Today's theme "Rise to the Challenge"!
We started before sunrise with two plans ~ Plan A - head west in the ICW, travel through the multiple bridges and locks, around downtown New Orleans and arrive 65 miles later at the Houma City Dock with enough time to relax and do some laundry. Plan B ~ same as Plan A, but instead of stopping in Houma, continue on for another 30 ish miles to Morgan City for the night.
Guess what we ended up with? Plan C! We started out at 0615 (before the official sunrise), headed about a mile towards the first bridge and we noticed that the warning light was on for the port side engine. There was no audible alarm (adding to the list of fix-it items for Josh, our mechanic, when we get home). We flipped a "u-ie" and went bock to the Seabrook marina where we stayed last night. Turns out the impeller on the port engine went out. Luckily, we had packed a couple of extras. The guys went ahead and changed out the starboard impeller as well. After, multiple trips to the store, and one to the shop (where I sweet-talked the worker to let me borrow a hammer), we were back underway around 1100.
We made it to the Industrial Lock and was instructed to tie up on the port side and wait for our turn. There was a pelican who landed on the piling in front of us...just to say "hey". We got through that lock - my first time with a drop down line instead of a floating bollard - and motored on. The commercial traffic was pretty heavy, but nothing like Mobile Bay, which gave me nightmares!
Coming around the bend on the Mississippi River we cruised right by the downtown area of New Orleans - what a sight! That is until we were approached by a Coast Guard vessel. It turned out they just wanted to know our destination and to ask us to stay 400 feet from the shoreline. Another first for us!
After New Orleans the scenery was pretty amazing. It would go from hurricane impacted homes, boats on the shore to re-built, super nice houses. There were a ton of shrimp boats and a lot of staging areas for barges and tugs.
We arrived at the Bayou Blue Pontoon Bridge around 1700 and called to request passage - they needed to swing the pontoon out. After 4 calls, we were informed that they were on a restricted schedule due to maintenance and we would need to wait until 1730 to pass through the bridge. After a deep and thorough discussion between the three of us, we decided that the maintenance excuse was a bunch of BS ~ we didn't see any worker bees in the area!
We flipped another "u-ie" and headed back up river for about 15 minutes then turned around and made it back to the bridge just in time for the attendant to begin the process of opening it up. B
Back on the ICW for another 8 miles to Houma, our resting place for the night. The Houma CIty Dock is a 90 degree turn off the ICW, with a face dock that holds about 5 boats. I am told it is a great place to layup; however, when you are coming in close to dark, and there are already 4 boats on the dock, it is not quite as fun.
Ryk started down the VERY narrow and shallow channel, and about 60 feet in realized that we were not going to make it any further due to the depth. He backed out into the ICW; Mark and I switched the fenders to the opposite side of the boat; and Ryk backed into the very tip of the end area. We are now sitting with about 4 feet between us and a houseboat off our stern, and the bow of the boat is about 1-2 feet away from the ICW.
We were only able to plug in one power cord, so no air tonight. This hasn't been much of a problem on past nights, as we just open the windows...not in Houma Louisiana. The mosquitos are going to eat me alive and it is only February!
A lot of commercial traffic today!
Coming into downtown New Orleans
Coming into downtown New Orleans - what an amazing site!!
Getting ready to go through the Harvey Lock. We were told we could "float the middle" as we were the only boat in the lock. This was another first for us!
More downtown New Orleans
I wanted one of these rocks for landscaping, but no go :(
Waiting outside of the Industrial Lock - our new mascot, the Pelican!
End of boat vs end of channel (start of ICW)
Mark and Ryk can attest to this!!
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