10/30/2012 – Tuesday – New Orleans

It’s still too windy to leave so our new departure date will be tomorrow.  I think we’ve all had enough of New Orleans!!!!!  We will spend the day getting our boats ready (fuel, water, maybe a load of laundry and etc…).  Josh is going to do a load of laundry and I am going to clean the inside of the boat.  Boy it was dusty!  The RV park where we are docked has dirt roads and with all the wind that we have had for several days the boat is covered inside and out with dust.  I hope tomorrow will be as nice or nicer than today for our trip though the Mississippi sound to Gulfport (about 6 hours of open water with no protection).

 

10/29/2012 – Monday – New Orleans play day

Had another windy, bouncy ”line screeching” night again.  The wind will just not stop blowing.  If you look through the Seabrook railroad bridge when it is in the up position into Lake Ponchartrain you can see big waves and whitecaps.  Not a good sign!  Barry and Barb on S/V Morning Star and Mike and Renee on S/V Faith were going to head out to Gulfport today but it’s just too windy.  They hope to leave tomorrow or the next day with us when the winds decide to cooperate.  We are all going to take the bus into town for a farewell outing.  Al and Kay on S/V Cambria and Ron and Linda on S/V Agoode Ketch will be renting a car tomorrow to drive back home for prior commitments.  Not sure what their plans are or if we will meet up with them again.  Last Trade, Morning Star, Faith and Awesome 1 will carry on east.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10/28/2012 – Sunday - New Orleans play day

Today is still very windy but the sun is out.  We road our bikes to the grocery store for one last time before we head out towards Gulfport on Tuesday. We filled the water tanks and put away the bikes getting ready for Tuesday morning’s departure.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10/27/2012 – Saturday - New Orleans play day

The front came through during the middle of the night so we woke up to a windy, cold and cloudy day.  A good day to just chill - and that’s just what we did!

10/26/2012 – Friday - New Orleans play day

All 12 of us took the 10:00 AM bus into the French Quarter again and started off with coffee and beignets at the famous Café du Monde.  That afternoon we split up and Josh and I walked all over Bourbon Street, the waterfront, the farmer’s market, Jackson Square, the church and saw lots of sights!!!!!!!!  When we got to the area where boys like boys we weren’t sure if the guy dancer was winking at me or Josh……  By 4:00 we had enough of the French Quarter and took the bus back to the boat.

10/25/2012 – Thursday - New Orleans play day

The day started off with all of us doing laundry, a bike ride to the grocery store and then taking the bus into the French Quarter to sightsee and have dinner.  What a place for people watching!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10/24/2012 – Wednesday - Lafitte to New Orleans (Pontchartrain Landing)

This is our big day!  We have two locks and seven bridges to go through so we headed out around 7:15 AM to arrive at the first bridge for the first opening after the blackout time.  Some of the bridges around New Orleans have blackout ( or “no open” for boats) during rush hours.  The Harvey Lock was the first lock we had to go through.  The lock master was very nice and informative.  We all tied to the wall, rose up a little and exited with no problems.  Now it’s down the Mississippi river for about 5 miles past downtown New Orleans to the Industrial Lock.    Several barges were waiting to go through so we had to bob around in the Mississippi until they were ready for us.  Last Trade was first to enter again with Awesome 1 and then all the sailboats.  Awesome 1 was instructed to raft to us while I was holding our boat to a lock bollard.  This was fun!  Thank god we have bow and stern thrusters!!!   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10/23/2012 – Tuesday - Houma to Lafitte

We all pulled out of Houma around 8:00 AM after waiting for a long tow to go by.  After several debates on where to stay in Lafitte, Josh talked to a developer and he said we could use his canal.  The only problem was that he did not tell us that power lines hung over the front of each canal.  Oh No, what to do now?  We tried to pull up to the city park docks but the water was too shallow.   The only other option was to head to Boomtown Casino (another two hours away).  Barry came to the rescue!  Right beside the subdivision was a commercial “houseboat” barge tied to a bulkhead and a gentleman was standing watching us.  Barry asked if we could tie up for the night and he said yes.   Those of us heading to Boomtown did a turn-a-round and we all settled in for the night.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10/22/2012 – Monday - Houma play day

What a great town!   We started off heading over to the Hospital around 8:00 AM for breakfast and free Wi-Fi.  After that, some of us unloaded our bikes and road all over town exploring.  We found a hardware store for Barry that is almost as good as Home Depot.  We all then decided to go out for a late lunch/early dinner.  We headed out around 2:30 only to find out that most restaurants close at 2:30 and reopen around 5:00 PM.   A lady leaving a restaurant  told us that she thought a place named Cristiano’s was open and provided us with directions.  We all had a great meal and then, to top it off, we all stopped by the Scarlet Scoop Ice Cream parlor on our way back to the boats for dessert.  Josh and I each had one scoop of what they affectionately named “oil spill” and neither one of us could finish it.  Boy, was it rich and made us totally uncomfortable!  We never should have had the ice cream, too much food.