Over the
hills and through the woods, down through the mouth of the Mississippi River we
go. Three and half years building,
planning, screaming, and crying. (Guess which of us was doing which) The time
is here. Our house, business, and dogs taken care of, good-byes said more than
once. We are finally leaving the Harvey
Canal in good ole New Orleans, Louisiana USA behind. Elation and a little trepidation shadow us as
we traveled through the canal lock and out into the river.
One last phone
call to everyone letting them know it would be at least 5 days before we called
again. (I think they were tired of saying good-bye, once the party is over and
the barbecue gone that should be it!)
Our float
plan was to head to Venice, Louisiana find a marina spend the night for a fresh
start. The following morning make our way
into the Gulf of Mexico heading to Isla Mujeres, Mexico. After
ninety miles of river barge dodge and tanker roulette (the Mississippi is a very busy commercial waterway) we made it to Venice only
to find it had been hit fairly hard by hurricane Isaac the previous week. No marina available. Plan B: anchor in the Mississippi. I was thrilled over this change, possibly
feeling a kindred spirit to the characters Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer, planning
and dreaming of adventures to come. I
saw a bald eagle perched, waiting patiently as I tried to capture his moment on
film. A jolt of reality hit me. I was watching an American Bald Eagle,
representative of freedom and the American dream. Ironic we were leaving the
USA.
The first
night at anchor we experienced the three RRR’s of sailing; rock, roll, and
rain. How fun was that! All the nostalgia I felt at sunset evaporated
by 6 a.m. It is time to get to Mexico
and begin this journey. Weather forecast
called for 3 to 4 foot seas till mid afternoon.
Once out of the mouth of the
river and about 2 hours out into open water, my memory cells started kicking in
as to how much I did enjoy open blue water.
The rushing sound the hull has as the sails push us onward. Watching the bow breaking through the waves
can be mesmerizing.
Night fall
approaching, time to take turns standing watch.
Don gave some brief instructions for reading the radar and off to the
settee (couch) he goes. Well, this is a
walk down memory lane. Standing watch,
pitch black sky, lights littering the sea.
This part of the Gulf has multiple oil rigs that when lit can be seen
for miles. These and the shrimp boats make
for an exciting passage.
We had
sailed through this area 15 years ago. During
that time, on one star glittering night I was unable to tell the distance of a
boat, or if it even was a boat. I
awakened Captain Don repeatedly asking him to look. Finally he grumbled something about what
color are the lights, and I said I don’t know, but I can tell you what color
shirts they’re wearing. This of course
got him up! Turns out it was a shrimp
boat. Things like that will certainly
get your heart racing.
This trip
out, technology has vastly improved with our radar, auto pilot, and GPS
interconnected. I just had to watch the radar screen which has icons of boats or cloud mass at 2 mile intervals. It will even show you the direction the boats
are going, size and speed. Much
different than before when GPS was still new and had only been used by the
military. I had regained my sea legs
from earlier in the day, and was actually looking forward to my watch. Calm 2 foot seas, no high winds, just a clear
cloudless night and my thoughts. I
wonder what Isla Mujeres will be like this time around?
