Stormy Weather Wednesday (posted Thursday)

Still in Point Cadet Tuesday night It got windy around midnight from then in it just got worse. By 8AM a full storm was on lots of lightning and thunder, high winds from the SE shifting to NW and horizontal rain, lots of it. All the lines and fenders held up fine, though I did have to go out and readjust them when the wind shifted. About noon it got calm the sun, and gnats,  came out and the weather stayed nice till 8 PM when the wind picked up to about 20 MPH and has stayed like that.
Looks like it will be another day in port Thursday.
Not much else going on, did some boat projects and took a walk into town to have a look around not much but casinos and a few shops in this area.
Steve

Point Cadet Marina Biloxi MS windy day

   As was forecast the wind was very strong all day today. When we arrived here yesterday we were tied at the end of a dock near the bay entrance, when the southeast winds picked and pushed the waves into the marina we were bounced around pretty bad. First thing this morning I talked to the harbormaster and he let us move about 3 slips down from where we were, that has been a help!  I walked along the highway in front of the casino a few blocks away was a gas station and small nice marine hardware store. After lunch stayed on the boat all afternoon spent a lot of time rigging some new lines and adjusting fenders and docklines.   Steve

Seabrook Marina to Point Cadet Marina Biloxi, Mississippi

I brought the rental car to Enterprise's office at 7:30 they brought me back to the Marina and we were on the way by 8AM. It is cool, winds from the east about 10 K. We had one Railway bridge to go through to get to the Intracoastal it opened for a boat just ahead of us so no waiting. Just to the East of New Orleans there is a lot of work being done by Corps of Engineers contractors working on Levees, floodgates and seawalls.
There was quite a bit of commercial traffic on the waterway, tows pushing barges in various configurations   We are travelling in the Mississippi Sound, between the barrier islands and the mainland, today the seas were light about 1-2 feet we made good time travelling about 9.3 MPH instead of the usual 8 We had a long way, 80 miles, to go. I saw the first pod of dolphins of the trip this afternoon about 2:30  We arrived at Point Cadet Marina around 5PM. .  the weather forecast doen't look very promising for the next few days but we'll see how it looks in the morning to decide what we do, we might be here a couple of days, if the forecast is correct.

To see our location, the green arrow on this map click this link:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=30.38868,-88.86017&ll=30.38868,-88.86017&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

Gumbo at Seabrook Marina ready to cast off

Part of the seawall being constructed East of  New Orleans, you can gauge the height by
 comparing it to the dump truck and excavator.

A tow with a "six pack"  two columns of 3 barges lashed together, with the "towboat" pushing

Rabbit Island, this is a popular anchorage in fair weather, at the Rigolets,  35 miles east of New Orleans.

Biloxi's lighthouse on the beach

Testing link to Gumbo's location map

Click  here:    See Gumbo's location at the green arrow

Posted from home pics from Boomtown to Seabrook Marina

A morning shot just before we left Boomtown the two houseboats, tied side by side, were pretty close to us. The crews were nowhere to be seen I know they had a late night at the casino they were pretty loud when they boarded last night, must have been those free drinks!

This is one of my favorite structures in New Orleans, an old power plant just upriver of the city. It is in disrepair now but happily it seems it will be refurbished into an apartment/ shops complex. I hope they keep it as close to the original as possible especially keeping the two smoke stacks

OUCH! Looks like someone got a bit to close to the Crecent City Connection bridge support!

Gumbo in the travelift slings at the Seabrook Marina.

I won't have any posts for the next few days, I hope we will be on the way again Monday morning and will resume then.

Steve

Seabrook Marina

A tug at the levee Boomtown Casino it is a spot used for crew changes an easy spot to get on or off . We usually overnight at the "corner" in the foreground. Monday night two houseboats tied up next to us.















This is a huge pumping station being built near Lafitte Louisiana

Mothballed oilfield vessels, there are lots of these storage areas along the intracoastal











































Cattle along the Intracoastal







This is a Higgins Boat WII landing craft It belongs to the Houma museum. 31 soldiers would pack in for the ride to the hostile beach and charge down the fwd drop door. They were Brave Men!! It is kept in the Canal near our marina, Marsha's father trained to drive one during the war, he was on a ship to the Pacific when the Japanese surrendered,

About 9PM last night it was dead calm, the water in the Industrial Canal was like glass. Overnight the wind picked up to the forecast 10-15K.

The electrician knocked on the boat door right at 7AM with a new in box alternator as promised, I am very happy with the service at this yard. The alternator was installed in about 30 minutes I had a spare serpentine belt on board so he changed that out also, The old one was working well but was developing some small cracks.

I checked the weather forecast, it called for winds between 15 and 20 knots for the rest of the week with a strong front passing through Saturday. We thought the options over and decided to leave the boat at the marina, rent a car and drive home (60 miles) so we did just that and are home now. The plan is to leave home Sunday, mid afternoon, dodging the Mardi Gras parades, spend Sunday night on the boat at the marina, and get back to cruising Monday morning after returning the rented car.

Sorry the pictures re out of order. I haven't been posting since last may and a bit rusty on laying them out should get it right in a couple of days, same for the mapping info.

Steve

We got off to a good start this morning it was kind of windy but clear and cool. We left Boomtown at 7:30 and had locked through into the Mississippi a bit less than an hour later, then it was a quick trip downriver with the current helping us along. As we arrived at the Industrial Lock which lowers boats from the river (about 2 feet today usually it is more like 6' drop) The boats bow thruster stopped working. The bow thruster makes maneuvering the boat in close quarters or docking much easier so we decided to stop at a nearby Seabrook Marina near Lake Pontchartrain to have the problem fixed. The alternator has not been working well, so we had that checked too, a new one will be installed Wed. morning early (I hope). Then we will continue or trip East probably to Pass Christian tomorrow night.

I did do a little fishing, about 20 min., off of the marina dock this evening. I caught 4 Speckled Trout, 2 undersized, one about 14" another about 16" a very nice size. Didn't feel like cleaning them so relased them in good shape.

Still having problems uploading Pics and Map, as soon as possible I will have them on the site.

Steve