The Logistics of Cruising

The Logistics of Cruising

By Capt. Scott

Position: 29 56' 50'N, 091 58' 59'W

Progress towards destination: 210.0 nm

We are currently docked in Delcambre LA working out the next part of our journey.  We were visited by some friends that we have stayed in touch with when we lived in this part of the US.  Randy and Sandra Boulet took us to dinner in Abbeyville at Shucks.  Dinner was great and the company was something Tamera and I both sorely needed. We had drug along our laundry thinking we could stop by the Laundromat after dinner and continue to visit while Tamera and I washed a few cloths.  Remember the Seagull Guano incidents in the previous post.  Turns out the only Laundromat in Abbeyville was also a local gang hangout and was NOT recommended at night unless heavily armed.  Sandra and Randy offered to do our laundry and bring it to us the next day.  That was so gracious however it made Tamera and I feel terrible.  I mean it could be interpreted as; "Hey Randy and Sandra are taking us to dinner.  Lets get them to wash our clothes too."  That is like the opposite of graciousness. Anyway it was a great night and we look forward to seeing them later today.

I had talked to one friend that said the winds would be from the SW for the next five days and that would be very favorable for an offshore passage from Louisiana to Florida.  The 1st mate and I started getting very excited about a faster passage to Florida.  We started planning and securing things on board. 

We planned to travel from Delcambre to Morgan City LA and tie up at the city dock or proceed thru the Bayou Boeuf  locks and anchor in Wallis Bayou.  The Wallis Bayou option is preferred if heading east on the ICW because of the exposure to river traffic at the Morgan City docks can bounce your boat against the pilings.  It is recommended to have fender boards if you stay at the Morgan City docks. 

We would send the night in Morgan City and head to the Gulf of Mexico by way of the Atchafalaya river.  It would be about 29 miles to the open Gulf with enough depth to turn east.  I thought by the first day we could get to Ship Shoals.  From there (depending on weather we could get most of the way around Main Pass LA (where the Mississippi empties into the Gulf) and make our turn north either behind the Chandelier Islands or north east to Mobile or Passcagoula MS.

Sounds too good to be true.

Thankfully we checked the actual offshore forecast and found the prediction were for east winds of 20 knots with a strong weather system arriving Wednesday or Thursday.  That would be on the nose for 200 miles and a weather system chasing us.  I was pretty sure we could make it but would be beat up and exhausted at the end of it and it carried some unnecessary risks.  We could still travel the ICW through New Orleans and the Mississippi Sound but they can be a challenge as well with virtually few chances to sail.

We had a planned to travel to Shalimar FL via the ICW and meet up with some spare engine parts I had sent there.  As the 1st mate was reading thru the "Skipper Bob's Cruising the Gulf Coast" guide she read a note that sail boats that are not able to pass under a 48' bridge should exist the ICW at Pascagoula MS.  I knew that was well before Shalimar FL which is just east of Destine FL.  I checked the charts to see if I could enter Choctawhatchee Bay for access to Shalimar and saw it was blocked by a 49' fixed bridge at its entrance.  Kooky Dance is 59' high so I started searching for a way into Shalimar and found I would need to go all the way down to Panama City FL and back track 70 miles to Shalimar. 

So why did I pick Shalimar you may ask and I wish I had a clever answer but 2 years ago while making a delivery of a trawler from S. Carolina to Western Louisiana we stopped into Shalimar to wait out some weather.  It was close to everything, had a courtesy car and the folks there were pretty nice.  That trawler was only 24' high.  I had not checked the entire route for bridge height.

To add insult to injury when I checked bridge height for the rest of the way to Apalachicola FL I found another bridge with a fix height of 50' on the east side of Panama City FL.  I had wanted to show the 1st mate some of the most beautiful parts of the ICW on the Gulf Coast.  In particular the section from Panama City to Apalachicola.   I would not be able to with the bridge height limits.  This also meant some additional offshore sections of the passage that were not planned in order to go around them. 

Feeling like and idiot

 I was kicking myself pretty hard for missing these obstacles and planning appropriately.  In fact the amount of crow I will need to eat is not over yet.  I will still need to call the Shalimar marina and tell them that I will not be able to stay at their marina.  While that is probably not the end of the world it was part of the agreement for them to accept parts on my behalf.  I am hoping that they will be understanding and if they aren't I will need to fake a little sympathetic brain damage.  Preferably some sort of brain damage suffered while saving a bunch of puppies or small children.

A Wakeup call.

The 1st mate and I swung into action to work out solutions.  We looked at renting a car and driving to Shalimar to pick up the parts.  But from where?  We looked and timing and option from Orange Beach AL to Panama City FL.  We poured through the Dozier's Waterway Guide, Skipper Bob's guide and Active Captain.  Made some phone calls and made plans to stay in Pensacola FL and drive over to Shalimar to get the parts.  The first mate also worked through some anchoring options from the list of daily progress plans I had made.  Our confidence was rattled and we were feeling that familiar tension that characterized the first couple of days of the voyage.  I was feeling so inept about my ability to do this, but the fact is we are just starting out and we always knew we had a lot to learn, it just staggering the amount of things we don't know.  1st mate wanted to take a walk to unwind a little and I joined her for the benefits as well.

The Difficult part ahead.

We have some challenging miles ahead before we can relax a little and they will be getting thru the Mississippi locks  Both onto and off of the river and all the bridges to contend with and their operational restrictions.  Getting onto the river at the Harvey lock is no guarantee to get off of the river at the Industrial locks.  If there is a wait at the Industrial locks you are stuck waiting on the river with all its traffic, floating debris and current.  I don't even know anyone to call about what options there are if you get stuck on the river for 24 hrs (which I hear is possible).
 The second challenge will be Mississippi Sound.  A long stretch of shallow open water that run east and west. It runs from the Riggolets (pronounced The Rig-o-lees) just east of New Orleans all the way to the east end of Mobile Bay Alabama.  There are only a few places along the way to find refuge from bad weather. 

Courage

On our boat card we put a quote from a movie we like called "Cloud Atlas" .  The quote is: "Our survival demands our courage."  I liked the quote because it says to me that those things worth having are never easy.  While I always understood this adventure would take courage, I don't think I fully appreciated how much it would take.  It is definitely testing our metal and this far as a team we are meeting the challenges.