We departed the City Dock at Morgan City at 7:50 am and headed for Intracoastal City, which is a distance of 64.9 miles west on the waterway. The picture at the right shows Lucky Us at the City Dock in at night, but no we did not leave when this picture was taken. We actually left a few minutes later when the Sun was more or less already up... Our first move was to go down river two miles and pass under the same railroad bridge that we passed through when we arrived yesterday. Once again, the bridge was in the open position. Then we heard the most amazing call over the VHF radio: "Attention all stations. Coast Guard Houston-Galveston Sector," repeats, etc. One more sign that we are getting closer to home. We did not know it, but the Houston-Galveston Sector goes as far east as Intracoastal City, LA.
The day was the same as many others in the waterway in many respects, but what did stand out was the large amount of barge traffic. We passed 8 barges going in our direction. Each time we pass a barge, it takes about 15 minutes, and of course, sometimes we also have to wait for oncoming barges to pass or for a barge to pass a bend in the waterway. The 15 minutes starts when we have gotten to within 200 feet and call the barge to request a pass and have them suggest a side to pass on. Then at a speed differential of about 2 mph or less we start the pass. It is kind of like watching grass grow as we are only going a couple of feet per second faster. We also passed at least 2 dozen tows going in the opposite direction.
We also passed a drilling barge that had either just come out of or was about to go into a small cut on the side of the waterway. We have passed many of these that were in transit or in storage, but seeing one set up to drill was a first. One of the reasons for the seemingly higher barge traffic was all of the oil production. We went by several (small?) oil fields that had small tank farms along the waterway. They were probably small fields that could not justify the expense of a pipeline.
We passed another area that I nicknamed "jack up city" because of the large number of jack up barges that were stored there. There must have been a road nearby, but otherwise we were seemingly out in the middle of no where. The barges all had a good sized crane and could operate in perhaps 100 feet of water, which might imply the shallow shore off the coast.
The last "different" barge was the "
spool". Way back when I was in grad school, one of the prized items of furniture in any single guys apartment was the "spool". An old, empty wire spool could often be had for free, and with a diameter of about 4 feet it filled up a lot of space in an otherwise empty living space (e.g. a couch , chair and a "spool"). The spool served for eating, cards, sitting, etc. Of course, a spool this big (picture at left) would not fit in a small apartment. However, I would like to have a house big enough to comfortably fit this spool in the living room.
Despite a general lack of forested areas today, there was an abundance of eagles (i.e. more than 10). It is kind of like a "Chinese fire drill" when the Admiral spots and eagle. She tries to reach for both the binoculars and the big camera at the same time. Of course, they are never in the same place so the drill begins...
The last item on the cool view list for today was the Weeks Island Salt Dome. I had not been paying attention, but a sign for Weeks Island helped jog the old memory. We had stayed 12 miles up a channel at Delcambre, LA for several days on the trip out. At that time we did a lot of touring, and we had no plans to go 12 miles out of our way (and back) on our trip home. Weeks Island is another salt dome like Avery Island near Delcambre. Likewise, it is also a low, flat topped island that is heavily forested. So, in spite of the low relief the islands show up from a long distance away. The picture at the left shows the shipping terminal for the salt that is mined here. Admittedly, this is not a scenic view, but it serves as a reminder of the large volume of salt that is mined here annually. There is also oil and gas produced from up turned beds around the dome, but that product is probably shipped via pipeline.
We reached our destination a little after 4 pm. We stayed on the wall at a fuel stop for tugs, towboats and work boats. They were already closed for the day when we arrived, but since it is a commercial oriented facility, they open at 6:00 am when the work boats begin to head out. There are literally no other amenities here. Not even a gas station. So, we had dinner on board and enjoyed excellent satellite TV reception. I did not take a picture of the docking area since I thought that we would stop for fuel on our way out in the morning. If you are thinking ahead, the odds are that there will be no picture tomorrow either. Hint: I'm betting that the Admiral is going to "suggest" a departure before 6:00 am since tomorrow is a potentially very long day.... Stay tuned.
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