The Mississippi Gulf Coast

[Captain Smollett]

We are taking a trip to Pascagoula, MS in September to visit family, and I'm towing the boat down.  I want to sail to Dauphin Island one day, as well as Petit Bios (or Horn) Island on another with an 'off day' in between (due to the work schedule of who we are visiting).  The only marinas that look feasible are several miles 'upstream' from the Gulf, so we would essentially be losing 2-3 hours each way just getting to the Gulf.

Right now, I am planning to simply trailer sail those two days, but I had wanted to rig once and keep the boat in the water (for some possible additional day sails) for the entire week we will be down there.  Can anyone suggest a marina or decent anchorage in the Pascagoula area that does NOT involve 3-9 miles of 'river sailing' to get to the big water?

Thanks. 

[LauraG]

Lake Yazoo is located right at the channel entrance to Pascagoula. It is a very well protected little anchorage with several sailboats regularly moored there. There is a public launch ramp located on the channel leading to it.  There is about 5 feet of water in the channel leading to the lake.

[Captain Smollett]

Thanks a BUNCH.   :)

Do you happen to know if that ramp is the one called "The Old Coast Guard Station Ramp"?

If so, that is where I was planning to launch if I ended up launching each day.

[LauraG]

Shoot. I don't know what it's called. Here is a section of a chart showing where Lake Yazoo and the launch ramp are located.

[Captain Smollett]

I bet that's it; lat and lng are right.

It's Number 24 on this list and this map

That's cool about the possibility of anchoring there.

Thanks again.

[LauraG]

That looks like it. We've anchored in the lake on 3 different occasions on our trips back and forth to Florida. The launch ramps can be very busy on the weekend but the lake is generally quiet. Amazingly, we had no trouble with mosquitos when we were there. Your mileage may vary.  :)

[Captain Smollett]

My list of boat projects was 15, with 7 still left to do.   ::)

Keeping an eye on TS Florence and hoping she'll stay on her predicted track.

[s/v Faith]

Where are you going in MS?

  Where do you plan to sail?

[Captain Smollett]

Basing out of Pascagoula and plan to sail to the Gulf Islands (at least one of them :)  ).  Probably mostly day-cruise around the Pascagoula area, though we have not ruled out anchoring out one night.

We are going to visit family, so I cannot 'let' sailing take up the WHOLE time we are down there.   ;)

[s/v Faith]

Outstanding!

  Gotta love a boat that will go to wind at 55+ mph!

;D

I can't wait till that is my cruising 'backyard'.  I look forward to a full report.

  Enjoy!

And may Flo keep to herself, well out into the cool North Atlantic water......

[Captain Smollett]

Whew.  What a trip.  It did not turn out quite as planned (part of the "fun" of sailing :) ); there were some lessons learned; some things went wrong and some things went right.

Pre-Departure

Well, some things don't go right even before you leave.

First, my hand-held spotlight had previously had a broken charging jack and I fixed it.  The repair did not hold, so it was broken again and of course the batt was dead.  Oh well, it was a cheapie Wal-Mart special.  I want to replace it with something more durable.

Also, my paper Chart #11375 from Ocean Grafix came, but the others (waterproof from MapMasters) did not.  11375 is the Pascagoula Harbor Chart, and shows good detail of the anchorage area as well as the planned route out to Petit Bois Island.  I had ordered some others, but got an email from MapMasters earlier in the week saying they were backordered.  I replied that if they could get them here by Friday, to ship them here, otherwise I wanted to give an alternate address.  I never heard back, so I assumed ( >:( ) they were on their way.  Well, they did not come, so we had to leave with just 11375.  That's okay; I figured we'd just have to limit our cruising to the areas covered by 11375 (which would include trips to Petit Bois and Horn Islands).  I have been pleased with Map Masters until now, but I am curious to see what they say about this mix-up.

Saturday, 9 Sept.

It's about a 600 mile drive from our house to my sister's and brother-in-law's house in MS.  Towing the boat went fine, and with stops and all, it took just under 11 hours.  We took a back-road detour around Atlanta (Hwy 44, then Hwy 16, through the towns of Eatonton, Monticello and Griffin) to avoid the nutty traffic. The only real traffic issue we had was some fool in Mobile pulling out right in front of us going about 20 mph while we barreled along at Highway Speed.  Alls well that ends well, though, and I considered it a relatively uneventful and low-stress drive.

The highlight of the trip for four-year-old Hunter was not only seeing her Aunt Lynn again but Aunt Lynn's quarterhorse, Stormy.



Tuning in WX Channel 2, the forecast for the whole week was 60% chance of thunderstorms.  Lynn said they had had very little rain since Katrina, but apparently we brought it with us.  Also, the Coast Pilot says dominant westerlies for Mississippi Sound, but we had wind forecasts all over the compass.

Sunday, 10 Sept.

The plan was to rig and launch the boat, possibly go for a short day sail and then anchor and leave the boat in Lake Yazoo.  This trip was to have a number of "firsts:" first time anchoring and LEAVING the boat, first time dingying around to get to the boat, etc.  Here's a shot of the ramps and anchorage on Chart 11375. 



Many thanks to CharlieJ and LauraG for much good info on this anchorage.  Also, the plan was to try my new-to-me anchor-from-the-cockpit technique.

Lynn's hubby Randy is doing clean-up on Petit Bois Island next weekend, and since he had not used his boat since before Katrina, decided to take it out on a first-of-season shake-down run.  His boat is a 26 ft diesel they use as a dive platform for diving in the Gulf.  After launching, he and Lynn took Becky and the children for a quick 'ride' on the "fast bouncy boat" as Hunter calls it while I rigged Wave Function for launching.

They arrived back at the ramps just as I was backing the boat in the water.  The ramps are shallow and the docks are not floating, but other than that, the site is a good one: six concrete ramps, plenty of parking and no nearby overhead wires. 

Randy is thinking of selling his boat, and he met a guy on the ramp interested in buying it.  He gave me some good advice about anchoring in the Lake just up from the ramps, saying the best place was near the unused mooring balls (damaged in the storm so unreliable).  We decided not to go for a sail, so I motored out to the anchorage.  I dropped two anchors but forgot my keys to lock up the boat.  Randy kindly played water taxi and motored me back to the ramp.  This shot was taken heading back to the ramp, and the fenders and stuff had not been stowed yet.  Wave Function is the nearer boat.



After securing Wave Function, and with some anxiety (recall, I'd never left her at anchor before), we motored in Randy's boat up the Pascagoula River toward Hucks.  Randy works at the shipyard, so he was giving the waterside nickel tour of the harbor and the general lay of the land.  Several of the destroyers in the yard had been damaged by Katrina.

Hucks is a nice little place on the water, but it IS a tight squeeze getting in there.  I put "HUCKS" in red on this chart image, but it's small.  It's located at the base of that small cove just to the E of the text "FIXED BRIDGE" on Hwy 90.



Located at 30 23.8082 N, 88 36.623 W, if you did not know it was back there, you'd likely never venture over to the entrance, which is marked by a set of piles that once you see the pattern, mark a little channel.  That channel, and the dockage in the cove, is very narrow, and we saw one boater having a hard time turning his boat around in there.  Some of the boaters come in and leave too fast, throwing damaging and annoying wakes in the very tight cove.  I guess that's normal, but I will never get used to it.

The others had nachos, the children split an order of fries and I had grilled gator tails.

We then motored back to the ramp to pull Randy's boat and head back to the house.  On the way, we passed this Dutch freighter being pushed alongside.



This was the only large vessel traffic we on this section the whole time we were down there.

Monday, 11 Sept.

The plan was to sail to Petit Bois Island to let the children play on the beach.  At the ramp, I inflated my dingy in about 7 minutes (via a brand new footpump with which I am well pleased).  It took only ten minutes to row to the boat.



But it took nearly an hour (!!  >:( ) for me to get things situated, the anchors pulled and back to the dock to pick up Becky and the children.  Grrr.  The new anchor retrieval system needs some work - I am sure I did not rig something correctly.  At one point, I had the anchor rode wrapped around the OB leg, and at another it was wrapped around the rudder.  Oh, I am sure I put on quite a show.

The bottom was soft mud.  Though it provided good holding ground, I brought half the mud up with the anchor and got it all over the place.  WF was riding almost solely on #2 with the wind/current direction and since it was holding fine, I decided that future anchoring, I'd just throw out one hook.

Motoring back to the dock, I bumped aground from getting too close to the edge of the 'channel.'  While getting back to deeper water, the painter bridle on the dink came untied; like a dummy, I tied the tow line into the bridle with a simple bowline, so when the bridle came untied from the dingy, the dingy was adrift.  I managed to snag it, pulled it aboard and let it sit on the cabin top back to the dock.

The upshot of all of this is that by the time we had gotten everybody up and breakfasted, to the dock, dingied out the boat, dorked around making a fool of myself (this is NOT the first time I've ever anchored, but you would have thought so) and got back to the dock, it was noon.  That was a bit of a late start for a trip to an island 9 miles away. But it gets worse.

That predominant westerly breeze was today from the SE at 15 kts.  The Upper Pascagoula Channel, which we had to take out to the Lower Pascagoula Channel, runs along a SE-NW line.  In other words, we had the wind right in our teeth.  The Lower Pascagoula Channel lies at about 173 degrees, so we would still be close hauled even after the turn southward.  This was not good for making a quick sail to the Island.

Soooo, we beat SE into the 3-4 ft very short period chop.  We had to stay in the channel, which meant short tacking, coming about in some cases about every two minutes.   It was a bit of a rough ride, and perhaps things would have been a bit better had I reefed.  We made 7 nm in four hours, giving VMG of 1.6 kts and speed through the water of about 2.5 kts.  Arrrg.  (I was pinching up a bit trying to claw out of the channel, and thought with hindsight that perhaps if I freed up a bit, we might have made better progress).

As we entered the main channel, Becky got a shot of me with the destroyers in the background.  The one just to the left of my hand in the frame is the one Randy is working on.



We did see many dolphins and once I excitedly called to Becky that they were "close."  She did not believe me when I told her they were only feet from the boat, but a little later, she got to see some close, too.  Three rolled, played, blew air, jumped and frollicked within ten feet of Wave Function's St'bd cockpit.  Becky said they looked her in the eye.   :)  We were also treated to many pelicans, which I like.

A wicked thunderstorm played violently over Gautier and Pascagoula just a couple of miles to our north.  We definitely got some wind effects from the storm as it passed.  Oddly, the wind was from the SE, but this storm traveled W to E.  All day long we would be keeping an eye on the various ominous looking clouds.  Being locked to the channel, we just had no searoom to ride out anything.

The Lower Pascagoula Channel meets the Upper at Marks 37-35, but deep water actually widens out for a bit there so we cut across at Mark 39.  Once in the Lower, we were virtually restricted to the channel again, but with a bit more slop than on the Upper.  The ICW crosses the Lower, and we got a good view of one of the numerous barges plying the ICW.



With some slight disappointment at not reaching the island, we turned around at 16:00 to head back.  Here's a shot of the Island just before we turned.



I hove-to to reef the main and we broad reached back to the North, passing an outbound tanker from the Chevron facility in Bayou Casotte.  The bridge officer waved at us, obviously pleased that we were just outside the channel and giving him a wide berth.

While on the N leg up the Lower channel, Hunter got sick all over the cockpit.  She's been sailing since she was 7 weeks old and never got sick on board before.  Even Becky said she was feeling a bit queasy.  15 month old Jonathan did not have a care in the world, except when his Momma would not let him play with the VHF or nav tools in my case.  Hunter still felt rough after getting sick, but later felt better and was once again laughing at the lift and roll when a larger wave would pass under us.

We made quick time back to the Upper channel, where turning NW we now had the wind at our backs.  I chose to broad reach and gybe rather than run (though I did run occasionally with the jib winged).  The trip that took 4 hours down took only two hours back!  Even with broad reaching and gybing, we managed a net VMG of 3.5 kts, and that with reefed main.

Turning into the channel where the ramp/anchorage is, I dropped the jib but was making leeway toward the rip-rap shore.  I decided it was "okay" to motor the last 400 yards (we had sailed off the dock when we left).  At the dock, I dropped off Becky and the children who went on to Lynn's house - they left me to overnight on the boat.  I chatted with some guys fishing and hanging out at the ramp before motoring back into the Lake to find my anchorage for the night.

I motored up to the marina and scoped out some of the moored boats.  I saw one that was very curious to me - similar to a Bristol 27 (though shorter) but with VERY VERY large main portlights.  I'd like to find out what this boat is.

I dropped the hook in nearly the same spot, but a little farther "in" from the channel.  I busied myself with doing some boat chores, including washing the mud and vomit off the boat, as well as cutting new reefing lines.  At dusk, I laid down in the cockpit and gave serious thought to sleeping there.  The only thing that prevented it was the mullet jumping.  During the night, I had three get in the boat - one even in the cabin!

At 20:30, a sail boat from the marina came out and anchored next to me, and another picked up the skipper and took him back in.  Not sure what that was about, but the boat was still anchored there two days later.

Tuesday, 12 Sept.

Awoke around 06:30 when it started raining and I needed to close up the hatch and portlights.  This is when I noticed that one of the through-bolts on my new handrails (installed earlier in the summer) was leaking.    :(  I'll have to get that fixed asap.

Becky called to say she was coming to pick me up, so I inflated the dingy and rowed back to the dock.  She met me there.

Back at the house, I helped Randy with some projects - I had not welded in years and it was good to get some practice.  I want to make a gimbal mount for a stove for the boat and know I guy who will let me use his welder.  Randy and I ran over to WM in Biloxi and he showed me some of the Katrina aftermath that is still very, very visible.  Along the shore, there are empty lots where businesses used to stand (they just disappeared - gone), and in some places, piles of rubble yet to be scooped up and hauled off.  Apparently, some MS politics is slowing the recovery efforts; I found it a bit depressing that a year later the area still looked so desolate.  A mile or so inland, the damage was still apparent, but not as much of a downer.  In Pascagoula, there is still a lot of repair going on, but I did not see areas that still looked completely wiped out like in Biloxi.

Randy and Lynn had told us that the water in the Mississippi Sound was nearly always like a mirror.  In the three days we had been there, it was choppy with many whitecaps.  Becky was skeptical about their description.  I decided to let her make plans for Wednesday - either make another go at getting out to the island or not.

She told me that she really did not want to go.  There were some things we needed to get done that were outdoors, and she wanted to getthem done in the morning before the predicted thurnderstorms were likely to hit.

Wednesday, 13 Sept.

I went to recover the boat. I rowed out and recovered the anchor with much less drama this time.  Also, this time I tied an overhand loop in the painter bridle and tied the tow line to that; if one end of the bridle came loose, I'd still be attached to the dink.  I learned I have much to learn about towing a dingy and manuevering under power while towing a dingy.

The Sound was like a mirror and there was a very light W breeze.  In other words, Becky was disappointed that we did not 'go for it.'  Oh well.  That's the way things are when working under an external schedule.

I secured the rig to the boat using a new system of bungees and velcro straps (the old system was tying).  This should greatly speed up my rigging/unrigging time.

Again, Stormy was the highlight for Hunter.  Here she is feeding her an apple and was thrilled to learn that horses eat the whole thing, even the seeds.



Thursday, 14 Sept.

Left Gautier, MS at 01:38 for the drive back.  Arrived central SC shortly after noon.

Trip Summary:

• PRO: Outboard ran great on this trip, even at idle for extended periods.
• PRO: I like anchoring from the cockpit
• PRO: My 'new' cockpit storage locker will work out just fine
• PRO: The new mast stowage for towing system is MUCH nicer and faster
• PRO: After 6 years of not working, I FINALLY got my masthead "steaming" light working!!  :)
• PRO: For the first time, left Wave Function unattended for overnight at anchor - this was a rather big psychological barrier to cross.
• PRO: Inflating the dingy was faster than I thought - from start to finish in 7 minutes or less
• PRO: I'm getting better (though still need work) at rowing the dingy
• PRO: Overnighted on the boat at anchor for the first time since my 4 year old daughter was born :)
• CON: The cockpit anchor weighing system did not work as planned; I did not attempt it anymore after that first try
• CON: Due to a late start, unfavorable wind and questionable weather, did not make it to Petit Bois Island, even though it was only 9 miles.
• CON: Hunter got 'seasick' for the first time
• CON: Beating into 3-4 ft shallow water "chop" for hours gets old.  Beating is the right term.
• CON: NOT ENOUGH TIME!!  :) 

I'm looking forward to going back.  We are kicking around the idea of going down for B.E.E.R. next year, maybe with a side trip back over to MS.

[AdriftAtSea]

Sounds like a pretty good trip over all.  Did the charts from Map Masters ever come in?  I'm guessing you didn't try going south past the fixed bridge  ;)

[Zen]

Sounds like a geat trip, just enough of everything to make it interesting
Thanks for the post!

[Captain Smollett]

Sounds like a pretty good trip over all.  Did the charts from Map Masters ever come in?  I'm guessing you didn't try going south past the fixed bridge  ;)

It was.  Any trip with all safe and memories made is a good one.  ;)

The charts have not arrived yet, but we have not yet gotten our mail that was being held for us.  Odd that I requested 2-Day shipping for them to send it by regular mail, though.   ???

The fixed bridge on that chart showing Hucks is several miles from where we anchored.  Here's an image from chart 11374 showing the whole area:



We never took the sail boat up the Pascagoula River from Lake Yazoo, only SE out the channel shown in along lower part of this image.  To get to Petit Bois Island, the route is SE down the Upper Pascagoula Channel (about 4.5 nm), then turn S down the Lower Pascagoula Channel (about 4.5 nm).  There are spoils and shoals along the edges of the chanels, so you are pretty much limited to stay in the channel the whole way.  (Lesson learned from Georgetown earlier in the summer :) ).

We motored in the stinkpotter to Hucks - up the Pascagoula River then across that tee-niny little cut across "Marsh Lake" that you can make out on the chart (that looks like a line running parallel to Hwy 90).  We could have gotten to Hucks in the sail boat .... one fixed bridge with vertical clearance of 80 ft and one bascule bridge that stays open most of the time.  I bet they don't see a lot of sailboats at Hucks, though -- just a hunch.

[AdriftAtSea]

I would guess they probably don't. 

[CharlieJ]

Glad ya'll had a good trip and that we were of some help. Really sorry you didn't make it to Petit Bois. Maybe next time.

Actually there IS a way out of the channel from Pascagoula, out towards Round Island- puts you into water where you can sail. Unfortunately the markers are shown on the chart but when we were there in June, they were still missing save for one pile sticking up. We got through because we KNEW where it was, but I'm sure it wouldn't be a good thing to try without the knowledge. Of course, we had a course laid on for Biloxi, rather than across the sound, so that saved us MILES.

Lake Yazoo is one of our favorites along the gulf coast.

[Captain Smollett]

Glad ya'll had a good trip and that we were of some help. Really sorry you didn't make it to Petit Bois. Maybe next time.

It was a little disappointing to turn around, but with hindsight, I think it was the prudent thing.  I think we COULD have made it out there and back with plenty of daylight, but I figured why push it (and the crew - when I turned around, neither Becky nor Hunter was having much fun).  As someone said recently, with sailing it's about the journey not the destination.

Actually there IS a way out of the channel from Pascagoula, out towards Round Island- puts you into water where you can sail. Unfortunately the markers are shown on the chart but when we were there in June, they were still missing save for one pile sticking up. We got through because we KNEW where it was, but I'm sure it wouldn't be a good thing to try without the knowledge. Of course, we had a course laid on for Biloxi, rather than across the sound, so that saved us MILES.

Would that route be a SW turn at Mark 43?  That would be a good cut if heading West.  I don't recall seeing the markers there - at least the ones close to the channel.  Maybe they have not got them back up.

Lake Yazoo is one of our favorites along the gulf coast.

It's a great anchorage except for one thing - light.  Though I was sleeping with the companionway open, it did not bother me TOO much. But, there IS a lot of light from the shipyard.  Was it like that when you guys were there last?

One of the reasons I (re-) posted the chart detail was to remind everyone how great an anchorage it is.  It is a fully protected little harbor - anything coming from the SW would get blocked by Singing River Island that 'guards' the mouth of the channel leading back to the lake.  It's a great hole to file away.

[CharlieJ]

Right- the cut to the southwest. The markers were missing when we were there this year also, but LAST year they were there so we knew where to exit the channel.

I suppose the light was there. We sleep up in the Vee-berth which puts us somewhat further down and forward. We also hang a piece of canvas across the main cabin if the lights bother us. Can't recall this year because we arrived Pascagoula at dark, entered Lake Yazoo and anchored after dark and crashed. We were up and gone by 0530 the next morning.

[CapnK]

Good write-up, John. :) Sounds like the trip was a great success - you had a lot more "pros" than "cons", right?

I bet that I have dropped in status as Hunter's best friend, my former position taken over by a horse... ;D

Hey, I've seen that dinghy before, I think... ;)

[Captain Smollett]

Good write-up, John. :) Sounds like the trip was a great success - you had a lot more "pros" than "cons", right?

Absolutely!  I thought of a another, PRO, too:  12 mi/gal while towing the boat down.  May not sound like much, but I had thought I'd get less than 10.

I bet that I have dropped in status as Hunter's best friend, my former position taken over by a horse... ;D

The concept of "best friend" to a four year old is very fluid.  Not to worry.  She currently had about 16 best friends.  You are still on the list, and mentioned often, I can assure you.  :)

Hey, I've seen that dinghy before, I think... ;)

Yes, and thanks MUCH.  I am looking forward to the day that I can begin passing along equipment to folks just beginning their fitting out.  I did pass on that broken spotlight to my BiL.  ;D