Day 14 Nawlins to Biloxi, MS

   When we got back to the boat last night, both air conditioning units were off and had error messages on their control consoles. After a "short" diagnosis, we discovered that a sea water cooling pump was "failing".  The two heat pump units require sea water to be pumped through them in order to heat or cool.  When either heat pump turns on, it also start a pump that circulated the water through them.  The rubber diaphram that is alternately pushed and pulled to provide the pumping action is wearing out. Fortunately, the pump still pumps enough water to run the smaller heat pump that cools the master stateroom. Thus, we had a good nights sleep last night and will again tonight. However, we need to replace the pump before long...  So, we extended our run from New Orleans to make is all 83 miles to Biloxi, Mississippi. We called ahead, West Marine has the pump in stock, and they are holding it for us to pick up in the morning.
     Now, back to today's trip. We left the marina a little before 9:00 am after the holding tank was pumped out.  Almost immediately we had to call the L&N railroad bridge for an opening. The day was obviously off to a very good start when the bridge opened without our having to even slow down. The even better news was that was the only bridge (or lock) required for today's trip.
    Our only real "odd" view for the day was passing this huge barge.

The barge was pulled by a tug (left), pushed by a tug (right) and held straight in the strong cross winds by the tug in the center.  It was going very slow as it was so tall that the cross winds must have made it very difficult to control.  My only thought was that it looks like a mobil "Super 8 Motel" with drive under parking...

     After about 2 hours we left the more forested Mississippi Delta behind and returned to more grassy coastal plain.  It's all "swamp" of a kind, but the scenery and vegetation are quite different.  We also enterred a section of the Intracoastal Waterway where the channel is out in a wide bay between the shore and offshore barrier islands.  The barrier islands are often 5 or more miles offshore so the waterway is not well protected from waves. Thus, the last 8 hours of the just over 10 hours that we were underway today were spent in waves that averaged 2 1/2 feet but ranged up to 4 feet. Lucky Us is big enough to handle those waves pretty well, but we do have to hang on at times and certainly be careful when moving about or going up/down the fly bridge ladder. We both have safety lines that are about 5 feet long with stainless steel carabiners on both ends. We have a safety line that runs along the deck of the fly bridge and down the ladder to the salon door on the aft deck. We also hold on to railings, etc. when it is rough.  So far, this system works well. Thus, a day like today turns out being more physically tiring than you realize at the time.  In other words, getting out of bed tomorrow may be more difficult than usual...

   However, the sky was beautiful all day, and I will close with a picture taken of the sky/water behind Lucky Us as we arrived in Biloxi.

On this Memorial Day, we say thanks!