I think we left off after describing our trip crossing the
Gulf of Mexico. If we didn’t, the crossing was fine. We traveled at about 25
mph the whole time, only slowing down about 10 miles from Carrabelle to
conserve fuel. We don’t want to get down below a quarter tank.
On the journey we saw turtles including a couple of HUGE
loggerheads and a bunch of Mylar balloons. Remind me never to purchase those.
Kermit claims he saw dolphins but I couldn’t capture pictures so are we really
sure he saw them?
We each took two naps during the journey. That is a good
strategy. We are going to try that more
frequently because it really reduced the stress at the evening anchoring!
We anchored out behind Dog Island just outside of Carrabelle
FL to witness the beautiful Passover moon. But it was not a good night sleep.
Our anchor dragged TWICE! We kept feeling this crazy slapping. Neither of us
could sleep a wink. About 2am we both got up. Kermit checked the GPS and saw
clearly that the anchor dragged. All that slapping was because we were in about
5 feet. We started in 15 feet so we clearly dragged, not just swung. There is a
big difference.
We pulled up the anchor, moved the boat a bit and reset the
anchor. Back to bed.
Wednesday April 12, 2017 Carrabelle to Panama City. We got up
around 6am, before the sun was making much light. We moved again! Again we were
in about 5 feet of water. The chart clearly showed a long line when it should
have showed several short lines.
Bah!
We pulled ourselves together, raised anchor and set off to
Carrabelle. Charlie Crawford recommended a particular marina for fuel.
Unfortunately, we couldn’t come in until 10:30am when it was slack tide. The
currents rip in there like crazy. We went to the other side of the bay near the
entrance to the channel and dropped that anchor again.
Good thing too because I had three clients in a row, 9am,
10am and 11am. Halfway through the last client, he joined me on the phone for
the trip up the channel. We tied up along the fuel dock with just enough room
for the hose to reach the intake but absolutely no room for us to get off the
boat! We fueled up ($2.05 per gallon – what a deal!) and off we went.
By then it was about noon and all we accomplished was fuel.
Not appropriate for a delivery such as this! We hightailed it at cruising speed
through the ICW. We passed right by Apalachicola, a cute little fishing town
that was so hospitable when we visited with One September in 2013.
The ICW through here is wooded with that dark water that can
make a mustache on the front of your boat. Not on Good Karma, though. Kermit has
this girl polished to the 9’s. No mustache here.
Not much to say about the ICW. We didn’t see alligators,
although we were told they were there. We saw very few people or houses and
only a few fishing boats. It felt very isolated, very different from the
touristy parts along the gulf.
 |
| Bay Point |
We traveled about 80 miles the next day mostly at cruising
speed of about 25 mph to Panama City where we stayed at Bay Point Marina just
inside the Panama City Inlet. We passed a beach that looks like it is set up
for shelling. But of course we did not stop. |
| Leaving Bay Point |
We need to say a few words about the tie up at Bay Point
Marina. It was NUTS. We sterned in with a starboard side tie on the tiniest
finger dock I’ve ever seen. The little dock extended from the swim platform to
about the side door. It couldn’t have been more than 10 feet long. Plus we were
in a strong current so we needed to configure a tie up situation that would
prevent our boat from damaging all those pretty and very expensive boats on
either side.
 |
| Leaving Bay Point - see how tight this is? |
I went on the bow and tied a line from the forward cleat on
either side to the big posts sticking out of the water between the slips. We
took those lines from the bow cleat around the posts to secure the line to the
forward mid-cleats on either side. Meanwhile Kermit and the dockhand (nice guy,
I can’t remember his name) secured a line from the rear mid-cleat on the tiny
finger dock starboard side around a short post a few times then back on itself.
The stern had a series of lines crossed that made getting off the boat more of
an obstacle course than it normally was. Good Karma looked like it was stuck in
the middle of a spider web. We slept well.
Next morning we had to untie the whole thing!
Thursday April 13, 2017 Panama City FL to Orange Beach AL. We
left at about 6:30 or 7am. We can’t seem to get out earlier. We are so tired at
night that I don’t think we are sleeping as well as we could. We are anxious
about this trip and anxious about leaving Good Karma.
The next day we left Panama City out the inlet and traveled
in the Gulf of Mexico over 80 miles all the way across the way to the Pensacola
inlet. This cut at least another day off of our trip but we skipped Destin and
Pensacola, such pretty places. The water was perfect with less than 1 foot
swells. We saw no critters (dolphins without pictures don’t count!).
We entered the ICW at Pensacola near our favorite anchorage
from 2013 at Ft. McRae. So beautiful but we were not stopping. We traveled
another 20 miles or so to Orange Beach AL to meet Charlie Crawford and Mary
Smith Melton for dinner. We haven’t seen them since we stopped in Mobile in
2012 on the loop. We traveled with Charlie and Mary on Bama Belle in Lake
Michigan and Nashville. We had a great time catching up!
Orange Beach Wharf is a tourist destination with a wonderful
marina, lots of shops and restaurants and even a Ferris wheel, a movie theatre
and an ampatheater. Kermit liked it because he got a free newspaper delivered
to the boat!
Dinner was perfect. Charlie and I had the broiled lobster
special, Mary had the broiled platter with fish, shrimp and something else and
Kermit ordered FISH!! I tasted it. It was delicious with a pecan crust and
burre blanc. I would bathe in burre blanc if I could.
We met a couple on the dock from Louisiana who gave us some
tips about the trip from Kemah TX to almost New Orleans. I listened hard but
only picked up every other word because their accents were so thick!
Friday April 14, 2017 Orange Beach to New Orleans. We left the
next morning, Good Friday, bound for New Orleans. Orange Beach to NO is 100
miles straight across Mobile Bay to the entrance of the channel to New Orleans.
Our goal was to stay in a marina right near New Orleans.  |
| Lulu's |
This is where the story goes awry.
 |
| Visitor as we crossed the bay! |
Along the way we had a visitor!!
 |
| Those are dolphins, honest! |
 |
| Jack enjoyed the trip across Mobile Bay |
 |
| Passing a tow in Mobile Bay |
We arrived at our mark at about 1pm.
In the spirit moving quickly and since we made such good
time across the Bay we decided to skip the planned stop in New Orleans and try
to make both of those New Orleans locks on either side of the Mississippi on
Friday then anchor out just outside the second lock. This would save some time.
 |
| Hi-Tide Marina |
We needed fuel if we were going to anchor out that night.
The tanks were less than half. So we found a nice little marina, Hi-Tide Marina
and Restaurant just off the ICW at Chef Menteur Pass about 5 miles up the ICW
towards New Orleans. Turns out Bunny and Evan had eaten there and enjoyed it
very much!
We went through a railroad swing bridge and started up this
unmarked channel. Kermit about freaked. No markers and only about 5 feet deep.
He was sweating and swearing the whole way but around the last bend was the
cutest little yellow building with a rusty tin roof. There are condos built
next to it. Fishing boats are tied up on one side of the fuel dock and pleasure
boats on the other side. Nothing was as big as Good Karma.
The current was wicked. The combo of current and wind kept
us off the dock. We tied three lines and still had about a 3 foot jump to the
dock. I stayed on the boat while Kermit went in to the little building. The
people were delightful! I had some good conversations while I stayed on the
boat. Kermit ended up buying some folks beers for helping us. We were all good
buddies after we finished fueling over 1 hour later – these were the SLOWEST
PUMPS EVER! We put in 75 gallons per side in over an hour. That is Venetian
Marina fueling speed!!
We left the same way we came although I think Kermit was a
little more confident. We got out to the channel and called for the swing
bridge to open. The operators were changing shifts. The nice lady who let us in
was replaced by a different nice fellow. That transition took some time. New
guy said he would be right with us after the train went by. Ok, we floated
around in a pretty wide channel with a wicked current for about 45 minutes at
least. We saw the train come slowly across the bridge. Slower. Slower. Then it
stopped. We could see the end.
The nice man came back on the radio and said, “Folks, I have
some bad news. I’m afraid a few cars have left the tracks up ahead.” Kermit
responds, “How long will this take?” “I am not sure sir. (He was very polite).
Could take some time. Could be hours. Could be days.” Days?
We were trapped like rats! Nowhere to go. We could have gone
back to the Hi-Tide and had some crawfish dinner. Kermit vetoed that because
there was no space that seemed like we could fit. Certainly the gas dock was a
very tight fit.
The bridge tender suggested there was another way to New
Orleans at the other end of this channel.
We pulled out the chart. Sure enough,
that channel leads directly to Lake Ponchatrain. We could go around a peninsula,
under a bridge and into the Inner Harbor to the marina where we originally
intended to stop. We would not get through those locks today.
We headed up the channel. It was very deep, 20+ feet or more
in spots. We entered Lake Ponchatrain to find 5 feet of water or less. We
inched forward at idle reading the depths. 5 feet. 4 feet. 3 feet. 2.5 feet. Oh
crap. What have we done? We inched forward until we found deeper water. I have
never been so thrilled to see 5 feet of water in my life!
In the meantime I got on the phone to call the marina for a
reservation at the combo marina-rv park-campground. She said, “Sure, we have a
space. Where are you coming from?” I said, “Lake Ponchatrain.” She said, “Oh
you can’t get through. That bridge has been closed for ages. There is no
entrance to the channel from the Lake right now.”
So follow along with us. We spent way more time at Hi-Tide
Marina filling up. We got stuck at the railroad bridge. We inched our way into
Lake Ponchatrain. Now we can’t get out? Yes, ladies and gentlemen, we were
trapped like rats. Only now we were trapped in a big, shallow lake.
If you have been tracking our time you know that it was
about 5pm when we got to this point. Four hours passed since we arrived at the
mouth of the New Orleans channel. We were tired and starting to get grumpy. We
needed to find a place to stay for the night. No New Orleans for us.
The charts showed that there is an exit from the east side
of Lake Ponchatrain to the exact same place we entered the New Orleans channel.
We took it! We turned east, headed for that pass at glacial speed since the
water was not deep until we hit that channel. For some reason, the channel
ranges from 40 to 90 feet deep while the lake is about 12 feet deep. We went
through one swing bridge that was open. Immediately after we went through it
close for a train. Lucky that time!
We turned the corner out of the Lake Ponchatrain channel and
passed our wake from 1pm that afternoon! We went full circle. The entire
afternoon was spent doing absolutely nothing but burn fuel.
I guess I shouldn’t be so pessimistic. We saw Lake
Ponchatrain. Check that off the list. We saw Hi-Tide, a place Bunny and Evan
enjoyed. Would have been better if we could have eaten there but that is ok. We
successfully traversed a very, very shallow lake. And we got to talk to some
very nice bridge operators.
The best part of the day for Kermit was that he could
finally watch all his TV shows!! The air antenna picked up New Orleans
channels. He watched Hawaii 50 and something else. I don’t know. I went in
back, turned on the TV and fell immediately to sleep.
Saturday April 15, 2017 New Orleans to Black Bayou. This day
will be characterized by frustration and crazy people.
We got a little bit of a late start this morning, not
leaving until about 7am because Kermit was checking engines and changing
filters again. Always smart to do that in the morning. He discovered another
thing the surveyors knocked off – some filter that Kermit reattached.
 |
We pulled up anchor and headed back, waving when we passed
that railroad bridge. I didn’t notice if the train was still there.
 |
| Flood gates before entering New Orleans waters - They look huge from a distance |
 |
| 1st lock on the east side of NO |
It is an entirely different story on the water.
There are two locks, one on either side of the Mississippi
River where the ICW meets the Mississippi. We entered the channel towards the
first lock and saw this huge block of cement. A floodgate! It is open so we
just pass through but it is kind of intimidating.
Soon the skyline came into view behind the maritime equipment.
We reached the first lock, the Industrial Lock at about 8:30am
or so. The red light was on so we couldn’t go in. We were instructed to tie up
to the dolphins on the port side. “Dolphins” are big posts that boats can tie
up to. We wrapped a line from the front mid-cleat around the post then tied it
off to the rear mid-cleat. Then we took another line from the bow line around a
metal sign on the next post.
We stayed this way until 10am. A trawler and a
shrimp boat joined us along those posts.
Two tows came through the locks before finally we were
called in. We excitedly moved forward thinking this lock would be like the
hundreds of other locks we’ve traversed. It wasn’t. It took forever to get out
of there.
The lockmaster was friendly. He said someone keeps cutting
down their line so we have to use our own. He sent down a line. I attached my
line to his line. He wrapped my line around the bollard and sent the other end
down to me. I looped the line around the cleat and I was set. Kermit kept the
boat in position nicely. We came up about 8 feet at the slowest pace I have
ever experienced.
The instructions for this lock are very detailed. As you
leave the lock you are to call the bridge tender to raise the bridge that is
immediately outside of the lock. But it doesn’t happen at the same time like it
does on the Erie Canal. No. You have to wait. And wait. 
Finally we left. I think it was about 11:30am when we left
the lock and headed up the Mississippi.
 |
| Kermit putting down anchor |
That was an exhilarating experience! We
passed the French Quarter peeking out a tiny bit above the levee. We passed the
downtown area.
Then the starboard oil gauge spiked! Kermit shut down the
engine on the Mississippi. We limped a while figuring out what to do. There are
NO marinas or service areas anywhere near us. The closest one is back through the
lock up the river to that same marina we talked about the previous day, the one
we couldn’t get to. That was not going to happen.
We crossed to the side of the Mississippi closest to the
second lock and put down the anchor in 30+ feet of water. Surprisingly the
anchor held better than in 15 feet of water in Carrabelle!
Kermit called Boat US to get a tow. They don’t service this
area. He called Sea Tow. They were downright rude. The guy told Kermit, “Since
you have one engine operating you do not need a tow.” Really? Seriously? Kermit
almost throttled that guy through the phone. Finally they reached one of those
man-type equilibriums and the guy called a tow to come find us.
In the meantime while we were hanging out on the Mississippi
Kermit called David, a wonderful mechanic he met in Fort Pierce to ask for
advice. David listened to the engine through the phone. He gave Kermit some
tasks, “Look at this… look at that.” Finally they figured out that a sensor
wire had shaken loose off the starboard engine. The oil gauge was not
indicating a problem. The engine was perfectly fine!!
We pulled up the anchor and drove around a bit to confirm
our suspicion. Yup, the engine worked just fine.
 |
| Lock on west side of Mississippi |
We headed for the lock, calling in for an open. By this time
it was about 1pm. We spent 2 hours dealing with this issue. We went straight
in!
The lockmaster was a chatty fellow. I used the pole to wrap
the line around a bollard. He suggested I might want a second line so Kermit
suggested tying the second line to the first line. It worked perfectly.
But the problem was while he was talking he wasn't working! It took that guy forever to close the
gates, then the water went out as if the drain was clogged. We went down 13
feet in about 30 minutes. It took over 1.5 hours to get out of Lock 2.
Kermit was more than frustrated.By this time it was after 2:30pm. We had gone about 20 miles
in a day when we planned to travel 100 miles. We had a lot of miles to make up
in a short period of time if we wanted to get to Texas.
The bayou outside of New Orleans is filled with crazy
people. We tried to travel at speed for a while and heard from someone on the
radio that we needed to observe the no-wake zone that wasn’t posted anywhere.
Not only did he tell us to slow down but he persisted. Kermit replied, “Thanks.
We didn’t know.” The guy persisted. Kermit said, “Yeah, I heard you. I will slow
down.” The guy persisted. Kermit said, “I heard you the first time. I promise I
will never come back again.” The guy then said “Be careful around Lafit, well,
you know we shoot at boats.” Seriously?
Kermit is very frustrated. The people are strange. They talk
funny. There are a LOT of tows. The tow boat drivers are the only highlight of
this day. They are nice. They wish us Happy Easter and inquire where we are
going.
The folks along the waterway, on the other hand, are just
nasty. They yell to slow down even when we are at idle. The houses are right on
the water. I mean a wake probably puts water in their living rooms. So we know
this is important. It is just frustrating. 
It is also frustrating knowing that this boat is not our
boat any more. When it was our boat we might have been a little more cavalier.
But driving someone else’s boat is so much more scary. We don’t want anything
bad to happen to the boat. 
We traveled all the way to Black Bayou. I think we traveled
about 90 miles. We could have gone further if we didn’t make that double back
yesterday. |
| We saw a house on fire!! |
 |
| A dead boat |
 |
| See how close the water is to the houses? |
 |
| Lots of industrial maritime |
 |
| Industrial maritime |
 |
| More industrial maritime vessels |
 |
| There are very few marinas - this is noted as a really great place to stop. We passed it by. |
 |
| Wicked current on the ICW |
 |
| Kermit putting down the anchor at Black Bayou |
Tomorrow we have only 10 miles to the 3rd lock. Then
we will get fuel and hopefully travel 110 miles at least. Maybe we can go
faster. Maybe the lock will run more smoothly. We will see!
