the park. We have a great time getting to know Pat and Sam and Jeff and Crystol. They will be continuing with us for a while.
We have found out that we can't stay at Boomtown Casino. And, we can't get slips at Pontchartrain. This leaves up trying to decide what we will do from here. We hope to be able to rent a car tomorrow and drive into New Orleans and check out our options.
Tomorrow is another day.
April 11, 2016 Houma Louisiana
We got up early and went to the Hospital for breakfast then were picked up by Enterprise to go get our rent car. Curtis, Diane and Josh went along to check things out. We drove to check out Boomtown area for an anchorage, Pontchartrain Landing for room at the inn, Hero Canal for an alternative anchorage, Seabrook Marina in the Lake and Lake Shore Marina in Slidell. We found no real plan to move forward and with the coming weather we decided we would stay put in Houma through this week and weekend and see how things shape up next week.Oh, and we stopped along the way to get a geocache..... Blue Angels. Fun.
We grabbed lunch and headed back to hit Walmart for provisions. Another beautiful evening and we sat out and enjoyed docktails and visit.
Later, Cristol and Jeff needed to go to Walmart so I took them and Diane and Curtis and I went to Chick-fil-a. We called it a night.
April 12, 2014 - Houma
We got up early and returned the car to Enterprise. It was a rainy day.
We hung out in the sky bridge most of the day. We researched all of the mileage and hours needed to get to options from anchorages to tie ups. I did reach Kristen at Jean Lafitte Marine... formerly C & M Fuel. The new owners are doing some repairs and upgrades. She said we could all five tie up to the lay-a-long. They would charge only $25/night. There are only a few electrical outlets so not everyone would have power.
Later, everyone ended up in our sky bridge for an impromptu docktail party.
April 13, 2014 - Houma
We woke up to storms. So we just hung out in the boat all day. About 10:00 the Last Trade took a hit to their power. Burned their splitter.
We were on the same power pedestal so we turn all our power off and Al got out and pull off both of our cords as well as Last Trade's. The electrician came over really quickly and got the outlets changed. The marina bought Josh a new power cord.
That evening we walked over to Cajun Cafe.... a local establishment that has a dance club. A Cajun dance club. Right out of the Circle 8 category. Pat and Sam had wandered in there the night before and said we just had to go. They had a pot luck meeting first... then we were able to go in and have some fun.
The band was just terrible... but we had so much fun. It was a real culture shock, I think, for some of our group.
We were presented with "Honorary Cajun Certificates" We were just the main attraction. You would have thought these people had never seen "normal" people before... LOL
April 14, 2014 - Houma
When we were at anchor in Taylor Bayou we lost our anchor windlass. It was kaput when Al tried to bring in the anchor.
I spent some time on the internet trying to find a replacement so that we would not have to totally reconfigure the footprint. It was a Simpson Lawrence windlass and they are out of business. Of course. After lots of research I ran across a website of a fellow in Scotland who had worked for Simpson Lawrence and when they went out of business he had purchased all of its inventory and went into business for himself. He was able to replace the windlass with the exact replacement for much less than a new one would have cost us. We ordered a new windlass from the guy in Scotland and we had it sent to Ray's house.
Al had quite a time trying to get the old windlass off, And the only issue we had was that the bolts with it were a little too short so we had to go all over town looking for some thread to cut to length. We finally found some at a very old hardware store, Davis Hardware, that had been around for ever.
Josh wired in the new windlass for us.
And here is Al with his new windlass.
Diane worked on installing some snaps in our dingy to hold the oars on. The velcro on the old straps had worn out.
There is a pump out at Houma. But to get to it we had to shift all of our boats around. So we spent the morning doing the Potty Shuffle.
Diane was our fly swatter.
It is not unusual to find crew change and package delivery right at the end of the dock. With the ICW passing right along the pier we saw one such package delivery that didn't go so well. A fellow was throwing boxes of "bug spray".
One box didn't make it!
But Curtis and Diane came to the rescue. They recovered it and got it back to the crew on the barge
Lexi and Cristol watch the whole thing!
House boat without steering came in at dark. Everyone was out making sure they did not bounce off of any of the boats.
April 15, 2016- Houma
Picked up our rental car and took Lexi to the Groomer. Cajun Canine. They did a great job and said that Lexi was very well behaved.... LOL... Like I believe that!
April 17, 2016 -Houma
Almost every day these two ladies, out for a walk, stopped by to say hello during our docktails hour. They kept saying that they were going to join us one afternoon. Well, they did. Monica and Alice were their names. They brought some wonderful food and then they took us over to a great restaurant for dinner.
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