Adventure Detour / Alternative

Howdy from the Middle East - Doha, Qatar!

As many of you are aware, John and I are spending the fall in Doha, Qatar.  I will be doing maternity relief work for my good friend Julie Barker whose daughter, Ava, is due next week and John will be teaching.  Both of these assignments are at the branch campus of Texas A&M University in Doha.  I arrived earlier this week, Monday evening, and started working on Tuesday.  :o)   John will arrive here early in August. 

The following are some snapshots of the view from the apartment.  I've also included some pictures of the three bedroom 2-1/2 bath interior.  The place is quite nice and there is plenty of room for visitors so please consider a trip to the region! 

View from apartment window - on the 29th floor.

Another view from apartment.

Living Room

Another view of Living Room

Dining Room

Kitchen

Spare Bedroom (the 2nd one has a queen size bed)

Master Suite Closet

Master Bedroom

Bathroom

Space Shuttle in Houston Ship Channel -what a way to end our 20 day trip!!!

Space Shuttle in Houston Ship Channel -what a way to end our 20 day trip!!! Posted: 01 Jun 2012 02:46 PM PDT After yesterday's failed attempt at returning to our home port due to the bridge being close from 0700 to 1700, we took no chances by getting an early start. We left Moody Gardens at 6:18 a.m. headed for the Galveston Causeway Railroad Bridge. This was not without some trepidation since I had tried unsuccesfully 4 times the night before to call the bridge keeper on the VHF radio... As we approached the bridge, it went down, but there clearly was a train on the causeway approaching the bridge.

Ultimately, we made it through the bridge and were finally on the last leg of our 20 day adventure.  The picture (left) shows the base of the SE (Galveston) side of the new bridge. The base of the new bridge is formed by vertical steel pilings. Once the base of the old bridge (red barge) is removed, the new channel will be 300 feet wide instead of the older and much more dangerous width of only 105 feet.

When we were about 4 miles from our turn from the ICW into the Houston Ship Channel, I noticed the unmistakeable silhouette of the space shuttle crossing our path up ahead... Sure enough. We had heard on the news last night that the shuttle was about to arrive in Galveston on its way to the Johnson Space Center. About the same time we heard the Coast Guard announcing that there was a 500 yard exclusion zone around the barge carrying the shuttle. We were going about 3 knots faster than the "shuttle" so we caught up to her entourage in the Ship Channel (picture above).

There were 3 tugs (one pulling, one pushing and a "spare") and at least 7 small Coast Guard boats forming the safety zone around the shuttle. We proceded to pass even though we were well within 500 yards by virtue of being in the Houston Ship Channel.

We were allowed to pass, but several of the patrol boats (photo to the left) kept between Lucky Us and the shuttle. Just a friendly reminder...

This really was pretty exciting! Neither of us had ever seen a shuttle launch, landing, etc., but this special opportunity was a pretty cool substitute!    

Here is yet another picture of the shuttle taken during our point of closest approach. I love this view of the shuttle complete with "UNITED STATES" in big bold letters on her side.

...and oh yes, we arrived safely back at our dock on Clear Lake about 2 hours later.  On the way from Galveston Bay into Clear Lake boats were starting to gather to watch the shuttle arrive along with seemingly dozens of patrol boats from several state agencies as well as various counties and cities.  There are 10,000 boats on Clear Lake, and quite a few of them were going to create a huge traffic jam. Personally, I just smiled to myself since we had already had our own special moment all alone with the shuttle.

     Well, that's it.  Our 20 day trip to Brownsville/Port Isabel consisted of 15 days with at least a few miles travelled on the water.  We covered about 800 miles and saw lots of beautiful scenery, wildlife, etc. Yes, we are happy to be home, but I am not at all sure that we were ready for the trip to end.  I guess that all is well.

Return trip from Port Isabel -Day 7 plans change...

The plan to head back home from HarborWalk Marina today got "derailed". -pun intended...  After hearing the weather forecasts this morning, we decided to head back early. We left the dock about 6:45 am, and about 15 minutes laer, we had exited the marina and were in the ICW headed East toward Galveston.  At this point we noticed the Galveston Causeway Railroad Bridge going down presumably to let a train pass.  Then the Coast Guard came on the radio to announce that the bridge was going to remain closed today from 0700 to 1700.  Well, there went the day!
A few minutes earlier and we would have made it through the bridge since we were only a little over 2 miles from the bridge. What to do? Well we decided to head to the Moody Garden's Resort and Convention Center. This is a fabulous resort with all sorts of amenities, including a small marina.  Plus, we were running short on food on the boat which suddenly became a concern since we were not going to get home for lunch or dinner or ??? We docked at Moody and unloaded our trusty scooters for a several hour trip to Wahlgreens drug Store, Tuesday Morning, Randall's Grocery Store and back to Wahlgreens to pick up 2 prescriptions for me. The Admiral prepared a wonderful (fresh) salad with hot BBQ chicken for lunch. After the hectic morning, a nap seemed in order, but the nap was quickly interupted by a half hour thunderstorm.  Another squall line moved through about an hour later. Then the sky cleared in fairly short order.  Under a beautiful blue sky, we walked up to the hotel for a very nice dinner followed by:

After dinner, we walked out to the pool and as you can see, magic happened. Well, we had worn our swim suits under our "dress" clothes.

     The pool was warm,and the whirlpool was even warmer...  A nice end to a day that was quite a bit different than we had planned.  Guess that's part of the equation - be flexible. After all, we are retired.

     Okay, so we will try again to set off for home in the morning.

Return trip from Port Isabel -Day 6

We are ever so slowly getting closer to home.  Today was another intentionally short day as we travelled from Freeport to HarborWalk Marina and Yacht Club. HarborWalk is on the mainland about 5 miles West of the I-45 causeway bridge into Galveston. The trip from Freeport only took about 3 1/2 hours so we arrived for a late lunch aboard Lucky Us.  The transient slips are along the pool complex between the yacht club and the marina store/fuel dock.

The picture on the left (above) shows Lucky Us docked stern first with the pool complex just behind.  The picture on the right (above) shows part of one of the two pools with Lucky Us barely visible to the upper left of the low, scrub palm tree. We spent 3+ hours enjoying the sun, warm water and even the whirlpool.  The last picture is of the Admiral and says it all - this retired life is pretty good!

Sadly our plan is to depart for home in the late morning after logging some pool time. There are some thunderstorms predicted for the Houston area for late tomorrow afternoon and evening so the option of staying here an additional day is probably not there...

Return trip from Port Isabel -Day 5

Today is Tuesday, May 29, and it is our fifth travel day on the trip back from Port Isabel to home. Today's trip from Port O'Connor to Freeport took just over 8 hours with once again excellent weather. This is one of the more scenic parts of the trip in terms of man made structures.

The Caney Creek Swing Bridge is one of two remaining between Galveston and Brownsville. We went through the other swing bridge in Port Isabel.

The two other man made "wonders" are the Colorado River Locks and the Brazos River Floor Gates. Due to the lack of flooding, both sets of locks were open, and we were able to get right through with no wait (knock on wood).

   We arrived in Freeport actually Surfside, which is across the ICW from Freeport on the Gulf of Mexico, showered and headed out to the Red Snapper Inn in Surfside for dinner. The picture above shows the Admiral on her electric scooter headed down the dock on the way to dinner. Personally, I get a big kick out of seeing the Admiral nicely dressed for a dinner out at a real restaurant and riding off on her "chopper"... 

   Later tonight we heard this loud engine noise and looked outside to see this:

It is a huge barge mounted drilling rig that was pulled by two tugs  and pushed by a third.  Hence, the loud noise as all three tugs were working very hard. You just never know what you are going to see... We were very grateful that this huge tow passed us while we were safely docked for the night rather than while we were out cruising the ICW as it would have been a tight fit for passing.



Return trip from Port Isabel -Day 4

After four nights in Rockport, it was finally time to continue our homeward journey. We left the Rockport Yacht Club at 8:00 am and headed over to Key Allegro Island Marina for fuel (and a pumpout of the holding tank). That done we set off toward the ICW to continue on to Port O'Connor.  Beautiful weather all the way! We were obviously still "recovering" from our wonderful cruise with the grandkids. Terry, claims that she does not take naps, beat me to the punch after lunch when she announced that she was going down below to "lie down". It could not have been a nap, but she did sleep for over an hour (women???).  We had a relaxing evening and were asleep by 10:00.

Today's picture is of me (John) doing some "Captain Stuff".  I include this not out of vanity but out of ...frustration (I guess).  There were 40 plus pictures from the trip with the grandkids. I was in only 2 of them, and in both of those pictures, I was cut off above about mid-chest...  Now, lest any of you forget what I look like - here is a picture of me...

Extra, Extra, Read All About It...

Yesterday was supposed to be our third and final "lay day" in Rockport, but...

When we realized that our grandkids (and their parents) were spending the Memorial Day weekend only 15 miles away in Port Aransas, we offered to provide a "Dolphin Watching" trip on Lucky Us. We arrived in Port A about 9:30 amidst great excitement. There was another couple with their 2 kids (ages 2 & 4). Talk about busy! There were 5 kids between the ages of 7 weeks and 4 years. 

In the picture on the left (above) Bob is holding a sleeping Katie (age 7 weeks), and yes, when she was outside, she wore her infant life vest! The vest was a little tight under her chin, but she slept through most of her first ride on Lucky Us.

A little dolphin watching from the flying bridge. The dolphins were not very cooperative, but the watchers were enthusiastic anyway.

What a happy "pilot" (Granddaughter Sarah in photo to left).  Except for Katie, all of the kids had plenty of opportunities to steer the boat. I just turned on the autopilot, and then the kids could turn the wheel all they wanted, and we kept going in a straight line.  Wonderful invention that autopilot...

     After dropping everyone off back at Port Aransas, The Admiral and I had a delightful lunch as we motored back to Rockport for the night. It was early to bed with a LONG nights sleep for the grandparents! Grandchildren are an absolutely great gift, but they are tiring!!!

Return trip from Port Isabel -Day 3

After a nice day off (lay day) in Port Aransas, we set out from Port Aransas for our next destination - Rockport. Our lay day included scooter trips to the beach to swim and have lunch as well as out to dinner. I was the only one brave enough to test the surf with 25 knot winds... Probably not one of my best choices, but the water was warm...

The second picture shows one of the electric scooters loaded with a bag of swim gear and lunch -let's not forget lunch! We did find a nice sheltered spot for lunch along the ship channel in from the Gulf of Mexico.

Normally, we would have stayed another day in Port Aransas to wait for the winds of up to 29 knots to subside, but the trip to Rockport is short with only about 18 nm on our chosen route.  We were in the Intra-Coastal Waterway (in a "ditch" or dredged channel) for all but about 3 miles so we were pretty protected from the wind and waves. However, the last three miles were in Aransas Bay which is wide and open with pretty good sized waves.  Lucky Us handled the waves with no problem, but the dingy, which we store on the swim platform did shift somewhat precariously... Fortunately, there was no serious problem. but we will be rethinking the dingy storage and tie-down once again. Well, this is sort of an extended shake down cruise after all.

We plan to spend three nights in Rockport before we continue our homeward journey. This retirement thing is pretty good...  We do not have any reason to rush!

Return trip from Port Isabel -Day 2

Another early start! We left the dock at Port Mansfield at 6:25 am enoute to Port Aransas. It is about 88 nm  and took us almost 11 hours.  The big event of the day was being boarded and inspected by the Coast Guard.

They told me to maintain course and speed although I did slow all the way down to 6 knots from our "break neck" cruising speed of nearly 8 knots... The inspection took about 15 minutes, which was enough time for 3 of them to be fairly thorough. They separated both of us by leaving me at the helm while the Admiral showed them around. I answered "no" to the question about firearms on board, but I then qualified that by adding that we do have a flare gun (for signalling distress). Technically it is a firearm since it fires a flare that is the same size as a 12 gauge shotgun shell.  That perked their interest enough to want to examine it. The flare gun lives in the "Emergency-abandon ship-ditch bag". When they left, they put the ditch bag in the aft cockpit away from us.  They said that we could take it back to the upper helm where we were AFTER they were gone... Obviously, they do consider it to be a "firearm" and took caution. The picture shows the Captain displaying our copy of the inspection. 

     After putting the boat to sleep, we rode our electric scooters to a great seafood restaurant that the Admiral had found. Great way to end a long day on the water.

    The photo shows Lucky Us resting comfortably at our very good floating, concrete dock. A nice looking condo that faces the main shipping channel is in the background. Tomorrow is a "lay day" when we plan to relax in and around Port Aransas before continuing our homeward journey.

Return from Port Isabel Day 1

After 2 nights in Port Isabel, we decided to start a slow trip home. On our extra day in Port Isabel, there was shopping, some work on the boat, a dingy ride and a really fine dinner out.

We stopped at the first fuel dock that we passed.  Wow, diesel fuel for $3.39.9...  We have not seen diesel that cheap in ages so we pretty much filled up. We have 4 fuel tanks with sight gauges only so the measurements are not all that accurate, but a quick calculation determined that we could take on 220 gallons without over filling any of the tanks...  It was a little bit of sticker shock when I paid, but we can travel quite a distance before we need to fill up again...

We left about Noon after having to wait for nearly an hoour for a bridge that only opens "on the hour" during the week. The first picture is Lucky Us docked at the T-head (end of the pier). We stopped at the same marina on the way out and their regular docks were too narrow (although we did squeeze in). We took our electric scooters out to tour the town after dinner.  There were deer everywhere! Herds of 10 to 20 in vacant lots with scattered deer elsewhere. No wonder the locals have 6 foot high deer fences around their gardens.

Tomorrow we plan a long day back to Port Aransas, but if we spy a nice anchorage along the way, well, who knows...

Trip to Brownsville Day 6 -on the water

The "Welcome" to the area is provided by the sight of the bridge over the Intra-Coastal Waterway from Port Isabel to Padre Island.

The ICW goes under the bridge and then bends to the right (West). After the bend, the ICW becones a cut channel and one of the first sights is another swing bridge. This one is bright yellow...

Here we go... The bridge is a yellow barge that pivots on one end and is pulled open/closed by cables. The bridge swung away from us, and we are about to pass through the opening.  Great fun!

We arrived and were docked by 1:30 pm.  After checking in with the marina office it was time for a nap for the Captain.  No nap for the Admiral as she was busy doing things that Admirals do???

     What better way to end the day than with shopping in some local "arty" stores followed by dinner with the pirate himself?

Trip to Brownsville Day 5

Port Arthur to Port Mansfield (long day/early start; 88 nm or about 100 miles)
In nearly 6 years of boating on Lucky Us, we were boarded today for the first time. Personally, I think that they thought that the Admiral looked "suspicious". The Texas Parks and Wildlife Ranger was very courteous and left quickly after checking life preservers and the registraton (sticker).

There were many dolphin along the ICW, and they "played" both in the bow wave and along side. They are difficult to photograph, but the Admiral spent a lot of time watching them play. She did capture their antics in the attached video...

http://youtu.be/HiWbgOHpHeU

We arrived in Port Mansfield, TX after our longest ever one day's run of 88 nm (or about 100 miles). The marina only had small transient slips. So we managed to fit the boat into a slip that is only 9 (nine) inches wider than the boat (see picture). As you can see, we actually overhang the dock at midships, and of course, the stern is sticking out about 10 feet.. We would hope to never do this again!!!

At the end of the day we did have a really good dinner, which can make everything look better...

Trip to Brownsville Day 4

We got to Port A. about 1:00 pm. One of our nicest days on the water ever!. It was a short day with only 14 nm plus a stop as we left Rockport for fuel and a pumpout. After tying up and checking in at the marina, I took a nap for about an hour. Then we took the electric scooters and toured the area.

    
They are lots of entrances to drive on the beach along the Gulf of Mexico side of the barrier island. The tires on the scooters are narrow - about the width of a moutain bike tire. However, the sand was damp and very well packed so we went about a mile along the beach.



Then we went into two souvenir stores and one hardware store. As you can see, I was nearly eaten by a shark at one of the souvenir stores...

     At the hardware store I bought a nut and lock washer for 27cents.  We had yet another "event" this morning where the ground wire on the starter on the starboard engine was loose. When I went to tighten the nut on the ground wire, the old lock washer fell off in several pieces.

The Admiral had to stop on the beach to do some wading.

      We are docked at a marina in a small harbor just to the left as you exit the ferry from the mainland. Across this harbor there are 4 or 5 nice looking waterfront restaurants. We had dinner in one, and then as we were just about back to the boat, the battery on my scooter started to die... I got slower and slower until I was hardly moving at all when we reached the boat. The manual for the scooter says "up to 12 mile range"... So I guess that we really had seen a lot of the area even if not quite 12 miles. We could easily spend several days here in Port Aransas, and perhaps we will on the way back.

     Tomorrow we plan to leave the dock at 6:00 am since it is about 88 nm to Port Mansfield... The marina where Terry wants to stay has a pool which would seem nice after a long day on the water.

trip to Brownsville -Day 3

In spite of predictions of a 40% chances of rain for the entire day, we had a delightful, dry trip from Port O'Connor to Rockport. It is "only" 45 nm so we were docked at the Rockport Yacht Club by 2:00 pm.  Our route went along the Aransas National Wildlife Refure where the whooping cranes winter, but unfortunately they had already headed North. We have passed through here in the winter, and the "Whoopers" are a truly magnificent sight!

Rather sadly we will lose our able crew member Jim Gould (Terry's Dad) as Rockport is home. Tomorrow will be a day of rest and relaxation before we continue on to Brownsville.

Cruise to Brownsville

On Sunday, May 13 we departed from our dock on Clear Lake at 8:00 am for a vacation/longer shakedown cruise. Terry' father (Jim Gould) joined us for the first few days until he gets home to Rockport.

Day 1.  After 6 inches of rain on Thursday and again on Friday, the weather turned very good for our departure on Sunday. Our route was down Galveston Bay to Galveston where we entered the Gulf Intra Coastal Waterway to head South and West to Brownsville at the U.S.-Mexico Boarder.  We stopped for the first night in Freeport for a daily run of almost 70 nautical miles.  We celebrated Mother's Day by taking Admiral Terry out to the Seafood Restaurant.  It was about a mile to the restaurant so Terry rode her bike while Jim and I followed on the electric scooters.

Day 2. This can be an interesting day because we must cross two major rivers.  When these rivers flood, they can send enough sediment into the ICW (that is the Intra Coastal Waterway) to block the waterway.  To prevent this situation, the Corps of Engineers has installed flood gates across the ICW at the Brazos River, and actual locks on either side of the Colorado River.  When there is no flooding, the gates/locks are left open and traffic is normal.  When the river floods, they are closed and long delays result as barges are locked through one barge at a time....

     I went on line the night before to check the status of the rivers.  No flooding, but the Brazos Flood Gates were going to be closed for 12 hours starting at 7:00 am.  The picture above is a pre-sunrise view back at

Freeport as we departed at 5:40 am in order to cross the Brazos River before 7:00 am.  THIS IS NOT my idea of a fun day with a start this early, but it was necessary to avoid "wasting" a day. 

The next photo shows us lined up to transit the lock on the east side of the Colorado River. The gates were open, and all we had to do was wait for any traffic inside the lock to exist before we could enter.The last photo shows us putting the Colorado River Locks in the rear view mirror.  Althought neither river was in flood stage, there are eddies where the flowing river water passes the stationary water in the lock.  These eddies trap logs and sticks from the river. At one point we had to gun the engines, then quickly put them in neutral as we "crashed" through one of these swirling eddies of debris...  The boat pushes the smaller pieces of wood aside, but it is not a pleasant sound to hear a long log bouncing along under the keel! Fortunately, we came through this experience with no damage.  All in all, it was a beautiful weather day, and we coverd nearly 70 miles on the way to Port O'Connor where we are spending the night.  On the way into the town, Terry sat on the bow and leaned over to watch dolphin surfing in our bow wave. As she put it, she was totally mesmerized by this experience...

First (of many?) shakedown cruise

Arrived in Galveston about 5:30 pm after a leisurely 4 hour cruise from Clear Lake. The engine break-in consists of varying the RPM every half hour or so.  Glorius weather with a high temperature of about 72F, and the skies cleared to be nearly cloudlees by arrival.  HOWEVER, there was a sometimes bothersome 19 knot North wind, which was never from quite dead astern. We got a nice push to add to our speed, but the waves shoved us around some. We rode our scooters about a mile to have dinner at Fisherman's Wharf downtown. Great seafood and a colorful sunset view from our waterfront table (see picture). Boat ran very well, but I found myself nervously checking the gauges far more often than necessary...

The shakedown cruise ended with a relaxing cruise back to our home on Clear Lake.  I should qualify that to be uneventful trip with respect to the engines. Since the installation of the new autopilot in January, the steering has become increasingly less responsive.  Specifically, the wheel should make about 9 full revolutions from lock to lock.  Before the cruise to Galveston, we filled the reservoir in the hydraulicc steering with fluid.  The hope/thought was that there had been air in the system after the installation of the pump for the aautopilot.  No luck since the problem persisted, and we found a small pool of fluid beneath the hydraulic cylinder that actuall pushes/pulls the rudders.  Fortunately, the cylinder could be rebuilt with hew seals.  The bottom line is that this has solved the problem.The photo shows the cylinder (brass colored) with new hoses (black).