Anyone traveling from Galveston toward the MS gulf coast any time soon

ulysses said:

Cardude01: there are plenty of places to get outside between Houma and Rockport. If you are single-handing it though and traveling at night the numerous rigs make it difficult to take a nap.

Click to expand...

I wasn't really planning on traveling at night. Is it not worth it going outside with all the rigs?

rardoin said:

At Intracoastal City you can hang to port at Freshwater Bayou...about 17mi to gulf...plenty of draft but one lock about a mile from the coast. Freshwater lock is an easy one and on an outgoing tide they usually have it open. You will have about a 125mi run to the Galveston channel. If you go out of Calcasieu Ship channel you are about 75mi away.

Click to expand...

I can't do that 125nm in the daylight at 7 knots. Don't want to go overnight by myself. Can't stay awake.

Is the Calcasieu ship channel a pretty straightforward inlet? 75nm sounds good.

The rigs are no problem at night provided you have RADAR. However, I would not singlehand a run that long at night. I have run out 125+ miles for bluewater fishing tournaments and usually we ran at night to get on the grounds by morning. We always ran in 2 hour shifts as the constant scanning of the forward view>RADAR>Nav>gauges>forward view etc. gets fatiguing after a couple of hours.

On another note the Calcasieu ship channel has a controlling depth to 40ft and several areas to anchor off the old river oxbows. Very easy well marked/lighted channel. Could probably tie off overnight at the now defunct, and rather infamousPoagie docks on the west side about 1 mile up from the jetty.

Rardoin: I won't say it did not involve women, but mainly a small single wide bar/poolroom located close to the river getting snatched off its cement blocks and yanked to the river's edge with a towline by a tow boat after a major altercation. They never found the towboat.

Now that tale would be worthy of a thread hijack:lol:

Cardude....the rigs pose no problems during day travel. I would not, however, set the autopilot and take a nap.

rardoin said:

Cardude....the rigs pose no problems during day travel. I would not, however, set the autopilot and take a nap.

Click to expand...

Understood. Thanks.

So if the weather is good, is it a good idea to jump outside at Calcasieu to Galveston? Never been in this part of the ICW so don't know what I would be missing. I've driven through Orange and Beaumont however, and it's not super scenic.

Orange, Beaumont, and Port Arthur are somewhat industrialized with supporting facilities, refineries, service vessels, etc...There is a U.S. Navy semi-ready fleet anchored up the Neches R. a mile or two, its pretty cool. The rest of the way west is mostly a canal through marsh. High Island with its bridge links Bolivar to the mainland. Bolivar changes pretty often based upon Hurricanes then you are in the Bay. So there is not a great deal to see. If you fish there is usually some lurking near the rigs if you go outside.

I realize I'm hijacking this poor thread for my own benefit, but more questions keep coming up.

Should I rig up some fender boards for this of NOLA ICW trip? I keep reading about places to dock where fender boards are needed.

How do yall rig these up? PVC?

I even saw some pics of folks using them in the locks I think.

Cardude, you will be West bound from N.O. and I use big fenders so never felt the need for fender boards although those look pretty effective (and cool). The only thing worth visiting in Beaumont is us

Ha! I need to get a better compass!

Did you go outside any on your trip or stay inside the entire time?

What's a good first stop from Houma? Morgan City?

We stayed inside the whole way as we had 20 knot winds every dang day, from Gulfport on. Morgan city is an easy run from Houma and we were averaging 10mph so elected to continue to Shell Morgan/Intracoastal City. It was a LONG day! I believe most people elect to stay in Morgan City on slower boats and split the leg.

Follows notes I sent to a friend acouple of years ago:
"here are some notes of the trip we made to Kemah (Houston) spring of 2006. We were in the Camano then so cruised quite a bit faster than we do now.
Day 1 - Departed Houma mile 57 West of Harvey Lock @ 6:30 AM arrived mile 147 WHL, Bayou Petit Anse, Weeks Island, @ 6:30 anchored in Bayou bow and stern anchors to keep out of channel - 92 miles
Day 2 - Departed Petit Anse @7:30 took on fuel at Shell Morgan @ mile 160 transited Leyland Bowman lock @mile 164 Anchored at the Oxbow on Mermentau River north of mile 202 @ 4:30 62 miles
Day 3 - Departed Oxbow @7:30 arrived Shell Is. at mile 271 anchored @ 4 pm 70 miles
Day 4 depart Shell Is. 8:00 am arrived Stingaree Marina mile 337 arr. 3:45 - 66 miles
Day 5 dept Stingaree 8:00 arrived Kemah 2 pm - 40 miles

return trip
day 1 departed Kemah 7 am anchored Shell is. 6:30 PM, 100 miles
Day 2- Dept Shell Is. 6:15 am arrived Shell Morgan Fuel dock 6:30 Pm 100 miles
Day 3 - dept Shell Morgan 7:40 am Arrived Morgan City dock 3:30 pm 64 miles
Day 4 dept Morgan City docks 7:15 am arrived Houma noon, 40 miles "

There isn't much between Houma City dock and Boomtown Casino. We have stayed at the Boomtown bulkhead many times without any problems be sure to have good fenders out and approach slowly. There aren't many cleats but there are holes cut into the sheet piling you can pass a line through them for a tie off.

I live about 15 miles from Houma if I anyone passing through there needs help or information just send me a Private message on my profile page with your email address I'll give you my contact info.

Can't speak about ICW west of L.C. but usual fenders, sans boards, are fine for all the locks up to that point. The offshore run from Calc to Galv would likely be less stressful as you would not be squeezed by a lot of long/wide tows and no locks. Assuming, of course, it is blowing less than 15 knots offshore. If so you will be in a beam sea most likely. You can, however, hug the shore at the world class resort area of Holly Beach and view some of the local wildlife sunning themselves in minimal swimwear!

There are no locks west of Lake Charles to Galv. The next control structure would be the Brazos R. Floodgates which is a whole thread of its own.

If you go outside do the Fairways, little longer but no rigs.

ulysses said:

There are no locks west of Lake Charles to Galv. The next control structure would be the Brazos R. Floodgates which is a whole thread of its own.

Click to expand...

Oh? What's the deal with them?

Been through them many times with 1,000 feet of barges and never, ever felt comfortable doing it. The are facing at a 45 degree angle to the river and the river can flow with a 4-5 mile current more if its raining up north. Furthermore you usually have a tidal thing going for and/or against you at the gates themselves. The river width is probably 1,400 feet. It makes for a difficult turn crossing the river. Probably not too bad with a boat without tow but the pucker factor is there.

If the Brazos R. is running there will be trees, dead cattle, and all types of debris floating down.

Sounds lovely. Thanks for the heads up.

Cardude, sorry but I am LMAO. We went through the exact same feelings you are going through now, until we did it. Remember, the thousands of people who have done this safely in the past, some of which, statistically speaking, where not as smart or had the experience we have. When you get to Rockport you will be wondering what all the hoopla was about. It's almost an anticlimax. There again 40 - 50 ft boats are a little easier to handle than 1000 ft tows. (which by the way, fit into those tiny locks just fine, so you should have enough room to do figure 8's)

Yeah, I'm probably over thinking all of this, but that seems to be my MO.

I'm ready to get the trip started. All this planning is wearing me out. ?

Cardude01: I apologize if I intimidated you on your planned trip. It should be a great experience for you. Don't overthink it. There is a lot to see and do along the way. The Aransas Wildlife Refuge is the home to the Whooping Cranes along with numerous other birds and critters. I am sure that you will enjoy it.

Hey no problems here. The more info the better, so I appreciate each and every comment I get.

I'll be doing most of the trip solo from Nola to Rockport (unless I can talk one of my kids into going with me), so that's less pressure on me. Unless I get sideways in a lock. Then that's more pressure. ?

Cardude01: Unless you are over 75' long don't worry about getting side ways in a lock just bring her around and try again or go to the other side. I have found that your prop will draw your stern slightly to the lock wall if you are midship rudder and slow revolutions and a few feet away. Also check your chart or chart plotter for Matagorda Bay and make sure it shows the new route across, this would be the preferred route, slightly north of the old route due to shoaling around the intersection of the ship channel.
When are you planning on making the trip ? I am available if you think you need some assistance. Also as to weather information I use Passageweather.com it will give you a 10 wave, wind, directions, and atmos. pressure.

good luck and safe travels.

I'm only 41'. The boat has full side decks and a bow thruster so it's pretty maneuverable and easy to get around.

I plan to leave Houma on the 27th of August. Looks like around 6 days to Rockport?

I haven't mapped out any stops yet. Might pick up the whole family or maybe one of my boys in Galveston but that's still up in the air.

Great trip

I made it home Sunday morning after leaving Kemah tx at 4 pm Thursday night. We drove all that evening and thought the night. Because I didn't know what canal would be safe to turn into without running a round. We lost our generator the first night and had no a/c the rest of the trip. (Haven't looked at it yet but I think it has something to do with the fuel). It was hot. We stopped four times, she'll island for about 2 hours, shell Morgan but no one was there so no power, Houma which was great very nice came out and hooked us up and we sleep in the a/c and one more stop in chef hwy area because there was bad weather coming.

Note. We had a small Honda 2000 gen. That saved us and some blower fans.

The Mississippi River is very high right now. The worst part of the trip I was very uncomfortable, don't know how fast it was running but I was running about 2 knots up river for 3 miles while trees ,logs and trash was running down at us. Not sure what I would have done if something happened.

Be sure to talk on the radio with tows, most of them will take care of you they where very nice. Two of them the whole trip where ******** but we meet up with a lot of tows.

All the locks and bridges where very nice.

Why were you running up river? It's downstream from the Harvey lock to the Industrial lock.

TimeTraveler... Well played sir- well played!!!
I assume you are a local to the Gulf Coast? Meaning you are familiar with Ken's Hardware and other resources??
PM if you want, and swap contact info.


1983 Present 42 Sundeck
Twin Lehman 135's

BobH said:

Why were you running up river? It's downstream from the Harvey lock to the Industrial lock.

Click to expand...

Probably went further to the Algiers's lock and went north to Industrial.