New Orleans and into the Delta (aka Bayou Country)

As we made our way across Lake Pontchartarin, we had a beautiful sail on an early Sunday morning.  Sunday actually became the “key” word here, because it was our ticket for a quick trip through the New Orleans channel.  This channel included two locks and a number of lift bridges. This is an industrial work place and full of barges and ships on weekdays.  All it takes to make it a LONG day is to have a “hitch” of some kind and then you wait and wait and wait.  At the end of the channel, we passed into the Mississippi River and right by downtown New Orleans.  St. Louis Cathedral, that we had just visited a month ago by land, stood out against the skyline!  We then entered the Gulf Intra Coastal Waterway (GIW) which takes you through the Delta.  For those of you familiar with the Cal Sag Channel in Chicago, this is very similar but with a swamp background J

 

Our first night in the swamps was at Jones Point.  Steve and Bill picked an anchorage right next to a grave yard…mmm!  Of course, all of the graves are above ground in this part of the country.  They had some trouble getting the anchor to hold, but we made it through the night.

Ship Repair Facility

 

Floating Hotel

Houma, LA was our next stop and we had a great tie up at the city’s municipal dock.  Dec. 3rd is Jeanie’s birthday, so we had to find a great place to celebrate.  We happened to find an outstanding Italian restaurant called Cristiano’s and felt like we were in New Orleans.  Their specialty was char broiled oysters and they were an instant hit with our table!!!!  (I don’t even like oysters, or so I thought!)  With a little hint to the waiter, they brought out a candle lit dessert and we serenaded Jeanie with “Happy Birthday to You”! 

Next morning, we left again along the GIW with a destination of Morgan City, LA.  You might have noticed I haven’t mentioned too much about the sights along the way.  You could sum them up with, lots of barges and tugs, large repair facilities for ships and tugs, and oil rig building facilities.  You see some birds and lots of swamp grass.  My pictures can give you a better idea of the lay of the land!  We arrived in Morgan City a bit earlier than usual, since we needed diesel fuel and groceries.  The dock we had read about was there, but FULL of shrimp boats.  One gentleman helped us tie up at the last available dock space and it was a tight fit.  After the usual docking procedures, I saw the same nice gentleman down at his boat working. Being the friendly girl that I am, I went down to find out the “scoop” about Morgan City.  (where’s the grocery store, is there a restaurant, where can we buy fuel, etc.)  Well, end of the story, he not only told us where to go but offered us his pickup truck to use!!!!  This was a blessing, since we had bags and bags of groceries and it would have been a LONG walk, let alone with our fuel cans that weigh a ton when full.  He, also, had a sign saying “Shrimp For Sale”.  Steve returned the truck and bought 4 lbs of his large fresh shrimp.  We had to take off the heads and shells, but they were voted the BEST shrimp we had ever had! Plus, we have two pounds still in the freezer!

Our stop last night was Intercoastal City.  The oil companies work out of this area and the workers take helicopters to their work sites. This A.M. everyone was “fogged in”, so we met a few of the workers up at the local grocery/restaurant close to our boat.  They fly out to the rigs and either have a seven day shift or stay for two weeks.  It is so interesting hearing them talk about this part of Louisiana and their work.  We had breakfast with the locals and then started out again on our trip down the GIW!  It’s a bit foggy, cool and overcast.  This is a perfect time to go down below and work on my blog!

Just one more update about our plans: We plan to take the GIW to a lake that is on the Louisiana, Texas boarder and head south to the Gulf.  (Hopefully this will be on Saturday)  When we reach the Gulf, we will enter the Safe Shipping Zone and head south to Corpus.  This is around 200 miles or about a two day sail.  Those plans, of course, are subject to weather conditions!  So, keep your fingers crossed for sunny skies and mild winds!  Christmas is coming and I am getting ready to be on land to Christmas shop.  It continues to be a great sail…so until next time, good-bye from SV Kathryn.