Little Sabine Bay / Pensacola Beach

Thursday morning at about 6:15 the generator quit. I tried to start it but it died right away again. This usually means it has overheated. I made a quick trip to the cockpit and discovered the mass migration of jellyfish that was happening right under us. I've never seen so many jellyfish in my life. In every 10 seconds, six or eight jelly fish floated by. Yep, the sea strainer was full of jellyfish. Susan and I cleaned it out and by then the generator had cooled down enough to restart. One hour later it shut itself down again. Four more jellyfish in the strainer. We needed to get going anyway.

Mike the diesel mechanic had arranged for some guys to help us unload the outboard motor so another mechanic could see what damage was done by being underwater during the big storm. We met them and dropped off the motor and then started motoring back across Pensacola Bay to Little Sabine Bay where we intended to stay the night. On the way there Susan called around and found someone to fix the bimini. They met us at a marina in Little Sabine Bay and took all the canvas off. From there we went just a bit farther into the bay and anchored. This bay is indeed little and the majority of it, in the middle, is not more than a foot deep. People paddle board or row out there and then walk around. There is one corner that is deep enough for a sailboat to anchor.

Our first attempt to anchor wasn't a success. It just didn't feel like the anchor was holding well and we were in the middle of the channel a bit. We moved to a better spot and tried again with more success. Storms were coming again and we weren't real comfortable about the anchor so Susan suggested we set a second anchor. We hadn't ever done that before but I sure felt better sleeping last night knowing we wouldn't likely drag the anchor. Speaking of, I downloaded an app for my iPhone that notifies you if you move outside some parameters you set. It's called Drag Queen. Isn't that cool.

Once we were settled in and the thunderstorms were mostly gone the generator shut itself off again. This time it was sea grass. The strainer was stuffed full of it. And not just the strainer, it was from the sea cock all the way to the strainer. It took us a good 30 or 45 minutes to get all the grass out of there. No more issues so far but I saw some sea grass floating by a bit ago when I was up on deck.

Remember me saying I was sleeping well last night with the help of Drag Queen and two anchors? At 4:15 this morning the Drag Queen alarm went off. That's not an alarm where you just hit "snooze" and go back to sleep. I poked my head outside and determined we were just swinging the opposite direction than from last night, we weren't dragging the anchor. I reset the parameters on Drag Queen and eventually got back to sleep.

Today we got our canvas back and put it up. We walked over to Pensacola Beach and enjoyed the white sand beach and the clear water. We hadn't gone prepared to swim but we did anyway. It was wonderfully refreshing. On the way back we stopped at the Sandshaker for an original Bushwacker. The annual Bushwacker Festival is this weekend so we may be making our way back a few times. Today, but before the Bushwackers, Susan went up the mast in the bosun's chair again. The flag halyard was showing a lot of wear, as were the flags.  Not surprising after the wind we've had since we've been here. Susan replaced the flag halyard and we held off putting flags back up because we were supposed to get more thunderstorms tonight but it looks like they have all missed us.

The dinghy outboard is at a mechanic, hopefully we'll get it back on Monday so then once the weather cooperates we can head east again. That's it for now.

Take care.
Brian

Pictures from the National Naval Aviation Museum at NAS Pensacola

We had some import issues with our water maker as it came from Trinidad and I didn't have a tax ID number, seems your social security number isn't enough. We got to the museum at 9:30 but had to leave again to get paperwork submitted. We got back just after 11:00 and stayed until they closed at 5:00. Six hours was not near enough time to see all we wanted to see.

 President George H. W. Bush trained in this plane, hence the 41 painted on the side.

Welcome home Daddy!

Part of the Flight Line Tour

Back inside with the Blue Angels.

Scary Day

Yesterday we went to the National Naval Aviation Museum here in Pensacola. It is definitely a "don't miss" place. We pretty much spent all day and still didn't see and do it all. Other than a few simulator rides and the IMax theater that shows four different films throughout the day, it is all free. I have some pictures that I'll share in the next day or so but for now I'm going to jump to today's excitement. We had to return our rental car at noon today so we hurried around and got some last minute shopping done. Went back to the tackle store to get a few more things, stopped by Joe Patti's to buy some more fresh fish and shrimp and stopped by the marina office to pick up the water maker and some other packages. Briefly on Joe Patti's... If you are ever in Pensacola, Joe Patti's fish market is both an experience and a great place to buy fresh fish and shrimp. Car returned to Enterprise. Never knew how Enterprise got its name. The owner of Enterprise flew jets off the USS Enterprise. Besides naming his car rental company after the Enterprise he has donated more than $3 million to the Naval Aviation Museum in order to have several exhibits built, including the one of the USS Enterprise. Besides that, they'll pick you up. And they did. So we loaded our goodies on the boat, filled up with fresh water, stopped by the fuel dock to pump out and we were on our way for our short trip to where we were going to anchor tonight. From then on things didn't go so well. As can happen, in a blink of an eye a strong thunderstorm built up and headed our way. We were pretty much in the middle of Pensacola Bay when it hit us. We were motoring and I was going slow but keeping the bow pointed into the wind. The wind was blowing about 40 knots and then all of a sudden it changed direction and came from the starboard side at about 50 kts. I couldn't get pointed into the wind fast enough and the wind pushed us over at about a 45 degree angle. There wasn't much for us to do but hold on and watch the wind rip our bimini in several places. Lightning strikes were all around us and very close. At one point I lost all my electronics except the radio, not that I could hear anything anyway. To say we were scared would be an understatement. The entire storm probably didn't last more than 30 minutes with the worse part being only 10 but it felt like hours. Once the worst was over we looked back and saw we were dragging our dinghy upside down. Somewhere in the worst of the wind it flipped over. For the longest time we thought the outboard motor was gone, at the bottom of the bay, but when we finally were able to regroup we saw it was still attached to the dinghy. It probably spent an hour upside down and under water before we got the dinghy flipped back over. We took the outboard off the dinghy and put it on the mount on the boat, gave it a fresh water shower under the cowling, filled the crankcase with as much oil as it would hold, took the sparkplugs out and filled the cylinders with WD40, Hopefully that will save the engine from any saltwater that did get in. To be honest, I'm not sure any water got in the motor but I don't see how it couldn't have. The very good news is we are fine. The good news is the boat is fine and didn't fail us in our hour of need. The fact that we need some outboard motor and canvas repair is insignificant in the grand scheme of things. Oh, we did also lose the dinghy gas tank. Once all was taken care of we grilled shrimp on the barby for dinner. The sunset wasn't great but it wasn't bad either. That's it for now. Take care. Brian

Pensacola Blue Wahoos

This morning our mechanic did show up and we worked for several hours but ended up not having everything we needed to be able to get the exhaust hoses like we want them. The good news is they aren't in as bad shape as we thought so we're not having to replace everything. Mike, the mechanic, (as opposed to Mike and the Mechanics) is coming back Tuesday night so we can finish up the job. It changed our plans around some but not a big problem. We're going to stay at the marina until Wednesday now.

Susan, as some of you may know, is a huge baseball fan. Just so happens Pensacola has a Cincinnati Reds AA affiliate team, the Pensacola Blue Wahoos. The stadium is within 15 minutes walking distance from the marina. Today there was a 4:00 game against the Biloxi Shuckers. We went but decided we are definitely bad luck when it comes to baseball games. Last spring we went to the Atlanta Braves' home opener. They lost. Last summer we went and saw a Frisco Rough Riders game. They lost. A month or so ago we went to see my niece's son play in a little league tournament. They lost both games we attended. Are you getting the picture? Yep, the Blue Wahoos lost 10 - 2.

Tomorrow we're renting a car and going to go do some much needed shopping. Tuesday we plan to go to the National Naval Air Museum. Hopefully on Wednesday will be able to pick up the water maker that is being delivered here and then we can be on our way. If the weather cooperates.

That's all for now. Take care.
Brian

Two weeks and more than 500 miles

And we're in Pensacola! Pensacola was one of our short term goals and we made it.

From Dauphin Island we motored into Mobile Bay, through Bon Secour Bay and back onto the GIWW. Until we got to the GIWW it was a rough ride, not scary but uncomfortable. The GIWW through Alabama and westernmost Florida is different than what we saw in Texas and Louisiana. It was closer to civilization but still very scenic. Friday at about 1:00 we anchored just off the GIWW not too far from Pensacola Bay. We dropped anchor just off of Redfish Point and dinghied ashore to walk the beach some, both on the GIWW side and the Gulf of Mexico side. The sunset pictures are from Friday night. Until a thunderstorm blew in we were also treated with some air force jets flying over us, mostly T38 trainers.

Saturday morning we took another dinghy ride, did a bit more exploring and took some pictures of a wreck that was washed up on the beach. We only had an hour and a half or so ahead of us to get to the marina we are staying at tonight so we were able to enjoy the area.

We found the marina, Palafox Pier Marina easily and with the help of Keegan the dock master were able to pump out the holding tanks, fill up with fuel and get in our slip, We had dinner with some good friends of Susan, Molly and Tom Bloetscher and their niece Amanda. Just as we were walking off the pier to meet them a fierce thunderstorm blew up. I have never seen wind like this. Tables and chairs went flying, sailboats tied up in slips were heeled over at 45 degrees. I would have sworn it was a tornado the way the wind was howling. Fortunately the building that houses the restaurant we ended up eating at is right at our pier so it blocked the majority of the wind from hitting our boat. We didn't lose anything but I saw hatch covers flying and a dinghy that was tied to the top of a trawler come dangerously close to being blown away. It was really amazing.

Dinner was great and we really enjoyed our time with Molly, Tom and Amanda. Eventually we're going to run into people that will tell us we're crazy and what we're doing is completely irresponsible, but that wasn't to be tonight. Thanks you guys and I truly enjoyed meeting you.

Tomorrow is Sunday and believe it or not we have a mechanic coming over in the morning to replace the exhaust hoses for both the engine and generator. This guy is so busy he has work scheduled out to October but he said he will work on Sundays for transients because he knows they can't wait around for months. That's what we are, transients. Somehow that doesn't seem to have the negative connotation it would have a year ago. Anyway, I really appreciate this guy going above and beyond to help us out.

That's it for now, hope everyone is enjoying their weekend.
Brian

Dauphin Island

Wednesday morning we left Ship Island and sailed for a short piece to Biloxi to top off our fuel tank. From there we motored out to deep water and then sailed for several hours. At some point during the afternoon the wind got pretty strong and we were moving right along.  We only saw two porpoise that day but we saw our first sea turtle. He didn't seem as excited to see us as we were to see him. He was swimming along, stuck his head up, saw us and immediately dove under water.

With our late start and stop for fuel we were really running late to make Dauphin Island, which is a barrier island just offshore from Mobile, Alabama. With the wind as it was we chose to sail around the north side, all the way around the island to anchor on the southeast corner. After we rounded the end of the island we motor sailed (used both the motor and the sail) and were hitting 8.6 kts at times. That's the fastest Good Morning Vietnam has ever gone with us onboard. A bit later is where we ran into a little trouble. One set of charts said the depth was 2 feet, another said 8 to 10. The sun was already setting and we decided to go for it. Fortunately we had plenty of water and we slowly motored into a calm and peaceful cove between Dauphin Island and Pelican Island. Only thing is, those two islands are now one. Still it makes for a great anchorage with water as deep as 12 feet very close to the beach.

We liked it here so much we decided to stay another night. We dinghied to shore and walked around for a while, until it got hot. We came back to the boat and had lunch, swam a bit and did a couple of chores including making plans for tomorrow. Of course we watched the sunset from the bow and wished Soli well until we see him again tomorrow.

Tomorrow we're going to head towards Pensacola on the GIWW. We wanted to stay outside and sail but there are going to be small craft advisories between here and Destin tomorrow so we'll go the conservative route, We should be able to make Pensacola tomorrow but we've decided to plan on getting where we're going by 2:30 each day. No more dropping anchor after sunset,  We want to allow enough time that if we're delayed we still have plenty of light. I have to keep telling myself we're not in a hurry.

There are four different aids we are using for our planning, besides the charts that are loaded into the chart plotter at the helm. Skipper Bob  - Cruising the Gulf Coast, Southern 2015 Waterway Guide, activecaptain.com and an iPad app iNavx.  At some point, each one of them has been more helpful than the others combined. If you pressed me on it, I'd say activecaptain and iNavx have been the most help. All that being said, I wish we had paper charts and we will the next time I'm somewhere like West Marine where we can get them.

That's all for tonight. I'll leave you with a picture of Good Morning Vietnam that Susan took today when we were in the dinghy coming back from shore.

Take care.
Brian

Today... We sail!

Yes! Today we finally put the sails up and sailed.When the diesel engine went quiet, it was great. We didn't make great time since the wind was so light but we sailed for at least two hours before the wind finally died all together and we turned the iron sail back on. For those of you that have been out with us I want you to know that Susan was at the helm and I put the sails up. This is not how it has been in the past. I actually had to work today.

It was a great day. We were out in the Mississippi Sound, away from land and with only the sound of the waves and birds. That and an occasional blow from a passing porpoise.  Today we must have seen two dozen porpoise (porpoises / porpi?), many of them right next to the boat. I don't think I'll ever get to where that isn't exciting. At least I hope I don't.

After our night at Half Moon Island we had many hitchhikers, biting flies. We don't have a flyswatter on the boat but Susan and I both took one of her flip flops each and did what we could. She'd already killed 4 or 5 before I got my first one. I'd like to say I caught up with her on the scoreboard but it would be a lie.

Today we sailed and then motored to Ship Island. Ship Island is the home to Fort Massachusetts, a fort from the war of 1812 and the Civil War. Today was a day like we envisioned and hope to have many like. We sailed, we dropped anchor next to an island with white sand beaches, we took the dinghy ashore to walk around and we swam off the back of the boat. Not a bad day. No, much better than that, a great day.

We were treated to another great sunset tonight but I didn't get any pictures so I'll leave you with pictures I took of last night's sunset along with picture Susan took of some porpoise and our sails.

Take Care.
Brian

Half Moon Island

We made it out of New Orleans today and got as far as Half Moon Island. If you were to draw a straight line north from here you'd be in Mississippi but from the map it looks like we're still in Louisiana. We would have made it farther but we stopped and anchored at Rabbit Island for a couple of hours to let a thunderstorm pass and have lunch. Rabbit Island is just about where the Pearl River that divides Louisiana and Mississippi flows into Lake Borgne and the Mississippi Sound.

Half Moon Island is uninhabited and not much more than 3 feet high at the highest point. To have enough water we anchored about 200 yards off shore so it's a bit of rocking and rolling when the wind comes up. Like it is now as it seems another thunderstorm might be coming our way.

We are finally on some open water today where we could have sailed if the wind would cooperate, which it didn't. Hopefully tomorrow. It looks like our stop tomorrow night will be somewhere around Biloxi Mississippi.

I've finally done a truly short post.

Take care.
Brian

Down the Mighty Mississippi and through New Orleans

We woke up this morning anxious and nervous about getting through New Orleans,   We were away from the dock in Lafitte by 6:15. We turned off the GIWW and went up the Harvey Canal to the Harvey Lock. This was the first lock we've been through where there was a change in the water level. Up until now the locks have just been to keep saltwater incursion into the swamps at a minimum. There has evidently been a lot of rain upriver as the Mississippi is running very high. The lock master at this lock was a huge help. We told him this was our first significant lock so he came out and walked us through the process and chatted with us for the 15 or 20 minutes it took to rise 16 feet. He is a retired air traffic controller from SFO.

Out the other end and you're in the Mississippi River. The Harvey Lock is significant because all along the GIWW there are mile markers, statutory miles interestingly enough. All the mile markers were designated as WHL, as in West of Harvey Lock. From here on the mile markers go up and are EHL. So we entered the GIWW in Galveston Bay at WHL 350 and now were about EHL 6.

We ran down the Mississippi River barely using the motor and making over 9 knots. We were only on the river for 6 miles when we turned off the river into the Industrial Canal. This is where you go through the Industrial Lock. This experience was not as good as getting through Harvey Lock. In reality we got through fine but with quite a wait for a barge coming through the other direction. There is a combination bascule bridge and lock here and our communication was not crystal clear trying to get through. Somewhere along the line Susan came up with the term "mush mouth". If you know what someone is talking about they can have the strongest accent, mutter and talk in incomplete sentences and you get the gist. If you aren't sure what they are talking about it makes no sense. Before the episode was through the lock master was talking to us like we were three years old. We weren't trying to be imbeciles but that doesn't mean we weren't coming across that way.

We did eventually make it through there and as before were the only boat in the lock, Whew! At this point we decided a real marina was in our future so we found one where we could do laundry, take a real shower and have both electricity and water hookups. Coming this way meant not going on to the GIWW but heading up towards Lake Pontchartrain. There were two more bridges to get through to get here and neither of them were particularly easy.

Tonight we're tied up at the Seabrook Harbor and Marina, doing laundry and waiting for it to cool down so we can walk to the showers and back without working up a sweat. It is some kind of hot here. We're looking forward to some clear blue water where when it's hot, we can just jump in for a swim. It's not too far off!

I was able to get a screen shot from marinetraffic.com of most of our trip today so I've attached it here.

That's all for today. Take care.
Brian

Delcambre to Wallace Bayou to Lafitte

Hi All,
Since I last posted we left Delcambre, got back on the GIWW and headed East again.  Here is a picture of the sunset our last night in Delcambre, taken from the deck of Good Morning Vietnam.

 Yesterday morning we stopped at L'Blanc Oil Company and topped off our fuel tank and Susan had a chat with the half a dozen guys hanging around the store. They knew who we were and that we had bought eggs from T-Boy's neighbor. Gotta love small towns. We pulled away from the fuel dock at 8:08 and headed back to the GIWW and then East. Here's a picture of what the GIWW looks like in Louisana. Miles and miles of this view. If you think I'm complaining, you're wrong.

Throughout the day we pass multiple tug boats pushing barges along the GIWW. I would say 80% of the barges are carrying Benzene or are empty but normally carry Benzene. We've picked up the barge radio lingo pretty well though one of the captains had to correct my understanding on overtaking another vessel yesterday. All in all, all the barge captains, bridge masters and lock masters are friendly and helpful. It certainly reduces the stress level.

Here's a picture of the cypress swamp we anchored in last night, Wallace Bayou. This was a bit frustrating. One of the books we're using to plan our route is Skipper Bob's Cruising the Gulf Coast. It recommended bypassing Bayou Black for an anchoring spot and going a few more miles to Wallace Bayou. Fortunately I turned into the bayou right behind a barge I met head on. I told the barge captain of my intentions and he told me that bayou was pretty shallow so to watch the depths. Skipper Bob didn't say anything about depth. On the advice of the barge captain I slowed down even more than usual and was glad I did when I ran aground. I was able to get unstuck but now we were running out of time to get anywhere elsse for the the night. We decided to drop anchor right at the mouth of the bayou but still technically in the GIWW. I was far enough to the side to allow for multiple barges to get through if any were running over night. I let the AIS on all night so everyone would know I was there. It wasn't the best night sleep but no problems.

This moring we were up and motoring again by 6:30. Here are a few sights we had along the way. Some guys checking their crab pots. There are crab pots all along the shore of the GIWW.

 Some cows soaking their feet before their Saturday pedicure.

 Tonight we're tied up at the Lafitte Harbor Marina in Lafitte Louisana. There aren't really any slips here but they let us tie up on the bulkhead just off their fuel dock. About the time we satisfied we were tied up well, a thunderstorm hit. After it was gone the temperature had cooled off and it was a nice evening. We had dinner in the cockpit and then were treated to a magnificient sunset.

Tomorrow we cross through New Orleans. It's a bit daunting with all the locks and traffic but so far we've been able to handle everything that has come our way. Hopefully tomorrow will be no different.

Take care.
Brian

Delcambre, Louisiana

We've been in Delcambre (pronounced Delkum) for a couple of days now. The North Pier Marina has free electricity and water when you dock there overnight ($35). We needed to do some repairs but even more we needed to slow down. This ended up being the perfect place. We were able to make a better temporary fix on our engine exhaust leak, fix the head that was running non stop and find a local mechanic that would order a new water pump for the generator. I'm writing this now as we're waiting for the mechanic to deliver it. All that and we did some sightseeing too.

Yesterday we toured the Joseph Jefferson house and walked the Rip Van Winkle Gardens that surround it. Today we toured the Tabasco plant at Avery Island which is only 30 minutes away by car. But we don't have a car. That's where we first learned about the people here in Vermillion Parish. From our experience, they will do anything for you. T-Boy, the dock master at North Pier Marina, will pretty much take you anywhere you want to go. He'll drop you off and then you call him and he'll come back and pick you up. Today, on the way back from Tabasco, we went by his neighbor's house and picked up 18 fresh eggs. Can't wait for breakfast tomorrow.

Had to take a little break to meet the mechanic and get the water pump.  It's installed now and working like a champ with no leaks. Yeehaa!

If you are ever in this part of the country, be sure and stop in Delcambre. Meet the people and check out Joseph Jefferson's house, the gardens and be sure and eat at the cafe there. Can't imagine you'd be here and not tour the Tabasco plant also.


Tomorrow we're heading to Morgan City to see what adventure is waiting for us there.

Take care.
Brian

There are benefits to being tall

For one, I can't crawl down inside the aft locker to work on the leaking engine exhaust hose. Susan, unfortunately for her, is not too tall for that task. And today was her lucky day as she got to do it twice. Once this morning with some fantastic stuff called Fiber Fix (thank you Paul Wiley for the gift). The location of the leak made it impossible to get it completely covered but we could tell it would have worked if we could have gotten at it. This evening once we were docked we had another idea on how to make a temporary fix and Susan was back in the locker cutting about 8 inches of the hose off in order to cut out the leaking part. Works like a champ. We will need to replace the hose sooner rather than later but it is at least fixed for now.

Today was a tough day as we found a couple of problems that we thought we had previously fixed but obviously not completely. The water pump on the generator is leaking again and the aft head is continually running when we have the pump on giving us water pressure. All this and we ran aground when we were circling at a lock waiting for our turn. We were well and truly stuck. A guy that works at the lock came over in some sort of work boat and pulled us off. It ended up only costing us 20 minutes or so but a fair bit of angst. Fortunately the rest of the day went smoothly.

Tonight we are tied up at the North Pier Marina in Delcambre, Louisiana. Our friends Ted and Claire on Another Life that are about three weeks ahead of us told us about it. It is no where near the place we were at in Kemah but the people we've dealt with so far could not be nicer. Tomorrow morning T-Boy (a 76 year old mad that doesn't look much over 50) is going to drive us to one of the gardens in the area. He said when we're done just call him and he'll come pick us back up. He's willing to take us shopping, to do laundry, sightseeing, pretty much whatever we want to do. Some real Southern Louisiana hospitality here.

Just after dusk as we were finishing our meal of pork chops and asparagus from the grill we saw our first alligator. Both Susan and I have been searching high and low for them and here one came swimming just on the other side of the pier from us. If I was to guess I'd say he wasn't more than four feet long.

Tomorrow we're going to stay here and do some sightseeing and hopefully get a few things fixed before we move on. After yesterday we decided we needed to slow down and enjoy the trip a bit more. It's about the journey, not the destination.

Take care.
Brian

Over the river and through the marsh

Hi All,
Susan says I have been verbose so I'll try to make this short. After leaving the Marina in Kemah on Saturday we had a short day but started early on Sunday. We were up and motoring at 6:45. On the GIWW that's about all you can do, motor. We made better time than we expected and ended up stopping at Shell Island, a small island in the Sabine River just north of Sabine Lake. We covered about 60 miles that day. Just as Susan was trying her hand at some fishing, we were visited by a couple of Texas game wardens. As it turns out they just wanted to come see the boat. They didn't ask to see any safety equipment or fishing licenses, which was a good thing since neither of us have a license. We did invite them on board to have a look around and one of them took us up on it. A couple of real nice guys that went on their way after chatting with us for a while. The picture of Susan fishing is just 15 or 20 minutes before they showed up.

Monday morning we got another early start because we had called in a reservation for a bridge opening at 11:00. This is a picture of the sunrise moments before we picked up the anchor and headed East.

We were on our way by 6:30 and ended up getting to the bridge at 10:00. The bridge operator was kind enough to lift the bridge as soon as we got there so we didn't have to wait.

Lots of miles and miles of flat marsh land or cattle grazing is mostly what we saw both days. It's almost like a ten hour road trip but a lot more relaxing. That analogy only works if you enjoy road trips.

No alligators spotted so far but birds of note (besides the many species of heron) are roseate spoonbills, wood storks, caspian terns and an osprey.

We lost some time trying to find fuel in Lake Charles today, but ended up meeting a real nice Marine (no longer in but I understand there is no such thing as an "ex-Marine".)  We tied up at a fuel dock that is closed on Mondays and he just so happened to be around. He offered and we accepted a ride to a close gas station so we could fill our two jerry cans with diesel fuel. Twice. It wasn't much more than a mile but in the heat we would have been done in after making one trip. With his help we made two trips and were able to get 20 gallons of fuel ,

Trying to be short so I had better quit now. Tonight we are just up the Memantau River. We pushed it too hard today and didn't get anchored until just after dark. We don't want to do that again unless absolutely necessary. Tomorrow morning before heading out we have some repair work to do as we discovered we have an engine exhaust leak. We hope to make a temporary fix until we can do something more permanent.

That's it! I'm done! Wasn't very short.

Take care.
Brian

Elvis has left the building

We did it! We finally cast off the lines and started our journey!

But first, yesterday. Yesterday was frantic trying to get everything done. We left selling my truck to the last minute. Good decision but it took a lot longer than we expected. We also left filling the propane bottles for right before we left. That ended up being a bad decision. In Texas, propane bottles must be certified every 12 years. Ours were out of date and because we waited to the last minute we had to leave without having two full bottles. The morning was spent with Susan and I putting a new carburetor on the dinghy outboard motor. It purrs like a kitten now. Here's a hint. "Small" engines (weed eaters, lawn mowers, outboard motors) don't like ethanol in their gas. Unfortunately it is very difficult / impossible to find gas that doesn't have ethanol in it. I'm now treating the gas with a Lucas Oil product to protect fuel systems from ethanol. I don't know if it works but I hope it will. We also got the dinghy back up on the davits with its cover and the outboard back up on the rail. Thanks very much to Tori for letting us use her truck yesterday and this morning to do our last errands.

Last night our friends Cindy, Bryan, Tori and Brad threw us a Bon Voyage party that included going out on Austintatious to watch the Kemah Boardwalk firework show. There was some sort of snafu last weekend, the show on July 4th had problems so they had a lot of fireworks left over. They used them up last night. It was a great show. Dinner had a Vietnamese theme (Good Morning Vietnam after all). Bryan said he spent hours rolling the spring rolls but I'm not so sure that's how it was done.Brad made a Igloo water cooler full of Mai Tai's. Everyone contributed, but Susan and I. It was a great evening and a good time was had by all. We had hoped our friends and best brokers ever, Paul and Lisa could have joined us but they had previous commitments. We went by their office this morning and said goodbye.

Today we made the last WalMart run (still in Tori's truck), tried again, unsuccessfully, to get our propane bottles filled and took our last real shower for a while. Then we rolled up our shore power cords, gathered our dock lines and took off. Always there for us, Cindy, Tori, Bryan and Brad helped us cast off. Bryan played some Robin Williams lines right out of Good Morning Vietnam over his loud speaker, remember the first time he was on the air? Gooooood Moooorning Vietnam! Susan had Christopher Cross' Sail Away playing and we pullout out of slip 26, pier 16 for the last time. It was 12:12.

We sailed some once we got out onto Galveston Bay but eventually decided to motor along the Houston Ship Channel to get to our first stopping point. Those tankers are ginormous! It was neat to see the porpoise riding in their bow wakes. We stayed out of the way and made good time. We arrived at Laguna Harbor on the Bolivar Peninsula of Texas right at 6:00. This is a small residential subdivision right off the GIWW that has a place to tie up and get free water and electricity. We plowed the bottom getting here since it was right at low tide but tomorrow when we leave the tide will be in and we'll have a foot and a half more water.

So, for those wondering or interested in our playlist we had for our departure...
The aforementioned Sailing by Christopher Cross, What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong, Ride Like the Wind by Christopher Cross, Sail On Sailor by the Beach Boys, Come Sail Away by Styx, Cheeseburger in Paradise by Jimmy Buffett, Two Tickets to Paradise by Eddie Money and Son of a Son of a Sailor by Jimmy Buffett.

What do you think we missed? What should we have included but didn't? Besides Georgia on My Mind, of course.

Thanks to all that have helped with this adventure or wished us well.

Brian

We have a sail!

As promised, Terry from Quantum Sails was here at 8:30 this morning, with our new mainsail. It went up just like it should so we rolled it up and took her out for a spin. There was a pretty good breeze out on Galveston Bay so we got to really test her out. She passed with flying colors. Terry was very nice to go out with us and give us a lesson or two on trimming sails. It was a bit odd to get the boat heeled over pretty good, turn the autopilot on and then all of us walk out on to the deck to look at the sail when it was full of air. I still have a bit to go before that feels right.

Another major hurdle to leaving is removed.

In the afternoon we ran into the mechanic that is going to work on our diesel generator. From the sound of it we'll be seeing him tomorrow, a day earlier than I had expected. As the big stuff is getting taken care of a number of little things that we'd like to get done before we leave are getting accomplished as well. I think both Susan and I feel our remaining time here in Kemah is getting short. It is both exciting and scary.

With the help of Brad, our neighbor on Never Again, we put the outboard motor back on the dinghy. I wanted to get it started again and make sure all was right with it while we are still here at the marina. I had a gas line issue of some kind but it is sorted now and the motor is running though it's a bit rough at idle. I'd like to take a little tour of the marina in the dinghy so we'll try to do that tomorrow before we hoist the motor back up on the rail until it is needed again.

We've looked at charts and have a plan (with no times) for how we'll make our way to New Orleans and then a bit less of a plan on how we'll get from there over to Pensacola. Our friends on Another Life are there now and it sounds like someplace we'll want to spend at least a few days. At some point before we get there we'll get out of the dirty brown water around here and get to the clear blue water we are very much looking forward to seeing.

I'm writing so often now because it keeps me from entering receipts into a spreadsheet for us to keep track of our expenses. I'm afraid I'll have to devote some time to that tonight. I thought I was done with spreadsheets when I left HDS. It seems not.  ;-)

Take care.
Brian

Good Monday

Susan said I sounded a bit down in my last post, which I was. Having two target dates come and go with only more issues to resolve before we can leave was definitely a bummer. But the truth is, we're living on a boat sitting at a very nice marina with great people around us. Everyone should have it so rough.

Today was a good day for making progress. Susan picked up the spear gun she had taken in for repair. That should help with providing dinner once we get to the islands.  Our new mainsail was delivered to the local Quantum Sail shop. We (along with Quantum) were going to install it today but the wind was up this afternoon so we postponed it until first thing tomorrow morning.  That timing worked well as only a few minutes after making that decision I got a call that Y.E.S. was on their way to install the new forward air conditioner. What a bonanza! Tonight we have two working air conditioning units! There is still some sort of an issue with running them both at the same time but I have another thing to try on resolving that issue. The only major thing left is the diesel generator. Before the week is out a mechanic will be here to look at it.

I'm sticking with my decision not to make any more predictions on a date we'll be leaving but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.  It's getting close!

Take care.
Brian

No Independence

Well, we're still at the marina in Kemah, Friday, the day several things were to come together so we could leave ended up being the day the two businesses we were depending on were closed for Independence Day. So no mainsail yet and no new air conditioning, though the air conditioner has arrived at the shop and is scheduled to be installed early next week. I don't have an update on the sail which is very frustrating since we're now two weeks past our due date.

Unfortunately we have a new issue to deal with, the diesel generator. It should be relatively easy to fix but like all things, we have to wait. In this case we're waiting for a mechanic to come out because it's more than I can do. I'm going to stop predicting when we're going to leave because it only seems to draw the ire of the gods.

Today being Independence Day we took the day off and went sailing. There was a pretty good wind so even with only a jib I got close to 7 knots at one point. I'm sure a racer could have trimmed the sail and gotten more but we're retired, remember. We're not supposed to be in a hurry.

It was a nice sail and we had fun, anchored at a small man made island in Galveston Bay and had lunch and a bit of a nap. We're back now and ready to enjoy the sunset.

Happy Birthday America!

Brian