Yesterday was a very stressful day so it was an early evening for us, especially knowing that we may not have a restful night with tows going by all night long. We did rock and roll a little and we also had some light boats (boats without their tows) that pulled in behind us throughout the night. I guess they wanted to gamble!
Departure time was at 7:00 AM and getting off the wall was easy. Today was major lock and bridge day and the first lock (Harvey Lock) was a piece of cake. The lockmaster was nice, very friendly and helpful. He had us in and out in no time. The rise was about 2 1/2 feet.
Down the Mississippi we went! We had a little chop as the wind was blowing on our nose making it a pleasant ride except that Josh started sneezing and sneezing. We must have gone through a high pollen area! Time for an allergy pill!
The second lock (Industrial Lock) did not go so well. This lockmaster must not have been a boater. He wanted all five of us to tie up to a dock on the side of the lock until the tow that was in the lock came out (check out the pictures below). More Good Timin' went up to the dock and disappeared. We were thinking "you want us to do what"? We did not understand why we just could not hang out in the Mississippi River until the tow came through. The lockmaster said he needed us tied up so he could get us in right after the tow came out along with a light boat. Duh! It took us longer to untie and get off the dock than it would have if we had just stayed in the Mississippi circling around. We are not boats that can maneuver easily, we only have one engine! At this lock they pass down a line for you to attach your line to and they then attach your line to the top. This was not a fast process! The Lockmaster also wanted some of us to tie up together (raft) before we even had a line to hold on to. This is not going real well! After the gates opened they untied us from the back to the front, which I didn't understand. That's backwards! We had to float around waiting for the front boats to move out. Out of the lock, though the bridge and on to the next bridge where we had to wait until they lowered the first bridge (both bridges cannot be open at the same time). We circled around waiting for a tow who was pushing an empty and not controlling it too well to go through the bridge by the lock so they could shut that one and open the next one for us. We now are through that bridge and onto the next. This bridge only needed to be opened for the sailboats. We fit under without needed a raise. We did not realize that no one mans this bridge. You must call a number that is posted on the bridge and someone will come out to open it. The sailboats circled around waiting while the power boats headed on to the marina (Pontchartrain Landing).
Do you think Ron's life vest is a little too small!
This is a big boat "Yacht" shipyard!
Pontchartrain Landing has changed! They added more rental houses. The five
of us are scattered around the marina. We are here for several days so
we can rest up, do laundry, resupply some food items and visit downtown New
Orleans for beignets by the river!
We all gathered for happy hour at 5:00 PM!
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