Whitecap's Cruising Log

Notes and Remarks:

0645 air temp 40, 0730 clear marina and bridge, enter mobile main channel

0820 abeam "Gilligans Island

0835 Scott Quest inbound pushing 2 barges dredges

0925 passed middle bay light house, large shrimper up ahead, and an oyster dragger just fwd.

0940 half way between Gilligans and to Dauphin island channel, Capt Glenn, rig supply vessel passes inbound sun out air temp 55F Oil tanker Columbia passes inbound.

1000 Miss Marianne inbound pushing 2 oil barges, set full jib on reach. Count 5 oil rigs working near mouth of Mobile Bay.

1030 marker 33, turned into 10 ft deep channel Passes aux Herons, heading for Dauphin Island Bridge, visible at 7.7 mi 238 degrees M.

1125 passed under Dauphin Island bridge, depth 25 ft, air temp 55, seas are calmer, passed sunk shrimper on port channel bar, looks like he has been there some time. We are now in the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway (GIWW).

1150 Marie Cenac pushing 1 x 2 xylene head for bridge

1200 Lucky Pal pushing one empty barge inbound. Hdg 271 deg. Water temp 49F .a school of dolphins passed in our wake.

1214 met Kenny Faughn pushing 2 x 2 same tug we locked through Stennis lock with. Another tow coming behind , Bob Helton pushing 2 x 2 water colour getting greener from the mud brown Can see sail boat up ahead approaching us .. Valhalla a 25 ft Vega, called on radio, wants to chat, Mary thought he was a pirate, he was wearing a black winter overcoat, black shirt, black Panama hat and black rubber boots, really dressed for sailing!!! we anchored and chatted a bit, says he left Palacios, Texas in May worked for 6 months, and is heading for the Bahamas and then south to Panama, then around, his name was Todd Cantu. Had great talk about where he and we had been and are going and passed on tips, Guess he really was a pirate, he left after an hour with all the cash we had ($42US) and a 26'er of Seagram VO... !!! We ended up with all his charts and cruise guides from Dauphin Island to Brownsville, Texas, worth about $200. Tell me..., who was the pirate??

1335 started out again winds light, motor overheated... had her rev'd up too high maybe, or was the belt too loose ? this time blew off at the fill overflow, at least no leaks, next stop, will have to check out the raw water impeller. Rolled out jib and main, set course for Pascagoula for the night

1405 started engine again and motor sailed, engine OK at 1200RPM Crossed the Alabama - Mississippi border.

1550 4.93kts SOG 5.3 should be in Pascagoula by 1830, we are, but cannot find any marina. Called on VHF, Mid- Stream Fuel barge answered, told us about small channel turn to stbd at the last shipyard day marker.

2120 anchored in 6 ft, CQR and 25 ft chain in small channel (any more chain and we would be touching the shore on each side if we swing) next to a boat launch. water temp 52 F air temp 50 F

Whitecap's Cruising Log

Notes and Remarks:

0815 air temp 50, pulled anchor mud bottom, went aground twice on way out channel, able to back off

0910 turned at marker 37 through spoil ground in 6.5 ft heading for Round Island site of many old wrecks, to stbd

1000 cleared reef south of Round Island in 5.4 ft . Not enough wind to sail. Small suction dredge working on shore, new heading 290 deg, Horn Island , where the US govt did WW2II chemical experiments on port, beautiful white sand beach. Horn Island is now a National Wildlife Refuge.

1045 passed day marker Gulfport channel FG 5 to port, 12.5 ft depth, changed course to 280 for Gulfport, Biloxi is visible in the distance 14 miles, the water is green, but still cannot see bottom even at 5.5 ft, many dolphin, but only singles.

1055 first tow of the day, Crosby Hustler pushing barge crude oil from oil rigs, we can see 2 more coming towards Horn Island "Dog Keys Pass" a safety fairway from the gulf. Power boat passed us second one of the day. Air temp 50 f

1205 crossed the Biloxi ship channel, can see big smoke from a fire on shore. Boiled shrimp for lunch, some good.

1230 tug Southern Star approaching with 1 x 4 coal in bound through Little Dog Keys Pass headed for Pascagoula.

1355 passed GIWW Fl R day marker "2" We are now 75.5 statute miles from Harvey Lock, on the west side of the Mississippi River in downtown New Orleans. Gulfport is 8.5 miles away and Pass Christian is 15.8 miles, decide to head for Gulfport, makes for an easy day. Stop at Municipal Marina, $18US. "M/V Dole Costa Rica" a large yellow self unloading container ship followed us down the channel, we heard her calling for a pilot all day on VHF 16. Guess what: her cargo was all bananas.

Thought we would take in the buffet at the Casino, walked 1.5 miles, the advertised prime rib, when you read it up close, turned out to be smoked prime ribs!!! Drinks were being served in styrofoam cups, since we don't drink out of styrofoam cups, we took a taxi back to the marina, and had dinner in the "Whitecap Restaurant", actually the name of a real restaurant on the wharf at the marina!!!

Watched ABC football from Hawaii before bed. There were several trains leaving the Dole terminal during the night, that would wake us every now and then.

Whitecap's Cruising Log

Notes and Remarks:

0730 air temp 45F woke up to a noise on deck, turns out to be the dockmaster delivering a box of croissants and a copy of USA Today, have breakfast , walk up to office, do some e-mails and phone calls and leave at 0930, very nice marina.

1030 cleared around suction dredge dump zone, and set course 239 M for Marianne buoy #1, the entry to the Pass Marianne, which will take us south of the "Tail of the Handkerchief Shoal" and north of Cat Island and Cabbage Reef.

1220 passed Fl R #7 in the dredged Marianne Channel, a narrow passage taking us to Grand island channel and St. Joe Pass., there seems to be lots of water on the coast shore side so we may cheat a little. Vis down to about 2 - 3 miles in fog. Sky turned cloudy no more sun, but we can see it up there through the clouds. 45ft motor yacht "Mint O Mine" went by, east bound, slowed to a stop for us, no wake, nice touch!!! Thank you capt'n.

Air temp 58, under dodger and bimini 68F. Glad we had Bonnie put a windshield on the bimini!!!

1255 mile 55.8 Anderson pushing 1 x 2 Xylene eastbound

1315 eastbound John T McMahan 1 x 2 xylene, and about half mile behind another 1 x 2 xylene pushed by Creole Sun

1325 turned into Grand Island channel 265 deg.

1445 adjusted course to 258 St Joe Pass between Grassy Island, which is so low we can barely see it, and lighthouse point on the Alabama shore, but in the fog cannot see much. We are now in 32 ft water, out of the dredged cut.

1520 Grebe pushing 1 x 2 xylene eastbound. Turns out there is no lighthouse, only a pile of cement rubble.

1600, rev'd up to 1300RPM seems OK, just crossed the mouth of the Pearl River, the Louisiana/Alabama border.

1705 passed the Rigolets (pronounced "rig-oh-lees") channel,

1730 entered the GIWW Rigolets - New Orleans cut, turned into the "oxbow" a small inlet created when they straightened the river for the canal to stbd, anchored in 16 ft, CQR and 40 ft chain, small fish /bait shack on shore, sign says "bayou self bait and tackle", and busy RR tracks about 200 ft away, at least they do not blow their whistle!!!. Abandoned derelict steel rusty offshore platform structure along shore near the cut.. Quiet night except about 10 trains went by

Whitecap's Cruising Log

Notes and Remarks:

0930 tide almost at low, we want to go through on a rising tide. hazy day, pulled anchor, powered over to CSX RR bridge, called operator, says to come on through, he would have it open when we arrive, pass through bridge at 1000. We are now in the Rigolets (rig-go-l-eze), in 53 ft , air temp 64. Lots of wildlife along the shore only about 500 ft wide, raccoon on the west shore, line fishermen along the inlets on the east shore.

1100 water depth 78 ft coming up to hwy S-90 bridge, spd 5.02 kts had to wait for bridge to open, workers doing something...98 ft depth 1145 cleared bridge, all of Lake Pontchartrain drains through here... Head for north shore channel. Many new homes all along Slidell shore, each with a wharf and deck

1240 passing under Hwy I-10 bridge vert clr 19 meters, two more bridges to go...The first one, the RR bascule is open already, clear through both bridges at 1300, change course to 270 for "the west end"

1400, fog vis ˝ to 1 mile but sun out where we are, passed QFl R"B". Engine RPM 1600 spd 5.57 SOG 5.9kts Water depth varies from 10 ft to 13.2 ft., mirror calm, water temp 52F. Called Orleans Marina, someone came on says they are full, no room at the Inn., South Shore Marina came on said they have a spot.

1645 diverted to South Shore Marina, pier 3 W26, just across from municipal airport and adjacent to Bally's Casino.

Vanessa, the security guard gave us the "cooks tour". This marina has 750 boats, and we have to walk 3/4 mile to washrooms!!!

Wednesday, Feb 9, 2000 At laundry, met Mark, lives on his J30 at Orleans Marina, tells us to call Beth, and tell her he sent us... We did and Beth very graciously assigned us pier 6 dock 24, we headed out immediately, and were all set up at Orleans Marina at 1200, 60 cents per ft. What a neat place!!!.if you can imagine a marina area about twice the size of our SYC basin, 6 main piers with 24 fingers on each side, and all around the perimeter are covered boathouses, so the basin is entirely protected. The difference here is that each boat house also is a condominium ... all of the old steel clad boathouses have been fitted out as a place to provide extra boat accommodation, and most are fitted out for permanent living!!.

Thursday, Feb 10, 2000. We are still in New Orleans, the temp here today was 70 F, got a new reef cringle put in the main this AM, 8" above the old clew, the sailmaker says to leave this reef in permanently, and that way the boom will not hit the bimini, this saves the re-cutting the mainsail head. Found a foot-bridge crossing a flood canal, goes over to "Bucktown", like a village within the city along the lake, started as a fishing village over 100 years ago, the residents were squatters that just set up business, then grew to house a jail, saloons, dance halls and gambling houses. The young men coming to the area for entertainment were nicknamed "young bucks". Bucktown is now a gathering place for locals and boaters seeking Creole cuisine and night life, along the lakeshore. We chose "Sid-Mar's", where Marion, one of the founders (now in her 70's), still acts as the hostess. Sid-Mar's is open Tues to Sunday from 11AM to 10.30PM and... is closed on all holidays!!! The area and restaurant were the venue for the original and the re-make movie "The Big Easy".

Friday, Feb 11, 2000 Spent the morning replacing the galley sink drain, put a check valve on the head intake to stop the accidental flooding. Took the bus downtown, did the Riverwalk, "Café du Monde" thing and walked all through the French Quarter. Had a late afternoon boiled shrimp "fix" at a Bourbon St. eatery, before heading to the Louisiana Superdome for the Boat Show. Priced the Yanmar 3JH2 38.7 hp engine, $7800. If anything ever happens to Mercedes that will be the replacement. After a relaxing hour in the Hyatt Hotel lounge, to rest our feet, we taxied back to the marina, for a late supper.

Saturday, Feb 12, 2000, Thick fog, by the time it clears it is too late to start out for the Industrial canal, Hopefully we will get an early start tomorrow. The Canal has a curfew, no vessel traffic from 0630 to 0815 daily, because it would be too disruptive for the city bridge traffic. Today is shorts day all hatches and vents are open, even un-zip the windshield on the bimini!! Guess we chain ate ourselves through all the eateries, saw and did all we wanted to in New Orleans, time to head out first thing in the morning.

Whitecap's Cruising Log

Notes and Remarks:

Orleans Marina Office closed apparently they do not open sat and sun, all their tenants/dockers are permanent ones, no need to staff on weekends, left note and info on how to charge us for 4 days, great dockage, showers and washrooms were v good, except fresh water on docks was rusty...

0920 cast off, passed fuel dock, not open either, we have 12 gallons in the main tank, and the 3 deck jugs.

1025 Entered Inner Harbour Navigation channel, a little more upscale from the original name of Industrial Canal. Change of name or not, the bridges still do not open between 0645 to 0815, due to street traffic. We quickly found that the bridge masters moods swing faster than their bridges!!! We have to call on VHF, on the proper channel, ask for the bridge by it's correct name then try to decipher the lingo, we require 49.5 feet, and it would be really nice to have 53 feet just for our own and the water level satisfaction. In about one hour, we cleared or passed under the: Seabrook Bascule Bridge with 46 ft (closed), the Seabrook RR bridge which stays open unless a train is near, stopped at Seabrook Marine for fuel, but they were not open on Sunday, the Danziger Highway 90 lift bridge with 49 ft, (we stopped and asked for more, and got 60), the I -10 interstate with a clearance of 115 ft, then the L&N RR bridge, where we had to wait for a 300 car train, before he swung her open, then we arrived at the eastern GIWW intersection and the New Orleans container docks. The system narrows again for the Florida Ave Bridge, with zero clearance, then finally the Clairborne Ave bridge with 40 ft, he raises to 60 and we pass... then immediately we are at the lock approach. 1135 arrived at industrial lock, waiting for tow to lock up. We tie to a "sail"` on the east side,

1300 passing downtown New Orleans under bridges, lots of ship traffic, cleared Harvey lock at 1440, had trouble closing lock gates due to surge from ships passing by on the Mississippi River, had to stand holding off for almost 1 hour, and all this for only 6 inches of lock down!!! Pass through 5 miles of boat building, barge and tug repair facilities, floating dry docks, burnt out tugs, wrecks, shrimp boats, but very few pleasure boats, except for a 60' cat in a dry dock. Fresh new leaves on trees air temp 76. From here everything is measured East and West of Harvey Lock.

1530 passed gambling casinos "Boomtown 1 and II . Many dead and semi dead barges along the sides

1550 mile 6.2 passed the turnoff to the Algiers canal leading to the Mississippi River, 7 miles below Canal St...

1715, passed tug Miss Georgie and three barges stopped along small island, fwd and aft barges were loaded with 41 RV's and van type motor homes and the centre barge was a dining/lounge. Rec room. . A novel way to travel, when we passed a number of RV'rs were standing on the rail and gave us the thumbs up signal!!

1740 Tied to Fleming Canal Store gas dock in LaFitte for the night, closed for Sunday or maybe just for the night, plugged in to 20 amp power, very windy, up to 30 kts, fortunate the canal is only about 300 ft wide.

Whitecap's Cruising Log

Notes and Remarks:

0555 awoke to loud noise, crew boat Sue Makim just behind starting engines, strait exhausts, he left the dock at exactly 0600 with a crew change for oil rigs in Lake Salvador and Little Lake, could hear his engines for 20 minutes.

0845 mile 17 yacht Exodus, Marina Del Ray Ca. Passed heading east. We are now in "stump Alley"

0910 two tows pass heading east, Mr Devine with 1x2 empty xylene, and Miss Megan with a flattop work barge.

0930 the main entrance to Lake Salvador, passed Bonnie Sue 1 x 2 xylene easterly loaded, crossed paths with Sue Makim, again heading for Lake Salvador at full speed. 0945 Archie Settoon pushing 1 empty. Then a few miles further Basin Courage 1 x 2 empty covered. Delta farms to port, once was large rice farm but got flooded out.

1045 approaching Aaron Joseph tug towing, yes towing, off shore oil platform "Parker DRILLING #12e also being pushed by Big Eddie, the canal is chocked with water hyacinth, just like Aliceville lake, we thought they were water lilies

1115, mile29.5 made the turn at mile 23.8, Bayou Catahoula, and met tug Pedernales pushing 1 x 2 xylene empty at the turn!! Then the Francis Crowde, passed him on a one whistle (port to port) then Pereia pushing 1 xylene empty

pass large shipyard Edison Chouesr Offshore, all the vessel are orange with yellow supers. Coming into Larose, called the West Larose lift bridge, she has 40 FT CLOSED requested 50 ft, says right away, called back when Whitecap clear, thank you madame. More shipyards on the east shore, four floating dry docks in a row side by side, everything busy, even an old "Biloxi Belle Casino paddle wheeler tied up and about 15 oil drilling platforms in various states of disrepair, looks like hurricane damaged And on stbd a herd of cattle in a field... along this section everything is done on channel 13 ch 16 is not used except for CG. 1315 Brave pushing 1 x 2 work barges.

1410 two bobtail tugs approaching from behind, Harbour Island a conventional tug and a pusher Capt Boggie. After their wake Mercedes started to surge, no prop power, stop and anchor, let everything cool off. Miss Georgie and her load of RV's and vans passed by while we were anchored. Problem turned out to be low Velvet Drive fluid, topped it up with Dextron III and everything is OK again, should have checked it earlier!!!.

1540 called Bayou Blue pontoon bridge, lady says after it opens, she will tell us when the wire is on the bottom, major shipbuilding area all kinds of offshore supply vessels just sitting in a bayou..waiting for work. New vessel comes on the radio, tug "Jesus Saves" pushing something 75 ft wide, wants everyone out of the way, lots of radio traffic, these tugs work all night. Getting dark want to make Houma for the night, Jesus Saves is coming.

1605 mile 54 Shipyards on both shores, very large Weeks Dredging operation on one side, one of their cranes worked on the Confederation Bridge project, looks like this is their headquarters, arrived outskirts of Houma .

1830 turned into Bayou Terrebonne, tied to side wall in 9.6 ft under the Houma Twin hwy bridges. There are plans to place a small marina facility between these bridges. Would be nice... now there are signs "do not anchor or dredge, do not tie to piles $100 fine" Someone had turned the signs around, we tied between two small fishing boats.

Tuesday Feb 15, 0800 powered out of Bayou Terrebonne, into GIWW, passed under second hwy bridge, through the city and under the old open abandoned RR bridge, 53 ft. we need 49 ft. Pass the EXXON fuel dock at he foot of the bridge and turn into the small LL&E canal, only 60 ft wide depth 6.5 to 8 ft, continue almost to old street bridge, there is a city owned launching ramp and small dock for "temporary use", next to a 2 pumper Fire Station, nice and quiet in here. Walk up to "Abears Restaurant" for breakfast and called Sharon Aucoin Alford. Sharon is the Executive Director of the Houma Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, a new found relation we accidentally met at the New Orleans Boat Show. Sharon saw the Prince Edward Island logo on my shirt, and inquired, we traded cards and low and behold we were related!!! Sharon had recently been to Nova Scotia, and had learned that some Aucoin families names had been changed to Wedge, we knew there were Aucoin families in Louisiana. In 1755 during the Acadian expulsion from Grand Pre, Nova Scotia, Sharon's ancestor Gregoire Aucoin ended up here in Louisiana, our ancestor Jean Aucoin went to PEI. Our Jean named all his children after his brothers and sisters; Jean and Rosalie had a son named Gregoire, named after a brother, could it be from the same Gregoire? Louisiana has a very large Cajun population, they are centered in the Houma- Morgan City area and out along all the bayous; they have struggled to retain their language and traditions just as the Acadians have in Atlantic Canada. Sharon came and collected us for a grand tour of Terrebonne parish all the way down to Cocadrile , she called it "the end of the world", the highway ends here. We lunched at "Sportsman's Paradise", had the fish platter, (catfish, shrimp, soft shelled crab, oysters) I think we were served extra, because the restaurant, motel and charter boat business is owned by Sharon's friend Connie Scheer, who is ever present. Looking at the pictures on the walls, I think Steve and Shelley Johnson should come down here on their next fishing trip, must e-mail them.

Whitecap's Cruising Log

Notes and Remarks:

Spent morning working on engine alternator belt adjustment, finally got away at 1230.

1320 had a half hour wait at the 60 mile bascule bridge, could not seem to get the operator to understand we needed 50 ft to get through, waited until he finally closed the roadway, and we got through. After we passed all the boat building and repair facilities, Houma has facilities on both sides of the city, the waterway takes on a different and more scenic look, both sides are lined with cypress trees with their knee like roots; garlands of silver grey Spanish moss hang from the branches, once the source of a thriving business.

1400 approaching sailboat, Crossroads out of California, says they trucked it to Galveston, heading for the Bahamas, gave them some pointers on possible places to anchor and the marinas we stopped at. Mutually wished each other luck.

1420 Mr Ryan a bobtail heading east, followed at 1430 by Discovery, 2 natural gas heading east, and just behind him Baroid III pushing 1 empty, followed by Cher Ami an offshore supply vessel, then Linsie with one empty, and Henry T. with 3 crude oil, all within a half mile behind each other. We are starting to get new leaves on the trees, and yellow pollen on the water.

1535 Susan Morrison, 2 empty flat tops. We are now in Lake Cocodrie, a widening of the waterway and for the first time in a long while, floating red and greens (buoys) for once not on poles.

1600 crew boat Butch goes steaming by heading east.

1630 Mile 84 Pass Bayou Black, the only safe place to anchor between Houma and Morgan city, we push on.

The north side of the waterway is all very large boat building yards, never saw so many all lined up in a row, all the way to Morgan City. We pass through Bayou Boeuf and Englewood, where a tow pulling a large drilling rig comes out in front of us, we stop to let them by, another tug is pushing behind. We count over 40 tugs with red and white wheel houses of various sizes in one basin, and at another in Greenwood, about the same number with a wide blue band at deck level, someone has a very large investment in tugs around here. In Wyandotte, another basin has over 30 tugs with green and white wheel houses, all sitting waiting for jobs. Call Bayou Boeuf Lock, both ends are open, the water is boiling through, difficult to keep her straight . After the lock we call Berwick Bay Traffic, all vessels going through here have to report at various checkpoints. Our next one is "Twenty Grand point", the junction of GIWW and the Atchafalaya (At-cha-fal-aye-aa) River. We are told to hold for the RR Bridge, with a tow and an offshore supply vessel, there are 2 highway bridges immediately after. The original offshore drilling rig "Mr. Charlie", is just alongside, this was the original drilling rig to discover oil, out of sight of land, in the Gulf of Mexico thus starting the oil boom. Getting dark, finally the bridge opens, we are to follow after the tow, Berwick Traffic calls to let us know the second highway bridge only has only 50 ft. We Med moor stern to at the visitors dock between the hwy bridges, free 30 amp power.

Whitecap's Cruising Log

Notes and Remarks:

0800 City employee came with package, says stay as long as we want, dock is free including power and water. Went for walk, had breakfast at "Rita Mae's" $5.00 for 2. This city is like walking back to the 1940's; the city is behind a 22 ft cement wall, Got groceries and taxied back to boat. Morgan City was the venue for the first Tarzan movie with Johnny Wiesmuller. Saw green Trawler power yacht heading out, they had a better dock than us, we were between and under two highway bridges, traffic all night, they only had one bridge!!

1030 Call Berwick traffic, says OK to proceed under bridges, catch up to 4 tugs pushing large oil rig, another towing ahead. George T Thomas calls asks Berwick if he could pass ahead of the white yacht, we call back to tell them we will make a circle and go behind him. Shawnee with 2 empty red flags approaching followed by Miss betty with 2 full red flags. No rhyme or reason to this!!.

1135 Tony, offshore supply vessel approaching. Windy, we set Jib speed jumps to 7.5 kts.

1205 Power yacht Luv Luv heading east passes, 1220 Maggie Rae 2 x 2 empty heading east.

1228 mile 107 Wax Lake Canal outlet, strong current have to hold on and hand steer crossing the canal.

1235 Jesus Saves calls to warn everyone he is coming, now has a loaded six pack (2 x 3), all covered heading east .

1252 sailboat approaching, El Sol out of Houston, have chat on VHF, tell him where to tie up in Houma and Pascagoula.

1300 Oil refinery on north side , 73 ft bridge up ahead. Meet up with Jack Cenac with 2 empty red flags under bridge.

1530 mile 130 Lady Jeanette approaching with a six pack, we meet at the Cote Blanche cable ferry. Creole Spirit goes by easterly with 2 crude oil red flags, Rochelle Cenac passes easterly, 2 red flags loaded.

1540 mile 131 Clay B comes out of the Ivanhoe Canal and crosses GIWW just ahead of us!! Then we met Robert E Lee eastbound with 1 x 2 crude. Boo Cenac calls on ch 13 (everyone is on 13 here) wants to pass George T Thomas on a one whistle, he agrees, but goes aground while moving over, blocking the waterway, Boo Cenac puts his tow aground on the opposite shore to avoid collision, we are behind. we to wait for Boo Cenac, who finally gets straight , and passes Geo Thomas still extricating himself, we pass, but we all loose 3/4 hr. Everyone racing to get through the Cypremort (Louisa) swing bridge, before curfew, when it closes on schooldays for 50 minutes morning and evening to allow for the school buses. Boo Cenac barely makes it, we don't, we are only 200 ft from the bridge at curfew time. Geo T Thomas is not happy either!!! If Boo Cenac had not tried to pass, we would all have beat the curfew. Have a chat on VHF, learn all about single and double skin barges, where he gets (the Shell terminal on Weeks Island) and delivers his cargo, he learns about PEI and our trip. Now on the VHF, instead of being "that sailboat", we suddenly become "yacht Whitecap"; nice to be recognized. Finally the bridge opens at 1650 and we pass through.

Mile 140 Geo Thomas leaves us at Weeks Island and turns into the bayou leading to the Shell Oil terminal for his load.

1720 Genie Cenac heading east 1 x 2 xylene

1745 mile 142 met oil rig being towed by Celia Ann, and pushed by Phoenix, just turning into the New Ibernia Canal

mile 146.5, it is dark already, we make the turn to starboard up the Bayou Petite Anse and slowly find our way for 4 miles with the searchlight to marker #16, where we turn to starboard in 8 ft, until we see some moored barges up ahead. Just before the barges is a bayou to port, which for another 4 miles circles around Avery Island with about 6 ft depth at centre channel. The bright searchlight gives us a view of the tropical foliage, and manicured grounds of the island, we finally locate the small dock with no facilities where we spend the night, in full view of the toll booth and small bridge, there is a trawler yacht also tied up to the dock, same one we saw in Morgan City.

Whitecap's Cruising Log

Notes and Remarks:

0800 Woke to voices on dock, the people on the trawler yacht, Karen and Bill Reardon, talking to Mary. Turns out they were in Summerside last summer visiting Karen's aunt Wanda (Chappell) Bernard, I remembered the boat, because the evening they were in Summerside, we were having dinner on E Galois with Claire and Francis, friends from Oak Ridge, Tenn in the next slip! we saw this same boat leaving Morgan City, just ahead of us. Turns out that Karen is the daughter of Ivan Straight, and sister to Rod who we know from Coast Guard, and a niece of our friend Truman Straight... Small world! We talked, compared notes on our travels, and took pictures.

Avery Island has an interesting history. In 1818, Daniel Avery purchased land on "Isle Petite Anse" and eventually purchased the total 2300 acres for a sugar plantation, Edmund McIlhenny, a banker, sportsman, hunter, yachtsman married their daughter Sarah in 1859, and moved to the island. In 1862, a massive salt find was discovered under the island and it became the first American salt mine. The Union army destroyed the buildings and flooded the mine in 1863. McIlhenny discovered that the only crop that survived the war, was Mexican Red Peppers he had planted from seed a friend from Mexico had given him, he started to make a hot sauce for his own use. Eventually, he decided to sell it commercially, and named it "Tabasco" after the Mexican State the small seeds came from. After the war, the salt mines were rebuilt, and are still operating .

Ned McIlhenny, Daniel and Sarah's son, was concerned with the decreasing snowy egret population, and captured 8 birds, which he feed and kept in a screened aviary. The birds were released at migration time, and returned each spring in increasing numbers. This morning at dawn we were awakened by the chatter of at least 1/3 to the estimated 20,000 egret population on the island.

Oil was discovered on the island in 1942. Ned insisted that to lessen the impact, and to maintain the islands charm, all pipelines were to be buried, and what could be seen had to be painted green to blend in with the environment.

We walked across the small bridge, paid the 25 cent each toll, met Mr Laundry, the public relations director for the company, he saw the Canadian flag on Whitecap, and wanted to know where in Canada we were from. We took the grand tour of the factory.

The small red peppers used in the sauce making process, have to be a certain color before they are picked. Each farm worker, carries a small stick (a baton rouge), painted the exact colour the fruit must be before being picked. Harvested fruit is started in the process the day it is picked, a mash is created, pickled in oak barrels and covered with Avery Island salt, then left in storage for three years before it is filtered; the remaining ingredients are added, and the mix is stirred in large wood vats for 3 weeks before being bottled, packaged and shipped.

there is a TV ad here, kind of cute.

1215 cleared Avery Island dock. Found new water pump had sheared the bronze key, tightened the set screw, filled the transmission with Dextron III and held our breath.

1325 Arrived back at the GIWW, changed course to 244M, air temp 80F, winds 20 - 25kts. Shrimper approaching, Baby Ruth, headed for Delacombre.

1340 Donald E Clark, heading east with an empty 6 pak

1400 Oakville, 1 barge nat gas, passed abeam at Oaks canal.

1430 Scott Quest eastbound with 2 empty 2 full, pulls over to let Gerry Jones pass with 3 triethylene chloride strung out.

1509 Jack-up, rig with 90' legs, we passed him on a 2 whistle. Gerry Jones was stopped, nose in the trees.

1540 mile 160 Stopped at Shell Morgan dock for fuel, 24.1 gallons @ 89 cents total $21.45, charge for over night $20.00. Decided to stay, tied up behind 100 ft State of Louisiana Fisheries Patrol vessel, he tells us that the crew boats leave at 0600 and they are loud!!! We take showers, cold water only, and the well is 600' deep!!! Turn in early, there is nothing to do in Intracoastal city, cannot even get a coffee, the shrimp fleet is shut down until their next season beginning in May.

Whitecap's Cruising Log

Notes and Remarks:

0800 air temp 68 F Went for walk, hope to find 1/4" key stock, hardware store closed Saturday and Sunday here, imagine hardware store being closed on Saturday!! Walk all the way to helicopter pad, check with mechanic, cannot find anything. We see what looks like a large yacht (2 Boston Whalers and 2 Ski Doos on upper deck) docked in amongst five offshore supply boats, in the Pennzoil dock. We introduce ourselves to the Captain, tell him our problem, and he invites us onboard to find steel keystock, cuts 2 pieces, then drives us all the way back to our dock. Turns out the "Betty Lou II", owned by a retired Pennzoil executive, may be going to Nova Scotia and Newfoundland next summer, so we were able to give him the names of some of our friends to contact. Replaced the sheared bronze key with new steel one. Pulley centre hole is chewed up hope it works

1050 all along north shore are oil storage facilities for Pennzoil, Baker-Hughes and other small independents.

We pass Disiree, steering the tail end of a long suction dredge discharge pipe from the rear, and Evelyn James towing, five very large jack-up rigs on shore. Mollye with 1 empty triethylene chloride red flag has her nose in the trees, waiting. We call Leland Bowman Lock mile 162, Bill Cenac coming out with 1 xylene heading east, lockmaster tells us to come right in, lets us pass the 3 other tows who are waiting in line!!!, hope they don't get mad at us!!! We enter, lock, slowly power towards far end, and before we get there the other gates are open and we steam out!! There is only a 7" difference, and the purpose of the lock is to stop salt water intrusion in the Mermentau River Basin, which is the major rice growing area for the USA. The next lock is at mile 238 the Calcasieu (cal-cah-shoe) Lock just before the Vermillion River.

1145 mile 165 Tesoro Commander easterly 6 pak empty , and Caroline pushing 3 full Caustic Soda both with noses in the woods, waiting for lock.

1215 mile 168 CSS Louisiana, eastbound with 2 barges of proplylene. Cattle and farmland on south shore.

1235 mile 170 Kristin Alexis 4 isopropyl alcohol strung out (in line) just before Forked Island Bridge (73ft).

Mile 173 Preston Shuford, eastbound, 1 ethylene dichloride, 1 xylene, he says each barge carries 2500 tons!! We touched bottom turning Pine Island too close on stbd.

Mile 178 Ross Salvaggio eastbound, 1 x 5 strung out ,2 front ones are empty, 1 vinyl acetate, 1 xylene, 1 benzene full.

5 large White face bulls drinking in waterway, cattle on both shores, private cable ferry on N shore. 280M next 20M.

1430 mile 184 passedTexan eastbound 2 x 9 half size yellow barges, quite a sight , on a 1 whistle.

1515 Rusty Bartlett 2 x 4 red flags, then at 1615 Frank B Tambec with 2 x 4 red flags empty

1530 Tee Cenac 1 x 2 xylene, 1635 Capt JB Rawls with 4 red flags strung out, and just behind him Celia Ann towing "Hollywood Dreams" the port side of a partially finished casino being pushed by tug Jane. TLC Commander is trying to pass with 1 flat top carrying 4 large tanks.

1610 the stbd half of Hollywood Dreams towed by Matilde and pushed by Vivian passes by, we wonder where it is going.

1650 mile 198 Mitze Evelyn, 1652 Miss Kayci 2 xylene, 1705 Creole Sun 2 empty red flags, 1706 Eugenie Cenac with 1 empty all going east.

1710 Mollye finally passed us, and we turned up the Mermentau River and wound our way 8 miles in the dark up to Myers Landing. We went aground 1 foot from the dock, tied up and went for a walk. There are about 300 RV and 5^th wheels here for the weekend.

Whitecap's Cruising Log

Notes and Remarks:

0915, Left dock had to get towed 2 ft. as we were aground alongside the dock, no charge for the night, headed back down to the GIWW.

1000, back on the waterway, wondered why we went so far up, well if we didn't we would not see all the country...

1030 mile 205 Squall Runner crew boat, bright green

1055 Met Miss Roselyn, six pak covered, then St Andrew, one empty, 2 full ethylene glycol.

1115 we are catching up to one ahead, Paige Gertrude 3 coal, and 3 empty red flags, passed her on a two whistle. Brenda B nose to shore, letting everyone go by. EA Cenac 4 strung out, ahead of us, cannot get by. Pass after turn on a 2.

Elizabeth Lane 1 x 3 red flags, and then Marshland pushing 1 x 2 red flags yellow barges.

1200, mile 215, on straightaway to Creole Bridge.

1238 Lamarr Hirsch, 1 x 3 red flags. Then mile 220 passed under Creole Bridge at Gibbstown, same time as Wichita pushing 2 xylene red flags. And then we meet up with Gargoyle, a small tugboat yacht. From Missouri. Catching up to and passing Pedernales, on a 2 whistle, chatted with him on the VHF about our trip, and PEI, he was impressed!! Passing Sweet Lake full of pumping oil wells and very shallow.

1325 mile 225 WHL (west of Harvey lock), finally figured out what that meant. Willow Lake on Stbd.

1340 E Renton Sr. empty 6 pak gravel barges.

1415 we pass Grand lake pontoon bridge, just after Michael A , pushing a 6 pak of empty stone barges. Then Columbia at turn with 4 oil barges strung out. All in about ˝ mile and then Ryan Patrick 1 x 4 pygas?? and xylene

1500 Arrive at Black Bayou bridge, Calcesieu lock is just behind, no room between bridge and lock, have to wait our turn, Call lock , he tells us to standby out of the way. James E Philpott comes out 6 pak with 3200 tons of Caustic Soda in each one. 1 tow, a crew boat, a yacht, then Taylor Marie comes through with a six pak

1705, lock calls tells us to contact bridge, and come through. West gates are already open as we power through without stopping. Make turn around the Devil's Elbow meet Jessica Brent 1 x 5 red flags and Mollye now heading east with a single red flag. Wanted to know where we went the other night.

1740 head up the Calcesieu River behind Sentinel, a supertanker escorted by two tugs Sampson and Edith, to help him make the turns in the river. Just ahead of them is another supertanker Zeus and two more tugs, Allen and Carl, who proceed to push the tankers sideways into the refinery terminal. We pass by, already dark, find the entrance to Bayou Contraband, and wind our way between the cypress knees to the marina. Found out later there were un charted overhead power lines, at 53 ft. We require 49.5!!! Tied up to fuel dock, 5.9 ft with help from Martin who lives on his boat here.

Monday Feb 21, get machinist to make new pulley, Bob and Marlene arrive in their RV, they spent last night only 30 miles away.

Tuesday Feb 22 Find leak in inflatable, port side blow off valve, install new pulley and proper length key, and went out to dinner at Outback with Martin and Susan.

Bow tie Marina is a neat operation, the owner Doug Sherman has 2 large buildings which look like rental storage sheds, in which he stores 110 boats on trailers. When the owner wants to go out, he simply calls and the staff launch and provision. When the boat comes back, they wash it down, refuel and then put it back in the building, all for a monthly fee (fuel and provisions extra).

Whitecap's Cruising Log

Notes and Remarks:

0950 left BowTie Marina, fueled up 17.1 gallons @ 89 cents/per. Cloudy misty, powered over to Lake Charles for a look see, many nice homes around lake with boat houses out front, passed 2 marinas, Bowtie was nicer. Head back out river pass under hwy 210 bridge at 1030. Capt Leroy Duval pushing one empty heading into Lake Charles city docks.

1110 pass Citgo oil refinery True Wind Speed (TWS) 29.5.kts

1125 Caroline pushing 2 empty upstream, pass by Proteo, a large supertanker drawing 7 meters empty, at Conoco refinery.

1130, v large coal fired generation plant on stbd, large coal carrier unloading. Winds pick up to 35 kts + on nose.

1145 Matt Duval pushing 2 cement powder, upstream. Pass marsh Lake on Stbd, expensive homes along shore.

1210 Burton's landing shipyards and floating drydocks for 4 miles. 1215 back in the GIWW.

1225 Capt Henry Inman, 1 Calcium Chloride going easterly, then Buckles with an empty 6 pak. Arrived at Ellender hwy lift bridge, 50 ft under in the down position. We require 49.5 ft and the heavy winds have pushed the water in the bay, raising the water level. We call Black Bayou Bridge to let them know, she says to call a 1-800 # to get an operator. They tell us there is 54 ft. but there are no batter boards with measurements on the bridge, we try to parallel the bridge, looks awful close so we turn back. San Raphael heading east with 2 red flags calls us, says to come alongside. He raises his antennas to 50 ft, and we go alongside, he stands on his wheelhouse top and calls to say we are shorter than his antennas, should be able to pass. We decide to try again. A Cenac Tug stands by to watch us, he says we cleared by less than 1 ft!!! At least`no international incident!!!. We profusely thank everyone and continue on. Met Miss Peggy 1 red flag just after bridge.

1440 Cathy Golding pushing extra large chem barge no ident.

1450 mile 254 Gum Cove cable ferry landing, overhead power cable. M 255 JC Talon a bobtail overtook us and passed.

1458 Orleans 1 x 5 2 loaded with propylene oxide and 3 empty red flags

1530 Dixie Courage 1 x 4 xylene eastbound, and we over took Basin Endeavour with 4 covered dry cargo loaded.

1540 Marla Helm 3 red flags loaded, and at 1610 Nelda Faye 1 crude oil both eastbound.

1630 mile 265 turned up Sabine river to Orange, one of the Golden Triangle cities, so named because of the commerce carried out of there. Beaumont and Port Arthur are the other two. We find there are absolutely no docking facilities and go back to the GIWW, where at mile 267 we again turn up Adams Bayou, pass a large Dupont Chemical facility and their loading docks where we see 15 barges all angle parked, this is where the Caustic Soda barges have been coming from. Turn into the basin before the bridge, Sabine Yacht Basin home of the Orange YC. A private facility, very fancy with restaurant, and lounge, the OYC and rental executive offices up stairs, v nice except all closed. Mosquitoes chased us into the cabin for the night.

Whitecap's Cruising Log

Notes and Remarks:

Waiting around for someone to pay, finally a gentleman in the Design Engineering office upstairs opened the showers for us, Gold plated faucets!! A peek into the lounge revealed the deck of a 47' Mathews power yacht cut in two, served as the bar; the owners have spent a lot of money here, but we understand the staff were helping themselves while the owner was in Belize tending his pineapple plantation, when he returned he closed everything down.

0935 cleared basin rounding a once beautiful 50' steel trawler half sunk at the entrance, what a waste. The owner did not arrange for a care taker while he was offshore.

0950 GIWW again, Sabine/ Neches Canal. Lake Sabine to port, but have to stick to marked channel, no water. We are now in Texas!!! The Neches River goes 400 miles north from here.

1100 first tow of the day, Lorraine L 1 empty red flag, and then Kel Kat 2 x 2 coal eastbound. Tugs and barges all along shore parked, small shrimper towing nets in channel. 1115 Round Stewts Island to port and we are in Port Arthur. All industrial oil rig construction and repair, a lot of rusty debris, wrecked tugs and sunken barges, on stbd side. Looks like offshore oil platform construction in canal over the bank. Very large floating crane there also, could not see name.

1150 Audrey 1 nat gas and then Mary M Copps. And at 1158 Carribean a very large offshore oil tanker barge and offshore pusher tug Lucia, overtakes us and passes, we bounce around and the coffee pot falls off the table top.

1205 mile 278 Start of the. Port Arthur flood dyke wall, a cement wall which goes for about 8 miles protecting the city, we can see the roofs of houses but nothing else, the city is the home of Janis Joplin and Tex Ritter. Man made, from years of dredging the canal channel, Pleasure Island, is to port and separates the Sabine-Neches Canal channel from Sabine Lake. Colorado with 2 empty red flags and Marsha Gayle pushing 1 x 3 coal pass eastbound.

Mile 285 See masts of sailboats on other side of Pleasure Island, Port Arthur YC, but no access from the canal side.

The commercial wharf docks and warehouses with the 75 ton gantry crane "Mr. Arthur" and then the large off season shrimp fleet with names like Mr Ho and Mr Houng, mostly Vietnamese,on the right hand shore. Martin Express passes with 2 red flags full.

1250 mile 286 pass under the Pleasure Island bridge, 136 ft vertical with Lavalle Duval, and Grosbec both pushing empty 1 x 2 red flags. Oil refineries on Texaco Island line the stbd shore, Chevron and Star Enterprises, are the major players here. Two large offshore semi submersible rigs, one is the Ocean Baroness on port being repaired. We make the turn back into the GIWW at mile 289 and pass under the West Port Arthur Bridge with Arthur P Frazier pushing 1 x 3 xylene heading east, he called wanted to know what part of Canada we were from, nice to be noticed.

1330 WC Binion pushing 2 xylene and then starting at mile 293 a strait ditch for the next 10 miles. We pass a burnt out tug on stbd shore, looks recent, must have been aluminum, the house sides are all melted from heat. Mile 298 passed a lone kayaker hugging the south side, looked like he was cruising /camping. Mile 305 passed a US Govt "Dept of Environment Station", double 12 ft fenced, razor wire, surveillance cameras and Keep out signs everywhere, we wonder what part of the environment they are protecting...

1645 mile 315 Joan LaFitte pushing work barge, (did not know Jean had a wife), and Angelina at 1655. Talked to EA Cenac at 1715, asked about the small harbour just up ahead, he says too shallow, but tells us to pass under the High Island Bridge just up ahead and anchor in the small bayou on stbd, says should be 6 ft of water 100 feet inside. He was right, by 1715 at mile 319 we dropped the CQR and 40 ft chain in 6.3 ft and pulled out the screens, the mosquitoes were the size of hornets, guess we will have to dig out the Tabasco!!!

Whitecap's Cruising Log

Notes and Remarks:

0845 first tow of the day, San Gabriel with 2 extra wide empty red flags, 5 minutes later El Paso pushing 4 3 xylene, 1 crude oil, "strung out" (in a row), and at 0920 Jackie Cenac pushing 2 xylene all east bound. Great way to start day.

Starts to rain, then the sun comes out again.

0955 mile 334 Dixie Renegade 2 xylene, then Uncle Nu with 2 oil barges

1030 mile 335. Stopped at Stingaree marina for fuel, no diesel, tells us to go 5 more miles. Went for walk look-see, decide to have early lunch at their upstairs restaurant, had the flounder very good. By 1200 off to Bolivar Roads.

1305 Overtook Lorraine G towing 900 ft of floating suction dredge pipe a small "tail tug" steering from behind.

1316 Orion 2 xylene, and at 1319 Marine Runner with 2 empty Caustic Soda heading to Adams Bayou for more.

1330 St Jude Thaddeus 1 xylene, 1 crude, 1332 Brown Water 1 bobtailing, 1333 Mr Barry pushing propylene easterly.

All these in the Sievers Cove section miles 343 to 348, the bottleneck just before Bolivar Roads, the name given the Houston Ship Channel for this section. There are barges and tugs tied along the shore waiting, if the wind is up, they split their loads and take their barges one at a time across Bolivar Roads to Pelican Island Cut , about 1 mile away on the Galveston side. The wind is up, TWS (true wind speed) is now 30.5kts on the port stern. We head for Pelican Island

1355 we overtake and pass Marsh Express pushing 2 barges each with 30,000 lbs caustic soda,.

1401 Celene with a 2 x 2 slowly heading east. See other sailboat Froton up ahead, he says to follow him to good anchorage. Wind picks up, we cross the 3.5 miles at 7.5kts, no sails

1420 we enter Pelican Cut, a narrow passage between Galveston Island and Pelican Island, lined on both sides with barges and tugs, Creole Queen just jockeying around pushing others and helping others to tie to the buoys along the shore, looks like that is all she does... and then the 5 miles to the twin I-45 hwy Galveston Causeway Bridges. The railway bridge is open, unless a train is coming through. Froton is just ahead, and leads us down a narrow marked mile long channel leading to Offatts Bayou, we come to a 90turn, on stbd are visible oyster banks, and follow a 2 mile long marked channel parallel to north shore, ending in a large lake type anchorage with 20 feet everywhere, but which requires launching the dinghy. There are some docks in a small inlet we can see alongside Mr Colonel a large paddle wheeler. We head in behind two other boats and find Marina Landing, an apartment complex with a docks. Bob and Marlene call and we arrange parking, the apartment complex had seen better times, but someone bought it, kicked out the drug and crack dealers and other unwanted'eds, are refurbishing the units and are waiting for desirable tenants to fill them up.

1530 we pick a dock , #30, and register, $20 per day also includes the RV. We gorge on spare ribs, wine and The Bacardi Bat.

Saturday Feb 26. We notice the wind speed prop is gone... Damn... We decide to rent a car for the weekend, Enterprise has good rates, and West Marine is just next door, says he will send our GPS back to the factory for us and then send it on to Brownsville Marina to wait our arrival. We decide to buy a second one, just for safety. Spend the afternoon touring Galveston looking for the "new" Abby, tied up at the Tesoro Fuel Co dock, she is starting to look like she has been sitting for awhile. A drive down Shorefront Drive , on top of the dyke all along the waterfront reveals their Mardi Gras Parade, so we parked and took in the party. We were able to collect over 80 sets of beads without baring our breasts, which apparently has been outlawed. Danced on the street with "Lucy the Lobster" and partook like natives, without liquid refreshment. The all night party down at the Strand area did not appeal to us, so we spent the evening with b'bque steaks in the RV, and several drams of "Remi".

Sunday, Feb 27, 2000.Mary wakes Dick at 0500: why is the boat heeled over? Groggy answer: Well it is either very windy or we are aground. Turns out to be flat calm. The winds have blown the water out of the bay, dropping the water level lower than normal. Safe enough, not even touching the dock, but heeled over 30. Not much we can do, so much for local knowledge, but one of the boaters here for the party, says we should move over to his #40 dock when he leaves today, which we do.

We decide to drive up to Houston, passing Clear Lake and Kemah along the shore, maybe we will find "Whiskey Papa", one of the yachts from Summerside Yacht Club , now down here, no luck, but we saw every other boat in the area, but we did not get to League City where she apparently is. At least we are batting .5. Houston sports the Astrodome, today featuring a Rodeo; Marlene wants to see a real live cowboy, on a horse, on the range, but we find out cowboys now do these things with helicopters... lesson learned, trivia of the day...

Whitecap's Cruising Log

Notes and Remarks:

0900 Return rental car, Check with West Marine, trade in cheap Garmin for another 48 XL like the old one only now half the price, still does not work with the Nobletec, Call Nobletec Tec service, he says it is simple. Go to setup, then interface and change it to "none-nmea 0183" and it will work. We do... it works!!! Thank him . Say our goodbyes to Bob and Marlene, they are heading northwest to Austin, Tx. from here, cast off, and find wind speed prop on deck, undamaged!!! Why would it spin backwards to spin off??? will have to go up to top of mast to find out.

1050 clear Marina, follow channel out ti GIWW, Capt Frank Shillings first tow of the day, 2 xylene + one empty. We overtake him and pass on a 1. Mile 365 Oscar Griffin Jr. 3 yellow flags ?? Wonder what they are.

1230 Ketch approaching, "Major Move" out of Houston.

1300 Apollo 2 xylene eastbound.

1330 abeam Chocolate Bay Cut, can see Dupont and Dow Chemical plants in distance. Pass Alligator Pt. now in open water of West Bay. San Luis Pass Bridge to the Gulf at 1000 o'clock.

1410 Back in GIWW cut, calmer, but open to Oyster bay on port.

1440 Mervyn I towing 2500ft suction dredge pipe, tailboat steering from back end, stay clear. 1445 Junction of Bastrop Bay and Bastrop Bayou, Brazoria national Wildlife refuge on port. Houses on stilts all over lake everywhere, fish camps.

1530 mile 385 Christmas bay to port, now in cacti country,

1620 Shrimp boat Whiskey River, headed east, Swan Lake to port, people fishing all along the shore. "Texas Crewed" passes just at very large offshore supply boat docks, Ashley Candies and Jaunita Candies are tied up, huge!!

1635 Bridge Harbour YC docks on stbd, take on diesel 33.7 gal @$1.05. Overnight $1.00 ft.

46 ft Hunter cutter rig comes in the delivery capt is from Shawinigan PQ. Says he put her aground at Port O'Connor, but has twin diesels and got her off, imagine a sailboat with twins!! Mosquitoes are really bad close up the hatches and read. Must get those screens rigged up...

Whitecap's Cruising Log

Notes and Remarks:

Laundry day, again. Talked to Sam on dock, has Irwin 38 "Beaujolais" says they left Clear Lake Galveston Bay and bent rudder, first day out. Expect to be here for 2 weeks for repairs, they are heading to Mexico and Belize, same route as us. He says there is another sailboat Venezuela couple coming next week, same route.

0915 mile 395 Passed under the Surfside bridge, Freeport Harbour entrance to Gulf of Mexico. Village of Quintana on port part of the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve, oil is unloaded here for storage and then is piped to permanent storage later for reserve purposes, their way of controlling the prices!!! Oil storage tanks everywhere!!! supertanker Maersk Prime unloading crude at the Bryan Mound facility. Called Bryan Beach Pontoon bridge for schedule, says he will have it open when we get there, he does, but only half way. we wait for more, and for the wire sink. He calls back, says if we do not come in now he is closing again!!

1005 We go through, and thank him holding our swear words back... Pass Loretta Lynn a sportfisher heading east at bridge, he was obviously not happy either.

Mile 400 Earl Gonsulin 2 red flags drawing 10 ft, parked on No shore. Brazos floodgates up ahead, we call, she says to come on down, we pass, they are doing construction work on the east gates, all barges and tows are stopped until 1600 today, bet those guys are happy campers!!!. We cross the Brazos River, this one goes 840 miles up into Texas. Man they have long rivers in this state... The west Brazos Flood gates open for us and we pass through. Brown Water V with 2 wide empties is holding for the 1600 curfew, and at 1050 the City of Freeport calls, says he would like us on a 2 whistle, as he is heading for the boards on the north side for the curfew. Ditch is strait for the next 8 miles, 234M.

Mile 405 San Bernard River Pass to the Gulf, strong current have to hand steer to get strait again. Cedar lakes to port, many small outboards fishing.

1200 mile 410 Two tows approaching, passing each other while meeting us, Aston Shuford 1 xylene, 1 ethylene dichloride loaded, and Dixie Valour 1 x 2 xylene loaded, we pull way over to the north side. Landscape is flat, we can see for 20 miles, but starting to haze over. Gulf is only 300 ft st port over the bank.

1240 mile 412 waterway widens, steel wall, mooring bits looks like good overnight spot, wonder why?? We call Carney Creek pontoon bridge, he says to keep coming. Many sunken shrimp boats and blown out buildings on north shore, must have been a bad storm. Carson pulling large oil rig, pushed by Gurmison.

1330 mile 420 pass shrimpers dragging on GIWW, East Madagorda bay to port over dredging spoils.

1410 mile 425 turn to 290M , and at 1430 Live Oak Bayou is to stbd, David Duval passed with 1 Caustic Soda full.

1510 mile 427 Walter E Blessey 2 red flags, and at 429 Mary E Joyce 1 with 30,000 gallons AV gas. Pass by Gulf Oil pumping station on stbd and a tow tug with 3 sand and gravel barges. Have not seen a tow tug for a long time. But he has a pusher tug Bruce Stapp behind. Pass oil tanks and helicopter pad, looks like a crew change station, see large blimp in distance.

1616 mile 440 Ruby Gonsolin 2 xylene, turned into Matagorda marina, $20 night,

Brazos River junction,

Whitecap's Cruising Log

Notes and Remarks: We shower, fill up water tank, beautiful soft water!! have breakfast. In 1834, Matagorda was the third largest town in Texas, now it is a sleepy little village with a lot of history, the original settlers are in the local cemetery, the tombstone inscriptions are historical gems.

0900 called Matagorda Pontoon bridge, he says if we are the approaching sailboat westbound, he will be open for us, and to contact the lock, we do, lock is open and we steam through, cross the Colorado River at mile 441 and immediately enter the west locks opening for us, we clear the west lock and thank them, think this is lock 123 and 124 but not sure. All this in 3/4 mile!!! Large Celanese Chemical plant just up river, The Colorado River goes up over 600 miles through Texas. There seems to be quite a number of very long rivers in Texas.

1000 Mile 445, just ahead is a large red and white work boat bunkhouse, in a dredged cut. we can see the Matagorda Bay only 100yds through the cut. several cranes are working on the dyke on the south side of channel, and surveyors they are building the dyke higher to shore it up.

1025 Trojan Warrior 1 x 3 "quamine" picked up in Corpus Christie red flags, drawing 9 ft, must be pushing the bottom along here. Wbehind, we can still see the radar blimp, must have it raised. .

1030 mile 448 rolled hay bales stacked along Mad Island Lake shoreline to stop erosion. 1040, mile 450 Mad Island cut to bay, can see many small boat shrimpers through cut.

1100 La Tulle Ranch transhipment point, large oil tanks, no trespassing signs everywhere.

1120,mile 455. make turn at Oyster Lake cut into Matagorda Bay can see tow coming in, will take him on a 1 whistle. Port to port. Dani Mayes 2 red flags loaded drawing 9 ft.

We turn out of channel between markers 25 and 27 into 8 -9 ft and cross the spoil area, heading for the flasher on Half Moon Reef, the original Half Moon Reef lighthouse, a hexagon, almost like our Indian Head light, was moved to Port of Lavaca many years ago.

.1230 round Half Moon Reef Light in 8.2 ft and head for Palacios channel at 345M. Seems to be a flat bottom at 8 - 9 ft depth. Some shrimpers on our port and one small sailboat, and then there are crab pots.

1325 water depth shows 5.2ft, we slow down and cross over spoil area into Palacios channel, Shrimper Capt Dave outbound, watches us, probably shaking his head.

1345 A shrimper, Capt Tom III passes and then another one, Rhonda Kathleen both outbound for the night.

1430 tied up to dock #27 at Serendipity resort marina and RV park $12.50 /day and... they gave us 2 hats with their logo! This resort has a with a rec room laundry and all the amenities, and 6 ft water, but no diesel, and ... an e-mail desk with phone plug in!!! the first since Dog River. Fitted mosquito netting for the hatches and tried out the Mexican Restaurant (the only one) in town

Palacios is the town where our friend the "pirate" , from Dauphin Island channel, Todd Cantu is from, we promised him we would stop there.

Thursday, March 2, 2000 Winds up to 35kts from the south, channel is only 10 feet deep, waves are 3 ft. we decide to spend the day here, walk the village, buy more wider screening, pick up some groceries, and have Keith (Stoltzman) aboard for dinner, roast chicken. Keith is from Minnesota, and keeps his boat "Time & Tides" here at Serendipity yacht basin; he comes down for two weeks every couple of months and is presently doing an up grade, we know what that is all about.

Whitecap's Cruising Log

Notes and Remarks:

1030 Bought 5 lbs shrimp (headless, fresh, cleaned $4. Lb) from "BJ" in a half ton truck. Said our good-byes to Keith, and headed out . Todd III first shrimper of the day heading home. And we pass alongside Second Venture towing oyster drag. We pass 6 shrimpers in less than 1 mile, some in the channel others just outside.

Our cruise guide says over on the Port Lavaca shore there is a statue of the French explorer LaSalle, we see the shore but not the statue, too far away .

1125 large shrimper in channel Krista coming this way. A school of dolphin surface on port, just playing with us.

1200 Krista Nicole a large shrimper dragging down the channel, coming strait for us, we move to the edge of the channel in 9 ft.

1250 for the last hour, we seem to have the bay all to ourselves, but see large working dredge doing the Port Lavaca Channel up ahead, and one tow going by in the distance. Port O'Connor is 3.3 miles ahead we have trouble getting through the spoil area touched bottom, have to head east for 2 miles before finding a pass to channel.

1340 mile 468 back in GIWW at marker 101, wind from NE creating a 2 ft chop bouncy on the stbd stern quarter,

1405 inside the twin breakwaters at Port O'Connor. Pass large offshore supply vessel Mr Pat on his way out.

Stopped at fuel dock, took on 16.1 gal diesel $19..32. Nice community of about 4000, many nice looking rental condos along shore, several marina boathouses. Several launch ramps, looks like all the local boats lift up inside boathouses.

1440 mile 475 USCG station on stbd, hear radio calling, someone's beacon is armed (going off), big search on.

1525 mile 480 Espiritu Santo Bay over the spoils on port. One lone cow on top of dyke.

1600 mile 484 suction dredge Shamrock working to port pumping spoil over dyke lots of pipe, and tows and barges.

mile 486, small community to stbd, Seadrift, we think maybe we should stop at Charlie's Bait shack but keep going..

1630 Dixie Valour 1 empty and 1 full Xylene eastbound, first tow of the day. 3 dolphins racing the boat, on stbd stern quarter. Mary tries to get pictures, too late.

1710 Found a nice small slough, signs say "Keep out" we go aground keeping out... Continue on to the Victoria Barge channel, looks like there should be many anchorages agmonst the Mosquito Islands, in San Antonio Bay, but each time we leave the channel depth drops to 4' then none. All this water, and we cannot get out of the channel!!!

1800 Turn around, maybe we will go back to Shoalwater, find small cove an the lee side at entrance to GIWW. There is 6 ft up to 25 ft from shore. We drop 50 ft CQR in 16 ft and fall back. Fisherman comes along Gene Osborne, ask him to drop 33 lb Danforth, with 60 feet rode stern anchor,, we talk, he gives us 3 fresh 1.5 lb still wiggling speckled trout for supper. We adjust our anchor lines, and sit 50 ft from shore and 100 ft off the GIWW Channel, and hang out a fluorescent trouble light in the cockpit. Several tows pass during the night but we are well out of the way.

Whitecap's Cruising Log

Notes and Remarks:

Winds during night were 30+ on the beam, CQR with chain dragged, stern danforth with rope held. In retrospect, we should have put the CQR further in the deep water, now we are side to the dredged channel, 10 feet water on port, 3 ft on stbd and wind holding us on, got the danforth up, trying to retrieve CQR. Will have to wait for a fisherman passing by, if he cannot pull us over, we will get him to set the danforth away up wind, and crank ourselves over. Winds during night were 30+ on the beam, CQR with chain dragged, stern danforth with rope held. In retrospect, we should have put the CQR further in the deep water, now we are side to the dredged channel, 10 feet water on port, 3 ft on stbd and wind 30+ holding us on, got the danforth up OK, trying to retrieve CQR. Will have to wait for a fisherman passing by, if he cannot pull us to windward, we will get him to set the danforth away up wind, and crank ourselves over. We finally got off ourselves and pulled in the CQR, but.... got the chain snub line caught in the prop, re-anchored, Dick went for a swim, tried to clear the line, no luck, had to call for diver from Port O'Conner 20 miles away..., it is 1400hrs, still waiting!!!

1515 Towboat US comes with a diver, 20 minutes and $400 later Chris un-wound the rope and passed it up. Because we had renewed our Boat US membership, we were blessed with a reduced rate and discount on the dive. Had we bought the towing package, there would not have been any charge!!!

1610 mile 500 almost across San Antonio Bay, will look for spot in Sundown bay just ahead. Turns out there is absolutely no place to get out of the channel along this section, started to think about putting the bow to the beach at one place when Panacea, a Vagabond 48, Clive Makinson-Sanders out of Houston Tx., came powering along. They have radar, and plan to go through to Rockport tonight, we decide to tag along behind. Saw tonights sun down in Sundown Bay. RPM 2000 6.49 kts. Pushing pretty hard... Passed 3 approaching tows in dark, one had a 2 x 5, too dark to tell what the others were. Pretty awsome sight at night!!!

2100 mile 520 we are abeam the lights of Fulton and Rockport, in the GIWW channel, have to pass through the outside spoil area at the QF G #49mile 523into Rockport harbour. The Municipal yacht basin is somewhere in the mess of lights on the shore 1.5 miles away, and there are oil pumping platforms out here also...

2230 After passing closer and closer, back and forth across the waterfront, we finally find the red flasher at the entrance to the boat harbour, Panacea follows us in, and we find empty docks. They are all equipped with 20 amp plug-ins, this boat harbour was built in the 1940's, this is the first 20 amp since Trenton, Ont and also takes a different plug. We do not have a pigtail converter, and will have to move to a dock that has been converted to 30 amps, we find one, but there is only 11 ft between the dock and the pile, we squeeze in.

Sunday, March 4, Played tourist all day, Art Gallery, Marine Museum, walked the town and all that stuff. Met some of the local boaters. This harbour is shared by both fisherman mostly shrimper and yachters

Whitecap's Cruising Log

Notes and Remarks:

0805 Help cast off Panacea, and Leave Rockport 0845,after paying our $20, difficult squeezing out between pile and dock, only 11 ft, had to do it by hand and jump on...enter north Aransas Pass channel,

0935 Mile525 pass marina and small shipyard on stbd, marshland on port

1000 many beautiful homes on stbd open to Redfish bay on port...

1035 stopped at Aransas Pass, Mile 535 Shipyard, tied to barge alongside their 160 ton travel lift.. Juan in parts dept called for alternator re-builder and a Velvet Drive repair man.

"Stash" Taylor came down and collected the Velvet Drive, he has the longest handlebar moustache we ever saw, he is also a sailor and gave us some cruising tips for the area,. Mark Wolfe, the Yard Manager came down and we took the alternator off, had it checked out (it tested OK), drilled out and shimmed the swivel hole. Then we re-installed it, she was putting out 13.5 volts, now if we could just make it spin faster...

1525 There is a fixed highway bridge at Port Aransas, only 40 feet, so when we leave, we will steam parallel to the highway for Port Aransas and the Lydia Ann channel, 6 miles away. We will probably spend the next few nights there until the transmission is ready, so we are stuck in the Corpus Christi, Aransas area until it is ready, he said Thurs or Friday, Port Aransas is a real neat place, $15 per night, nice facilities, but we are at the last dock near the breakwater. Tuesday, March 7 Today we found a free bus, which comes around every 45 min, you just raise your hand... he goes all over town, and .... he passes right by the boat. Many people out for a walk say hi and stop to talk. A Beneteau docked 2 doors away, just came in on a delivery, the skipper Michel Pilon is from Montreal, and his crew Chris. Just a short walk across the park, there are 7 ferries (free), crossing to the mainland, 1/4 mile away, across the Corpus Christi Channel. A TV crew is coming tomorrow the 8th, to do an interview and story, will try to get a copy. We are kind of a novelty around here, everyone takes a second look at the Canadian Flag... and wonders how we got here. We took in the Mardis Gras Parade downtown, only lasted 25 minutes, but not bad for a town of 4500. Dined at the "Trout Street Bar and Grill", and walked back to Whitecap, 2100 hrs, air temp 76F, winds 15 - 20.

Wednesday, Mar 8, 2000. 0730 Michel and Chris have a rental car, we drove over to Corpus Christi to pick up new batteries for the Beneteau with them, we had breakfast and were back to the boat at 1000. Channel 3 TV news crew, came at 1030, and we cast off for the Lydia Ann channel for a cruise around. Interviews will be on at 1700 tonight, we walk over to the Tarpon Inn and ask if we can use their VCR, then celebrate with dinner at Beulah's close but not "Seasons in Thyme". After dinner drinks on board, watching the ship traffic heading out the Port Aransas Pass. Zeus, the same crude oil supertanker we saw in Lake Charles passed by.

Thursday March9, 2000 Laundry and leave Port "A". 0900 meet AM Defender large oil tanker heading out and then Stavanger Sun an empty crude oil tanker at 0930 in 52 ft, at 15 kts. Overtake "Katy" a 50' University of Texas research vessel, and then a small CG cutter heading out. Many dolphins surfacing all around, can see Aransas Pass in distance, Port Ingleside US Navy Base just ahead.

1015 pass by Discoverer Spirit a very large ocean drilling ship tied to wharf and on shore the two largest fixed cranes I ever seen... Up ahead Olympic Serenity an oil supertanker, unloading at dockside.

1100 turned off ship channel into smaller channel heading to Ingleside by the Sea, and the Bahia Marina, where we can call about our transmission. We have difficulty finding the marina channel, but locate it after a few tries, just like Pointe de Chene, in behind a small sandbar island, and hug parallel to a low cement wall, in 6ft of water. Called Stash, our transmission was ready, $636.US and one of the employees at the shop lives on a boat here at Bahia Marina; he will deliver it tonight. The marina owners, Keith and Carol were busy refinishing and painting the pool, we met several of the local boaters and found on Big Cheese, another Morgan 34. Jentry Powell owns a working cattle ranch north of Corpus Christi, was aboard, we had a great chat; he came over to visit Whitecap. He called, another Morgan 34 owner Charlie Orr, at Island Moorings marina, Charlie, who has a tee shirt (only 9 were made) with the original line drawing advertizing brochure, has been keeping track of all the 34's. Charlie was here in 30 minutes, and we looked at pictures of the work he had done to Oracle, his 34. He was impressed with Whitecap, and was going to let Charlie Morgan know about this Canadian boat. Wished we could have had more time to talk, but Charlie had to go to work, hope he keeps in touch!! Bought 4 lbs of live shrimp for $10 from a passing shrimp boat, a bottle of wine from the office and gorge ourselves... Wish we could have spent more time at Engleside.

Friday, March 10, 2000. Pick up some groceries, and realize today is Friday, we have to go to the Mexican Consulate in Corpus to get visas and cruising permit, easier than doing it in Brownsville. There is a "norther" coming, we head out at 1125 for the 9 miles across the bay , 3 - 4 ft swells, winds 25 - 30, water depth in bay only 10 to 13 ft, fairly choppy ride, and on the beam too!!. Behind the Corpus breakwater which fronts the whole downtown, there are 3 "T" heads, with docking for shrimpers, transients, local yachters, several Yacht Clubs and a few restaurants; we catch up to another sailboat, and yelled over: "which one was the Municipal Marina", he answered back over the wind: "if you fine an empty dock anywhere take it". We turn into the 2^nd "T" which turned out to be the municipal marina at 1350, found slip #38 was empty and tied up. We were greeted by Bob and May Rae, a couple visiting from Toronto, who saw yesterdays' TV interview, and spied our Canadian flag. After we checked in and completed the necessary Mexican consulate requirements, we went to Bob and May's hotel across Shoreline Blvd, for a glass of wine. Supper tonight consisted of the happy hour at the Lighthouse bar, 12 oysters @15 cents each and 6 bacon wrapped scallops, 2 N/A beers and 2 wines, all for under $14US.

Saturday, March 11, 2000 The predicted "norther" hit with a vengeance during the night!!! winds were over 50 kts on our stern, every wave slapped against the counter, creating a racket we could not sleep through, tripled the stern lines, and doubled the stern spring at 0200hrs. Glad we were not out there somewhere without sea room!!! Walked the city downtown in the morning, and took in the "big" (week early) St Patrick's Day parade. Still very windy, call West Marine in Galveston, no sign of our warrantied GPS yet, ask Mark to please ship it to Anchor Marina in Port Isabel, ASAP where we will wait for it. Decide to take a room in the Travelodge, across the street for the night, over two months on the boat since Aberdeen, a bath instead of showers, imagine the luxury and decadence, like we won a lottery or something!! Mary thinks it is nice to be eating shrimp 100' above sea level for a change. Had supper in an authentic 1960's diner, Peter should see it, we took a picture.

Sunday, March 12, 2000 Still windy, from our room we can see the ship traffic from the river and Neuces Bay, the shrimpers working in Corpus Christi bay, the USS Lexington, a retired aircraft carrier on permanent display, the Pinta, a replica of one of Columbus's ships, (the Santa Maria and Nina are in a drydock on the other side of town) and a bronze statue of the Corpus Christi Mexican-American native "Selena", the young singer who was tragically and senselessly murdered at age 24 in 1995, each time we walk by, there are always 25 - 30 people of all ages around her statue. We waited for the trolley for a tour of the city, and struck up conversation with a gentleman also waiting, he has a 40' Hatteras "Marguerite" just two slips away from Whitecap and recognized us. Turns out Jason Luby is a former 3 term mayor, gave us a comprehensive history of Corpus Christi , and took us to his favorite restaurant. Thank you Jason!!! We never did see the trolley... turns out they do not run on Sunday this time of the year.

Whitecap's Cruising Log

Notes and Remarks:

00830 checked out , $38 for 3 nights, took on diesel, 19.9 gal for $20.94 and free pump out, cleared basin winds 15 -20 on nose, we have to go 9 miles into a 2 - 3 ft chop. Pass US Naval Air station on stbd, Helicopter dragging sonar type device just ahead of us. Coincidence, the battery charge level and the water depth are both 13.7.

1135 turned onto GIWW

1215 pass under the JFK Causeway bridge, 73 ft vertical clearance, connecting Mustang and Padre Islands to Corpus.

1320 Passed mile marker 560, we are overtaking a tow up ahead Challenger, pushing 1 x 2 red flags. Boat spd 6.04 SOG 5.8. This is the first tow and only today. Only traffic today are small speedboats out fishing.

Pass anchored oil drilling exploration barges with air boats for the survey crews ,then further on Two Palm Island

1602 half way across Baffin Bay, a no no place according to cruise guide, all kinds of rocks and shallows, what a waste. Channel Markers start at #1 again at Baffin Bay??? We wonder why.

The world famous King Ranch, with 80,000 "Santa Gertrudis" cattle carry their running "W" brand and roam 825,000 acres, and the smaller Kenedy Ranch both border on Baffin Bay. Richard King and Meflin Kenedy river boat pilots on the Rio Grande. They invested all earnings and their loot from blockade running during the Civil War into south Texas ranch land. Humble Oil negioated the oil leases and the land soon became the largest oil and gas producer in the US. King and Kenedy were suddenly rich and famous, and remained lifelong friends.

1759 mile 593. we are now in a land cut, a man made channel. Getting late. Tied to fish camp dock built on the spoil land on a small cut channel through the spoils to Laguna Madre, there are 5 camps on this side of the cut and about 8 just opposite on the north side. Two speed boats came and tied to the dock across just after we tied up, and unloaded their gear. They are staying in the camp just across.. A fishing trip for spring break, a grandfather, 3 adults and 6 children. They started their generator, and lit up the waterway with large lights. They were fishing within 20 minutes. We yelled over and asked if it was OK to tie up here for the night, they said yes.

6.1ft depth at low tide, bat 12.5 water temp 67 air temp 70

Whitecap's Cruising Log

Notes and Remarks:

0845 Rained during night , cleared small dock passed mile 590 marker entering Redfish bay, not really a bay, just the dredged land cut and spoil island on port and then sand flats a mile or so b ack on the stbd, the camps on stbd are in the water. Started to rain, lightning on Stbd.

0940 mile 595 fish camps are now about .5 miles apart, there are people at a lot of them.

1030 rain stopped, sunny cloudy passed mile 600 marker, they do not have rainbows here, they have oil...

passed hundreds of fish camps, on stilts on each side of the channel in about 5 ft of water, some well maintained some damaged by an uncontrolled tow in a bad wind, as they are built just out of the waterway on each side, or maybe the last hurricane got them!!. The tows here, there are only a few now, for some reason travel 2 barges wide, which takes up 110', so when we meet one we are on the side of the 150' cut. Rain off and on

1225 mile 610 Sand flats as far as we can see on stbd, battery at 11.8 damm!! Alternator belt at far end of adjustment.

1300, now in wide bay area, vis about 1 mile in heavy rain squalls.

1445 Passed large suction dredge JN Fraser, and some tugs moving her pipe around, she straightened up in the channel to let us by, depth now 24ft. bucking 35 kt winds, continuous rain and 4 ft waves. SOG down to 2.5 @1800 RPM.

1605 mile 630 made turn to Port Mansfield harbour; finally the winds are on the stern beam and we start to surf for the last mile. the dockmaster called and told us to go to slip A4, she would meet us there. Just backed in and started to tie up, the real rain came down, got 4" in 2 hours with 40 - 50 kt winds, and there was a tornado watch in the area!!! It was fun, but the boat was full of wet clothes for 2 days... glad all the hatches and ports were closed!!!

Port M, with 190 registered voters, boasts 2 of everything, 2 convenience stores 2 gas stations, 2 fuel docks, 2 restaurants and you need 2 good legs to get you around, everything is spread out big time. The marina caters mostly to 15 to 30 ft power boats, owned by people who live farther inland. Everyone around here goes fishing. All the land in Port Mansfield is owned by the Willacy County Navigation Authority, and everything here is built on leased land. At one time the politicians thought that was the way to go to attract investors, but it looks like it did not work out, the condos are now starting to look aged and worn. "Rode hard, and put away wet" as Al Boily would say...

Whitecap's Cruising Log

Notes and Remarks:

0800 walked to restaurant for breakfast, weather still unsettled, winds 15 - 20 NE, at least on the stern, starts to clear, more dirt forecasted for tomorrow, decide to leave at 1100. Paid $15 for night dockage.

1200 passing between spoil Islands to stbd and a long row of fish camps about 500 ft apart on the port side.

1230 Approaching sailboat, "Free Two", a Hunter 30, says going home to Port M from Port Isabel.

1215 Challenger, 2 x 2 northbound, same one we overtook and passed 2 days ago, just before the fish camp dock.

1250 tug Brownwater VII with a 2 x 2 coming out of the Arroyo (ditch) Colorado. This arroyo is navigable for 26 miles to Port Harlingen, the famous King Ranch borders on this river. We stop to let him make his turn into the GIWW, and then overtake him to pass on a 1 whistle.

1300 Boat spd 7.7kts @1750 RPM, and we have a 1.5 kt current in our favor giving us 9.2 SOG, we are flying!!! Beautiful cumulus clouds behind us. We are surfing!! Cannot put up any sails, the channel is only 150 ft wide, and you cannot stray to either side, the whole Laguna Madre 150 miles long and at places 20 miles wide, and you can barely sail a laser outside the channel... the water is only 2 to 4 ft deep.

1335 see large resort and golf course, on mainland, over spoil island to stbd. To port we can see the first of the South Padre high rises in the distance, and the Queen Isabella bridge strait ahead.

1450 mile 660 South Padre in full view now, spring break is in full swing, airplanes towing ad banners everywhere

1540 Between markers 139 and 141, we turn to stbd into a narrow channel and enter the Port Isabel small boat harbor. At the east end of the "Fingers", one of the first "canal communities" in the state, we find Anchor Marina, a marina RV park with 28 RVs' and docks for 54 boats, we are the first boat to tie up to a new still under construction dock, the carpenters tied us up!!!. The new owner Mark Stuart bought the marina last summer and is doing a lot of fixing, the workers are all guys who live in the RV's so lunch is only a step away!!!.

South Padre Island, across the bridge, with a resident population of 2000, hosts 200,000 spring breakers, who are here to party!! over a 5 week period. This week is "Texas Week" the big one . At night we sit in the cockpit and watch the traffic backed up on the Queen Isabella Boulevard highway through Port Isabel, there is a 2 hour wait to cross the bridge!! And it stays like that until 0500. The city brings in 500 State Troopers to supplement the 10 local police force.

We will wait here for two boats which are behind us, also going to Mexico it is safer to travel in a group. We are warned that during the day, in some outlying areas, they are a carefree people, but at night they may consider what is on your deck to be theirs. The big bonus is that the US Coast Guard patrols as close as 9 miles to the shoreline, looking for drug boats.

Thursday, March 16. Drove to Brownsville, 24 miles away, with Barb Johnson. We pass the shrimp fleet , about 500 boats, tied up in a basin, the offshore fishery is closed, no fish. Everyone comes to take a look at the new dock and Whitecap, so we get to meet the whole park, there are 2 Canadian couples, one Shirley and Dave Barrand from Kelowna and Linda and Brian from Kenora. Lots of small boat traffic going by, the favorite fishing craft around here seems to be a "shallow rider" a shallow tunnel type hull with centre console and about 6" freeboard; most have a 150 hp motor with cavitation spoilers, they draw less than 12" (now we know why) and travel at speeds of 50+ kts.

Friday, March 17, St. Patrick's Day. Barb, dug out her sewing machine to make mosquito screens for our hatches

Saturday, March 18 worked on alternator, decide to alter mount to get more belt adjustment. There is a cable TV, on the dock, we connect, 100 channels Wow!!!

Sunday, March 19, launch the dink and row 400 ft to the mainland on the opposite shore, to save a 1.5 mile walk. Head for the old historic lighthouse, to catch the "Wave", a free bus, for a tour of South Padre. We return to the dink, but since it was 1400, we decided to scout out the Yacht Club dining room and have lunch. Cornish Hen and French Dip Beef sandwich, each a glass of Chardonnay for $24US, before we row back home across the basin to Whitecap

Monday, March 20 Jean's (from the office) birthday, gave her a Whitecap sun hat.

Tuesday, March 21 up and at it at O600, by 0700, 12 of us in two king cabs, drive over "jack-ass flats" the local name for the sand flats, to Brownsville, and over the Mexican border at Matamoros to Neuvo Progresso, Mex, west of Brownsville about 60 miles each way, for the "Winter Texan Appreciation day", Mar 21 every year, everything is discounted and tax free. The streets are closed off and they have give-aways, free drinks, cheap food and local music. Every second storefront is a pharmacy?? or Dentist??? so we took some pictures. The people are very poor and some of the "houses" are not much bigger than Peter's smelt shack!!! with dirt floors.... but they like to have fun. There were free Margaritas and tortillas, local cervasa (beer)was $1US. Bottled stuff, Bacardi 1.75L $11US, 1 litre VO $9.95US and 1L Kahlua $8US, and they threw in a free backpack and a digital watch!!! and... the US border customs guys were off for the day... so we stocked up for under $50.

Wednesday, March 22. Tried to fix leak in dinghy blow off valve, and started slings for lifting with spinnaker haillard and spinnaker pole. Jim cranked me to spreader light, and I removed the light for retrofit to a sealed beam halogen lamp, removed wind speed from top of mast to see why the propeller came off. On inspection, it simply unscrewed itself, so we re-assembled it with locktite on the threads. Gerry and Bunny Arsenault came for a visit, Gerry is an uncle of Marlene Boily, they have purchased a home and retired to Summerside after 40 years with Air Canada in Calgary, and they are visiting in Brownsville only 20 miles away.

Thursday March 23, worked on the slings to lift the dinghy, seems to work best with a pair of 36" at the stern and a 66" one to the bow, and she hangs level off the end of the spinnaker pole. Will have to find someone with a nicropress tool to make permanent wire ones.

Friday, March 24, Went to Brownsville for the day for the grand tour, waited for the downtown tour bus but it never came... we seem to have problems with free busses!! Purchased a 12 amp battery charger, to run from the AC side of the generator, the Hondas' built in DC charger only puts out 7 amps, we use more than that, if the fridge is running.

Getting all our ducks in line, but we now find out we require a copy of the valid Canadian VHF license. Thought about it at one time, but forgot, as it is no longer a requirement in Canada. E-mailed Peter Mellish to contact the lady at the DOT office in Saint John and have her renew the license for VO 4340, Whitecap's call sign. Peter already had to do the same thing for Hawnalea. We require the original copy of the license to satisfy Mexican authorities, we have all the other papers (we think).

Saturday Mar 25, The duct tape patch did not work on the dink, decided to seal the blow-off valve with Sikaflex 241 caulking and then cover it with a patch. Installed Battery charger under stbd aft cockpit hatch, and a cigarette lighter under the console, both hard wired to house batteries, now we can plug in the searchlight, anchor light or whatever out there.

Sunday Mar 26 Pumped up the dink and covered the caulking with a round disc of duct tape, hope for the best.

Monday Mar 27 The dinghy is still full of air, the patch is working, put the 4.2hp motor on and went for a spin, first time since Lake Michigan. Only problem, the snap fitting on the hose does not want to stay on the fuel tank, on closer inspection it looks like we have the wrong fitting!!! Will have to source a new one.

Tuesday, March 28. 0700 Big excitement today, all the guys in the park are going deep sea fishing on the "Mishegas" (yiddish word for "Crazy") the twin diesel trawler yacht the marina owner Mark has bought as a charter boat. Dick almost goes, but declines, too many things to do today. All the wives head out to the Zoo in Brownsville.

Went to the local canvas shop and ordered a white sunbrella sleeve, 42' with a long zipper to cover the furled jib, getting worried about UV rays, afraid some day we will open up the jib and she will be in tatters... this way, no matter which jib is on the furler, we can still cover it.

1650 The Mishegas comes back with a "happy' crew, 42 Red Snappers and assorted other species. They said they threw back twice that many!!! After many pictures, the catch was filleted and frozen for next Tuesdays' big fish fry in the games room.

Wednesday, March 29, Gerry and Bunnie came over for a visit, they are leaving tomorrow for Houston and their flight back to PEI, we all went to the Yacht Club for lunch, had the Cornish Hen and French onion soup $8.95 a bargain in anyone's currency, and then a grand tour of South Padre Island across the bridge. We drove all the way to where the pavement is covered with sand, an ordinary vehicle cannot go any further, the signs along the road advertize "Caution Blowing Sand"!!! All along the roads were groups of schoolchildren, picking up debris, we were told that as part of the environment curriculum in all the schools in southern Texas, the children are bussed to SPI to clean up after the spring breakers, real "hands on" training.

We got e-mail: Good news and bad news today. Beaujolais, the Irwin 38 we have been waiting for, finally has her new rudder installed, and is going back in the water today, the bad news is they are still 400 miles behind us.

Thursday, March 30. Light Winds turned northerly Very hot today 90F, very light air, uncomfortable to sit in the cockpit, not so bad in the cabin, spent the afternoon reading Ladislas Farago's 1982 "The Last Days of Patton", sitting in the breeze way under the guest house, with a cold 0.5, the only cool place around.

Friday, March 31. Must be a "norther' coming on. Very foggy during the night, at 0400, could not see the other side of the basin only 400 ft away!! .