Mississippi Sound

By Capt. Scott

The Mississippi Sound is part of the southern Gulf states inland waterway however it is an expanse of open water that is dotted with barrier islands and shallow water.  It has a 110 mile long fetch to the east and west and the wind are predominately out of the east at this time of the year (Oct).  I had been dreading this part of the passage the most.  If the winds were out of the east with any intensity I knew this would be one very long slog into the wind with no protection, few places to hide and little chance to sail.  I was not disappointed.

The above picture shows our route thru the Mississippi Sound and across Mobile Bay.

The Route

We left Rabbit Island LA in the wee hours (over on the left of the picture above) with a plan to get as far as either Ship Island or Horn Island and find an anchorage,  Once we were into the sound the winds were building out of the ENE and NE.  The waves were from dead ahead and slowed the boats speed to 4.2 knots and sometimes down to 3 knots when a series of tall waves pounded the bow.  With this slow speed I had two options, one to increase the engine power which means I will be burning a lot of fuel and get even more pounding or except that at this speed I will not make it to even Ship Island and may have to find and anchorage on Cat Island. 

A Different Route

I told the 1st mate I was thinking about ducting south of Cat Island to try and use the Island as a breakwater and try to get better speed.  This meant sailing on the Gulf of Mexico side of the Island where I might encounter some of the Gulf swell.  The 1st mate pointed out Cat Island pass on the Chart and I told her I would advise taking some sea sickness medicine before we make the turn. She did and I made the turn. 

Going South. 

The turn south in conjunction with a NE wind meant we could sail a bit and out went the Jib.  Boat speed increased to 5.7 knots and once we got out behind the Island and out of the choppy waves the speed increased to 6.5 knots.  Once we rounded Cat Island there is an open section between Cat Island and Ship Island.  Once again were were in the slop except there was the Gulf swell added so that every minute or so you would hit some really big waves that would nearly stop the boat in its tracks.  I decided to stay south of Ship Island and Little Ship Island as well.  Our speed was averaging 5.5 knots which while it is not great would do. 

The Horn

The winds were not letting up and were clocking more to the east.  Horn Island is a long narrow island that is laid out roughly east and west.  I did not think we would find a protected anchorage on Horn Island that night.  On the north side I would be exposed the the ENE wind (which was building) and on the south side of the island I would be exposed to the Gulf swell.  I began looking at a tiny little island called Round Island as a possible anchorage. I turn north to pass Horn Island to the north and headed toward Round Island.  It was another long slog into the wind be as we got closer to the island the wave decreased in size and speed forward increased.  We anchored down in the lee of the island as the sun set and rolled with some residual swell from the gulf.

While we were anchored there the winds really howled all thru the night.  The anchor did not drag an inch and Tamera and I got some real confidence in its holding  power.  The anchor is a 45 lb Delta with a chain rode.  It is a great deal better than the CQR anchor we use to have.

The Journey Onward

Again we arose early to continue trekking east and the wind had not abated at all.  Again I chose to go south of the barrier island Petit Bois (pronounced by Texans as Petty Boy and by everybody else as Peteet Bwau) to get some protection.  It worked and again we were able to sail a bit. The winds were strong but the island offered some protection.

We noticed and sail boat that was not too far behind us and staying closer to the island.  There was the gap between Petit Bois and Dauphin Island and the swell and waves really made this section particularly rough.  I thought about turning back but it is hard to give back miles you have fought for knowing you are going to have to fight for the again. 
When we made the turn south to head around Petit Bois we put up the sails.  We continued to sail out pass Petit Bois into the Gap.  Once it was getting too rough we pulled in the sail and motored toward the lea side of Dauphin Island.  We looked back for the sailboat behind us and realized they had turned back.  I could not blame them because it got very rough for a while.  I was looking at the sun thru the waves ahead.  That is generally not a good thing. 
The plan was to sail (actually motor because the wind was on the nose out of the ENE) along the south side of Dauphin Island and pass thru the cut at the east end of the island.

It turns out that cut is not longer there.  It is completely blocked by land now.  We had not planned on this and had to turn south and go way around.  Because the charts were so incorrect we were leery of the shoals  on the chart south of the island. We went all the way down to the old abandoned lighthouse marking the shoal before turning north into Mobile Bay.

As we got into Mobile bay the winds started to abate and we slipped back into the ICW in calm weather.  We proceeded up the ICW canal to Wolf Lake to anchor.  It was pretty.

The next day we sailed the 22 miles to Pensacola.  The water was clear and the when the dolphins swam next to the boat you could see them under the water.  We got into the marina Palafox and got some showers.  There we are in the picture below we are cleaned up and fed.  Kooky Dance is in the background.

We passed a pretty unique Navy boat in the way into Pensacola Bay.