Aground in Matagorda Bay

[greysailor]

Although the previous thread is closed (and rightly so..), after reading the post about the dredge hitting an old ordinance in that area..... I thought I'd pass on to the OP that he was in good company running aground in Matagorda Bay. Hey, if LaSalle did it after sailing all the way from the old world, who are we to fuss about plowing a furrow with our keels in the same mud! Good link below to the recovery of his ship La Belle a few years back, that was found only about a half a klick S/E of his grounding.

The Belle

 

[ulysses]

Very true on LaSalle, that ship was his pride and joy. I would feel very uncomfortable to be stranded in the only locale that had indians that practiced cannibalism.

 

[Steve]

Matagorda is a curious name, in Spanish it could mean "Kill Fat Woman" or it could mean Thick plant or brush. Just googled it, it is named for the "thick canebreaks"

 

[ulysses]

Steve:
"Caney Creek is nearby, but I have not seen any cane growing around there. I visited Chauvin last week, shrimp should be running soon.
We towed aluminia out of Point Comfort (north end of Matagorda Bay) for years, the bay was seldom kind.

 

[cardude01]

We had a fishing cabin on one of the barrier islands between Matagorda Bay and the Gulf for years. Just like most of our shallow bays around here if you don't pay attention and know what you are doing you can run aground pretty easily.

In fact, when I was selling the cabin last year, I was giving a guy and his wife a tour of the island by boat (21' Carolina Skiff) and ran aground so hard I almost threw them out of the damn boat. I got talking and didn't pay attention to where I was, and I had been boating and fishing those waters for years.

 

[greysailor]

Steve:
"We towed aluminia out of Point Comfort (north end of Matagorda Bay) for years, the bay was seldom kind.

Yep, and the jetties are even less nice at times of opposing wind and tidal flow....I broached a 41' sailboat in there once...the Gulf was relatively flat (2'-3') when we made entry, but there were ~8' rollers in the jetty.....it spit my sorry butt out of there like a watermelon seen in a ringer washing machine! Full sail and engine full speed couldn't overcome the current flow.... After an hour at anchor offshore, slid through smooth as butter.

 

[cardude01]

Yeah, the big jetties can get very rolly on outgoing tides. We would fish out at the end the jetties and it could get scary in the middle. Up close to the actual jetty was much nicer.

 

[kitelog]

Thanks for sharing. Very interesting reading about La Belle and the excavation.

 

[BandB]

We had a fishing cabin on one of the barrier islands between Matagorda Bay and the Gulf for years. Just like most of our shallow bays around here if you don't pay attention and know what you are doing you can run aground pretty easily.

In fact, when I was selling the cabin last year, I was giving a guy and his wife a tour of the island by boat (21' Carolina Skiff) and ran aground so hard I almost threw them out of the damn boat. I got talking and didn't pay attention to where I was, and I had been boating and fishing those waters for years.

My guess would be he didn't buy?

 

[Piratesailor]

What's that old saying... If you don't go aground at least once you haven't gone anywhere... Or something like that. Wonder if LaSalle started it. Being in and around the various bays of Texas, your bound to dredge up some mud.

 

[cardude01]

My guess would be he didn't buy?

Lol. No they didn't buy it.

 

[BandB]

Lol. No they didn't buy it.

Sort of like the woman who collided with a train on her driver's license test and then asks the examiner if she passed.