We’ve Sailed Kathryn Home!

We have, indeed, sailed SV Kathryn home to North Padre Island!  What a tremendous adventure it has been.  Thank you to all of our family and friends who have “sailed” along with us from Lake Michigan, Mobile Bay and now Corpus Christi, TX.  We made it!!!

We left Galveston, TX on Tuesday morning…it was cold, sunny and still blowing a bit!  Our destination was out of Galveston Bay and back into the GIWW…one more time.  We were headed to Freeport, TX and then on to Corpus.  Jeanie and Nancy kind of “wimped” out on this sail do to the chilly temps.  Plus, we’d “been there, done that” with all of the refineries and barges.  We were pleasantly surprised with the lovely new marina in Freeport.  On top of that, the dock master gave us a ride downtown to a lovely restaurant that was named one of the top 40 restaurants in Texas.  This was our LAST dinner out before the trip ended.  The last supper, so to speak J.

Baby it's cold outside!



Oil Rig Assembly.. Texas Gold

Lift Bridge at Galveston

Freeport Municipal Marina



Tide Control Gate at Freeport

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

12-12-12 to 12-13-12

We sailed out of Freeport and into the Gulf of Mexico early Wednesday AM.  Our course was to sail at a southwest angle and hit the safe ship zone.  There are just too many oil rigs/platforms in the Gulf and we did not want to hit one sailing at night.  Our trip would be a 24-30 hour sail.  The problem with sailing in December is the short amount of daylight and long periods of darkness.  At night we needed to take “watches”, so we decided on 3 hour watches for each couple.  Steve and I took the 9 – 12 watch, Bill and Jeanie the next three and so on throughout the night.  The only problem with the plan was a case of seasickness that hit the crew.  Steve was the only person not effected,,,we won’t go into any other details.  Let’s just say we made it! J  At 7:30, we left the Gulf and passed into Port Aransas which is at the tip of North Padre Island.  The sun was shining beautifully, the water was calm and the dolphins were there to escourt us!  I just love dolphins and they were quite playful that morning!  It was another 18 miles to get us past Corpus Christi Bay and then under the Kennedy Causeway Bridge that takes cars to the Island.  It had been a joke between Steve and me, that he wanted me to swim to shore and take a picture of the boat going under the bridge. (I forgot my swimming suit, so that didn’t happen…hehehe)   As we approached the bridge, all of the emotion of this journey hit me and tears spilled out of my eyes.  We had come so FAR and now we were at our new home!  Almost too much to take in at that moment!  We passed some familiar sights along the waterway and finally pulled into Padre Island Yacht Club, which is Kathryn’s new home!  Last night Bill, Jeanie, Steve and I went out to dinner to celebrate.  We had finished the journey! 

Cold Morning on the Gulf

Nancy in foul weather gear

Sunset on the Gulf

Port Aransas

Our personal welcome committee

Kennedy causeway bridge at North Padre Island

Under the bridge... almost home

Snoopy's...  The best fish on the island

Padre Island Yacht Club... We are home!

We made it!  Home at last.  Where will we go next?

So my friends, this is the end of the blog.  Thank you again for “coming along with us”! We saw and did things that none of us had imagined!  WOW!  We will let you know we are off again on another adventure.