From Tehani - out cruising

[CharlieJ]

Thanks Jim

As it turned out, so far not a drop of rain and no winds at all. Will be getting underway this morning

[Frank]

Thanks 4 the pics!!   Keep em coming   :D

[CharlieJ]

Well since just before noon Tehani has been tied to a dock behind a lock wall waiting to lock off the Mississippi River. Now into bridge restrictions intil 1745

20 miles to next safe anchorage. Have to see if we can (two boats here) stay the night here. Permission required from bridge tender and she's away for dinner I suppose.

Blew this day for sure

[Norman]

That is a bummer, but at least you are tied up, not circling in moving water!

Relax and enjoy some supper, then if not allowed to tie up overnight, you will be set for a bunch of hours without getting hungry.  Bad enough to have to keep going after dark without being hungry or other distractions.

Just curious, if a big tow comes up behind you, what does he do?  Or do they have the lock schedule in their nav plan, and only arrive when it will open?








1

[CharlieJ]

I'm tied to a dock behind the head wall and am staying to night


If a tow comes up you move oover and let him by   Grin

Locks open on demand but pleasure craft aren't allowed in locks with "red flaggers" those are carrying hazardous cargo like propane or Benzene or the like

It's bridges that have restricted hours. Here 1530 to 1745 they ddon't open
Today he had a steady stream of those. Just the way it goes

[CharlieJ]

After a 22 hour wait. The lock turned loose. No more locks. No more bridges til Florida.  ;D

[CapnK]

Good to see the progress and know that you are back out there, CJ! What are the BEER dates? That is where you are going, I am thinking... If I didn't have my darned old dog, I could jump on the scoot and meet you down there! lol

Fair winds, my friend!

PS - re:Ralay - a puking emoticon? I will see what I can do for you. Of course, it will have to be named, if I get it to work... ;)

[CharlieJ]

Anchored tonight at the Rigoletts. Where Pontchartrain empties into Lake Bourne and thence Mississippi Sound. Tomorrow I'll be in Miss waters. Heading for Gulfport

BEER begins June 12. But I'll be hanging around over there til probably mid July at the earliest. No real rush to get back

Oh two days ago a site just south of Houston got 9.8 inches of rain in 3 hours!!!  They are getting drowned

[Jim_ME]

Posting photo [and gmap w position report] for CJ (from May 13 9 pm)...

"Pic of the dock at the lock. Been here since noon."

Edit: Was looking at the area where you tied up and the lock on Gmaps...looks like a barge had just entered, since the lock behind is still open, and the other ahead is closed... Shows how much space the barge/tug takes up within the lock... So grabbed the image to add/post it here.

Also recalled what you may have said that there is not much available for cruising boats to tie up in downtown New Orleans. Seems a bit sad that so many cruisers pass right by the French Quarter of a city with such character, and there is little to invite them to stop in. Looks like even the place you tied up might only be a mile walk from the edge of the quarter, if it was allowed to be used in this way? I think that you said there are other places to dock on the canals. I see that there are a couple marinas near the canal outlet on Lake Ponchartrain (near the airport). Still...seems like it would be nice to have something close by on the Mississippi... Maybe there are other places that I'm not aware of...not able to find in a quick search? It is an industrial/commercial region, so maybe no surprise that those activities are given the priority.   

[CharlieJ]

Big problem is the river itself. Right off the quarter it is over 200 feet deep ans when running (liike it is now) moves a HUGE  volume of water. The flow took me to over 8 going down river.

The other problem is the heigth. Harvey lock (west side) lifted me 11 feet then Industrial (east side) lowered 9. And it can be much more. The lock walls reach way over my spreader level. So any place to tie up on the river itself would need serious pilings and floating docks

That dock i was tied to was a floater attached to the lock headwall and was showing 30 feet of water under the boat


Not really feasable to have recreation facities on the river

[CapnK]

Interesting, in that I live at the mouth of the second largest river basin on the East Coast, a pretty big affair as far as rivers go, and it is perhaps 35' deep, maybe a tad bit more in spots, but I think that's about an average. Looking at them side-by-side on Google Maps and scaled the same, the Mississippi there where you are is no wider than the mouth of the Waccamaw here, perhaps even just a bit narrower.

So to try and imagine that, but with a depth over 5.5 times deeper... a twenty-story buildings worth flowing past every few seconds... wow. :)

I bet there are some GIANT catfish on the bottom of that sucker. ;D

[CharlieJ]

Remember-that width isn't the natural river. The Old Muddy has been diked , leveed, concrete walled, for miles. There at NOLA it's more canal than river. A BIG canal that takes ocean going ships into the heart of the city and above.

[Jim_ME]

Posting update and position report [gmap image] for CJ (from today, 7pm)...

"Off west end dauphin island. Tomorrow Mobile bay. Ran 51 miles and regained a lost day."

Was looking at the satellite view image and thinking how you must be glad to be out of the canals and barges and into coastal waters where you can sail.

Grog to you, Charlie!  :)

[Edit: Was curious about the water depths in this area, so checked out the chart...and am posting an excerpt of Chart 11373 Missisissippi Sound (added red box at CJ position)...]

[CharlieJ]

Currently tied up at Pirates Cove. Josephine Ala. Just shy of the Florida line. But i consider myself arrived. :)

[CapnK]

Oh yeah, I remember that place. Was there & wound up staying overnight while on the Pixie Dust shakedown cruise...  8)  :o  ::)

Have one of those signature "Badhangoverinamug" (or whatever they're called) for me, CJ!  ;D

[CharlieJ]

Bushwhackers. Alcoholic milkshake. Later this evening for that ;)

[Jim_ME]

Looked at Gmaps to see where your latest position was located, Charlie--and figured that I would go ahead and post it, as with previous ones, to make it easy for readers to view...

[CharlieJ]

Anchored last night off the ruins of Ft Macrae. Called Sand Island around here. Just across the ICW from the Pensacola Naval Air Station

Rained most of he night and this morning woke to stiff NORTH winds (guess which way I go today?) and 62 degrees!!!

On the Friday before Memorial day. In FLORIDA!!

Yuck!! ::)

[Jim_ME]

It's forecast to get down to 36 degrees here tonight (frost warnings farther inland), after many nights in the high 40s/low 50s, and high tomorrow of the same...62F...but I do understand that you expect better in Florida. :)

Congrats on making it to Florida, CJ.

[CharlieJ]

 :)

Plus the fact that nights have been mid 70's and the bunk only had sheets on it. Had to dig out a throw middle of the night, then shut hatch. This morning. Back into the 70's

Grin