Aberdeen, Mississippi to New Orleans, Louisiana   

January 6th - February 11, 2000

1. Jan, 2000 - WHITECAP is getting excited; the new crew will soon be boarding and we will be underway again. A little Bon Voyage party was held at the Silver Fox for Dick and Mary before they departed to join me (WHITECAP) in Aberdeen. Friends and family were all on hand to wish them GOD's Speed and good luck.
2. Jan 6, 2000 - Thursday - WHITECAP is pleased to let you know that Dick, accompanied by Mary, arrived in New Orleans around noon, rented a car and have joined me here in Aberdeen Mississippi. It was a long lonely Christmas here by myself.
3. Jan 7, 2000 - Friday - Dick and Mary spent the day getting me back shipshape and just putting their sea-legs back under them. Plan to get underway tomorrow.
4. Jan 8, 2000 - Saturday - Slipped lines at 08:00 and made our way to Columbus, MS. Found a brand new marina here....we're the first customers....ever.
5. Jan 9, 2000 - Sunday - Underway at 07:00 this morning, made our way down through Aliceville Lake, through the Heflin Lock and anchored in the shallows on the side of the river for the night...65 feet of chain with the 35 lb CQR, but we had a tornado go through near by with local sustained winds over 65 mph; WHITECAP dragged her anchor into the middle of the channel at 01:00 in the wee hours, so Dick and Mary had to reposition her and drop 120 ft of chain....that settled everything for the night.
6. Jan 10, 2000 - Monday - Slipped out early this morning and made 68 miles today. We are now in the nice little town of Demopolis, Alabama at mile 216 of the river system. There are 150 boats in this marina during peak and the marina sells 50,000 gallons of diesel per day as they are a major refueling stop for the river system. We are now only about 140-150 road miles from Mobile, Alabama.
7. Jan 17, 2000 - Monday - WHITECAP is close to the middle of Mobile Bay, on the west side, at the inlet of Dog River, not too far from Dauphin Island. The water pump went and CATCH MY DRIFT towed us to the Grand Mariner Marina; WHITECAP can motor for about an hour and then has to stop to cool down the engine. WHITECAP and crew will probably remain here approx four days waiting for a new pump to be delivered. Its warm, around 70 and the new crew member, Mary is enjoying herself; Mary and Dick are invited to dinner on a seventy foot yacht tonight.
8. Jan 24, 2000 - Monday - Well, WHITECAP is still sitting wistfully in Grand Mariner Marina at Mobile, Alabama.  Things aren't as pushed or rushed these days, so there's no big hurry to get further south yet. The weather is beautiful during the day but gets relatively cool during the nights. We're getting a Bimini made to fit over the cockpit and it wont be ready until tomorrow, but it should give us a little reprieve from the sun and help Mary's sunburn a little.  Dick and Mary  are renting a car again, and driving to New Orleans today to pick up Paul (their son) who is coming to join the crew for a week. Unfortunately, after Dick and Mary arrived at the airport in New Orleans, they found out Paul's flight had been cancelled back in Halifax...Paul never made it to visit WHITECAP. During the stay here, Dick has got the water pump replaced and hard mounted the alternator, getting rid of the rubber shock mounts which had caused all the charge problems back ions ago.......or so it seems. CATCH MY DRIFT parted company some days ago as they were heading down the Florida coast in the opposite direction to us; we will be heading for New Orleans when we weigh anchor here.
9. Feb 2, 2000 - Wednesday - Still in Dog River waiting for weather to break...will leave as soon as weather allows. We plan to spend 3 - 4 days in New Orleans before taking the Gulf Intracoastal Water Way (GIWW) and Houma Canal to Galveston Bay.
10. Feb 7, 2000 - Monday - Finally departed Mobile, Alabama on Sunday morning and stayed at  Gulfport, MS Sunday night. Gulfport is just west of Biloxi, MS; Gulfport Marina is a beautiful spot with very friendly and hospitable people...they even deliver the local paper and croissants to your boat in the morning. Tonight,  we anchored in "The Oxbow" near the Rigolets (rig-oh-lees) RR bridge, in 16 ft, with the CQR and 40 ft chain, any more and we would be touching the shore on both sides if we swing. .  New Orleans is 25 more miles away, so we stopped here before dark.  Tomorrow we will be going through the Rigolets (rig-oh-lees) to Lake Pontchartrain, and the Orleans Marina for a few days before we head on to Texas. 
11. Feb 10, 2000 - Thursday - WHITECAP has finally arrived in New Orleans and will now remain here for a couple of days while some modifications are made to the main sail so the new bimini will fit over the main boom. 
12. Feb 11, 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 sail maker says to leave this reef in permanently, and that way the boom will not hit the bimini.  This saves the re-cutting of the mainsail  head. This is a real 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  entirely protects about 450 boats.  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!!. so you sit on your boat and can see into all the condos, just like the movie "Rear Window". There are actually 4 marinas in this area; the Municipal marina is just on the other side of a park closer to the lake, and they hold about 750 boats, but you cannot tell where each one starts or finishes,  there are several boat store places and several boatyards crowded in here also.