June 14 - 15, 2016 Lake Charles to Home

June 14 - Lake Charles to Taylor Outfall - When we went out to take Teak for her walk before heading out we noticed that a small boat had sunk during last night's storm.  We're not surprised because these docks really rock when the wind picks up.  Some of the docks have detached from the main dock and bounce up and down separately with the wave action.  The only reason they do not float away is because the piling at the end of the dock is holding them in.  We were lucky to have a big boat docked on the outside blocking much of the wave action coming off the lake.

Around 7:30 am we untied from the dock and headed out to Taylor Outfall. 

Good size log floating down the ICW

It was getting a little windy, around 18/20 knots, with whitecaps and a good chop on Sabine Lake.

Anchored at Taylor Outfall

We have been running the generator and AC non stop from the time we left Pensacola with no problems but when I put our dinner in the microwave at 6:00 pm everything stopped!  Josh and I looked at each other and said NO............! we need the AC!  Josh tried to start the generator again and it would not start.  He looked at me and said we might have to go to SPAM (Sabine Port Authority Marina) to plug in to shore power.  I didn't want to do this because it's one of my least favorite places to dock.  He switched the fuel filters and checked the generator, then tried starting it for the third time and around 6:20 it started.  No more microwave tonight!  Everything was fine with just the fans and AC going. We hoped it would stay that way all through the night.

When we anchored the wind was blowing around 17 knots and we had to set the anchor twice.  After dinner we started to move in the opposite direction from the wind and waves.  This was strange!  The only thing we could think of was that they opened the flood gates at the end on the bayou.  Josh said around 11:00 pm we drifted back with the wind and waves.  

June 15 - Taylor Outfall to Laguna Harbor / Home - This was the first time that we ran the generator and AC all night so we really did not get a good night's sleep.  At 6:45 am we pulled up anchor and headed out to Laguna Harbor for a good night's sleep with shore power.  We arrived at Laguna Harbor at 1:30 pm, hooked up power and were relaxing when the AC and fans started to go off and on.  Not good!  We changed power outlets and after a while it started doing it again.  Josh saw the voltage spike at 150 volts! We really did not want to go the rest of the way home with the wind and wave action on Galveston Bay but at 3:00 pm we decided to head out for home.  Yup - we rocked and rolled all the way and arrived in our slip at 6:00 pm.  It was good to be home with good power.  Our friend E.J. put together a welcome home happy hour for us after we settled in.  

Yup, we are back in Texas!

Pretty good wind and chop

Unbelievable!  Did someone get the message?  This area became quite dangerous with tows disconnecting from their barges and pushing them up against the banks from the side, limiting access through the channel and creating dangerous prop wash across the ICW.  Take a look! The tows are attached and parallel to the shore and we did not have to dodge all their prop wash. Let's hope this continues.......

Home sweet home!  Back in our slip. We have the proof that we've been traveling with that nasty bow "moustache".  After we get settled the boat get a good cleaning!

The best parts of traveling by boat are the things that you see and the people that you meet.  Lasting friendships are made with continued communication with some, and others when you run into them again in the future.  Our next trip will be in October when we take the boat to Port Aransas.  No more summer cruising! Too Damn hot!