Anyone Done Galveston to Mobile (outside)

[BobH]

The Industrial Lock is not down, the Industrial Canal is blocked by the RR bridge just before the lake. You can go through the lock and continue on the ICW to Lake Borgne and then the Mississippi Sound.

 

[ragin cajun]

Thanks for the reply.

I didn't realize the Industrial lock was down! I guess that makes the decision for me to go outside!

Here is my proposed itinerary:
Day 1-Galveston to Calcasieu inlet
Day 2-Calcasieu inlet to SW inlet
Day 3- SW Inlet to anchor somewhere?
Day 5- somewhere to Grand Isle. Sand Dollar marina?
Day 6- Grand Isle to Venice. Marina?
Day 7- Venice to Gulfport.

Day 3-SW inlet to Houma navigation canal would be a good choice.
When in SW pass (Vermilion bay) Look to your west once inside pass. There is an old oilfield canal that offers good protection from all winds. Shrimp boats use this area all the time. Canal is right before the dog leg in pass. Two old tanks marks the canal. This is a buggy anchorage! You can run your bow onto the banks in this canal.

 

[cardude01]

The Industrial Lock is not down, the Industrial Canal is blocked by the RR bridge just before the lake. You can go through the lock and continue on the ICW to Lake Borgne and then the Mississippi Sound.

Thanks. I misunderstood the comment on the lock and RR bridge but understand now.

 

[cardude01]

Day 3-SW inlet to Houma navigation canal would be a good choice.
When in SW pass (Vermilion bay) Look to your west once inside pass. There is an old oilfield canal that offers good protection from all winds. Shrimp boats use this area all the time. Canal is right before the dog leg in pass. Two old tanks marks the canal. This is a buggy anchorage! You can run your bow onto the banks in this canal.

Awesome. Thanks.

 

[SaltyDawg86]

Man, I enjoyed reading this. How in the world did you manage to bump bottom in Tiger Pass?! Been through several times on a 220' with no problem! Did you enjoy the current? Lol.

Fourchon is an easy run, especially now! When oil was booming, it was a sight to see. The rigs, boats, etc are easy to see, even at night. Depending on the wx, you can anchor in protected waters near the coast. Sounds like a fun run.

 

[cardude01]

Day 3-SW inlet to Houma navigation canal would be a good choice.
When in SW pass (Vermilion bay) Look to your west once inside pass. There is an old oilfield canal that offers good protection from all winds. Shrimp boats use this area all the time. Canal is right before the dog leg in pass. Two old tanks marks the canal. This is a buggy anchorage! You can run your bow onto the banks in this canal.

Is this the spot near SW pass to anchor?



Concerning the Houma navigation canal, should I go the 10 miles from the pass into the canal to anchor or just anchor on the other side of the pass?

Thanks for all the info. I'm obviously not familiar with this coastline at all.

 

[Steve]

Unless you need fuel I would anchor just north of the western tip of Timbalier Island in the white (deep water) on the chart you show. I have anchored there several times on fishing trips. If the wind is out of the north with any strength it will get choppy. In that case you may have to go up to Cocodrie area. there used to be some small oil well platforms one could tie up to in that area, I haven't been out there in several years I don't know what is there now.
Good luck!

 

[McGillicuddy]

Hey, Salty Dawg, I have been through Tiger Pass maybe 20 times on bigger boats, tugs and liftboats etc. during my working career, surprised the hell out of me how much it had silted up. I believe it has since been dredged. Since it was June when I went ran through, the current was pretty tame. Have you been through recently? The shallow spot was between the jetties and light 22. After that it was deep the whole way.

 

[McGillicuddy]

Car dude, I agree with Steve on his anchor spot. No need to run all the way in unless you really want to. Also, on all of these anchorages, you can continue to run north and join the ICW if the weather has turned against you for a while and you don't want to wait.

And in answer to a previous question, there are two marinas in Venice, the marina of choice if I were to stay overnight would be Venice Marina. There is a little grocery/cafe/restaurant there. Precious little else to see or do in this oilfield work town.

 

[cardude01]

Thanks for the extra info Steve and McGillicuddy. Y'all are very helpful!

 

[SaltyDawg86]

Hey, Salty Dawg, I have been through Tiger Pass maybe 20 times on bigger boats, tugs and liftboats etc. during my working career, surprised the hell out of me how much it had silted up. I believe it has since been dredged. Since it was June when I went ran through, the current was pretty tame. Have you been through recently? The shallow spot was between the jetties and light 22. After that it was deep the whole way.

No, I haven't been up there since 2013. I know the Mississippi River had some budget issues when it came to dredging, not sure how Venice faired with that. I'm currently anchored in Boothville and there's not much traffic at The Jump.

 

[McGillicuddy]

Yep, the river was quiet last time I came through as well. A lot of oilfield traffic has moved over to Fourchon.
What are you driving these days? At Boothville anchorage I guess you are a tanker of some sort? ATB or ship?

 

[SaltyDawg86]

A lot of oilfield traffic has moved out of Fourchon as well. I'm on a wire tug, we're waiting on weather to head to Tampa with a load of coal.

 

[ddalme]

Thanks for the reply.

I didn't realize the Industrial lock was down! I guess that makes the decision for me to go outside!

Here is my proposed itinerary:
Day 1-Galveston to Calcasieu inlet
Day 2-Calcasieu inlet to SW inlet
Day 3- SW Inlet to anchor somewhere?
Day 5- somewhere to Grand Isle. Sand Dollar marina?
Day 6- Grand Isle to Venice. Marina?
Day 7- Venice to Gulfport.

Lots of good anchorages in SW pass-oilfield canals on west side of pass-just be carefully when getting out of the channel-reefs all around-if north winds stay to the south and if south wind stay to the north-my favorite anchorage is on the southside of the pass-you will see some tanks looking west as you enter the pass with a canal leading to them-if no wind the only problem is the mosquitoes and horse flies. They are big and hungry.

 

[BobH]

Just bite the bullet, head out of Galveston into the fairways and after a few over nighters you'll be in Gulfport.

 

[cardude01]

Just bite the bullet, head out of Galveston into the fairways and after a few over nighters you'll be in Gulfport.

So no rigs in the safety fairways? Im not even sure my Garmin chart shows the safety fairways.

I don't think I'm ready for a "few overnights" since I have only done one overnight run to date, but what is the right weather to wait for if one was to do such a thing around this area of the coast?

Winds out of a certain direction? Waves not to exceed what size?

 

[SaltyDawg86]

No rigs in the fairway, but in reality, you can't miss them. They're spread out and lit up. Also they have strong returns on radar. In the summer, it's usually 5' and less. Some days it's absolute glass.

 

[cardude01]

No rigs in the fairway, but in reality, you can't miss them. They're spread out and lit up. Also they have strong returns on radar. In the summer, it's usually 5' and less. Some days it's absolute glass.

Cool thanks. I was thinking about making that trip this month so I'm kind of worried about the winds.

 

[Drake]

Cool thanks. I was thinking about making that trip this month so I'm kind of worried about the winds.

Passageweather.com is pretty good about forecasting wind and wave heights for ten days out.

 

[BobH]

We've made the trip along the fairways several times, but always in a sailboat. I wouldn't even consider doing it in our current boat. Having that 8000 lbs of lead hanging from the bottom of the sailboat always made me feel real secure.

 

[ragin cajun]

View attachment 62314
Is this the spot near SW pass to anchor?


View attachment 62315
Concerning the Houma navigation canal, should I go the 10 miles from the pass into the canal to anchor or just anchor on the other side of the pass?

Thanks for all the info. I'm obviously not familiar with this coastline at all.

That is indeed the canal I'm speaking of. As for the Houma navigation canal just go inside of the islands and anchor in charted deeper waters, no need to go all the way up unless you want to go into the ICW. Starting in late March and early April most winds are from SW to SE which puts you on the lee side. Bring a fishing pole...excellent trout fishing in this area.

 

[Steve]

It has been very windy for the last couple of weeks keep an eye on that! Any south wind will be on the beam.

 

[cardude01]

It has been very windy for the last couple of weeks keep an eye on that! Any south wind will be on the beam.

Yeah it has been super windy down here in Rockport is well. It seems like a West –Northwest wind would be better.

If it's too windy I will just go inside. I really wanted to try this outside route because it looks interesting, but I can't stand rolling for three days with waves on the beam. It's not worth it.

 

[cardude01]

My college age son is going with me on my proposed trip around LA, and when I showed him the route outside with the anchorages he asked why we just didn't do the entire trip outside. I plotted that route in the safety fairways and it would take three overnights. There does seem to be a weather window after this cold front passes Galveston sometime Sunday, but three overnights?? On an unstabilized boat? Anyway, I told him I would run it up the flagpole but I'm not very confident I could pull off that long of a non-stop trip. My farthest nonstop to date has been about 30 hours.

What say the experts?

 

[BandB]

My college age son is going with me on my proposed trip around LA, and when I showed him the route outside with the anchorages he asked why we just didn't do the entire trip outside. I plotted that route in the safety fairways and it would take three overnights. There does seem to be a weather window after this cold front passes Galveston sometime Sunday, but three overnights?? On an unstabilized boat? Anyway, I told him I would run it up the flagpole but I'm not very confident I could pull off that long of a non-stop trip. My farthest nonstop to date has been about 30 hours.

What say the experts?

View attachment 62547

No, no, no, no, and no.

I would not do three overnights unless I had at least three helmsmen. I know we're more conservative than many but otherwise there's not just risk, but there's just no enjoyment if you're exhausting yourself. Suddenly it's not pleasure boating but an exhausting delivery you're not even getting paid to do.

Also, a nice rule. When in doubt, don't. You have doubts about it so to me that makes the answer clear, regardless of what anyone else thinks or would do.

This is coming from someone who greatly prefers outside cruising, but there's a time and place and way. I prefer outside, but on the East Coast, I take the Virginia Cut from Beaufort to Norfolk rather than loop around Hatteras the vast majority of the time. There's just a time and place, and this isn't it.

 

[cardude01]

Oh I definitely have doubts! Thanks for the input.

 

[Drake]

My college age son is going with me on my proposed trip around LA, and when I showed him the route outside with the anchorages he asked why we just didn't do the entire trip outside. I plotted that route in the safety fairways and it would take three overnights. There does seem to be a weather window after this cold front passes Galveston sometime Sunday, but three overnights?? On an unstabilized boat? Anyway, I told him I would run it up the flagpole but I'm not very confident I could pull off that long of a non-stop trip. My farthest nonstop to date has been about 30 hours.

What say the experts?

View attachment 62547

I'm certainly no expert, but I'm planning that trip now.

If you have radar, I wouldn't worry about staying in the fairway. We're going from Seabrook to Gulfport next week (weather permitting) and I calculate about 50 hours from Galveston at 8 knots. Mobile would be a couple of hours further, assuming you're going to Dog River.

I agree with the comments that no way I would do the trip with two people. Three is minimum IMHO. We're going with four.

If you do decide to go outside, we could try to coordinate. Our current plan is to leave Seabrook early Wednesday morning, which would put us through Galveston about 10:00am. The forecast is for good weather Wednesday and Thursday. Sailing Weather - Marine Weather Forecasts for Sailors and Adventurers - PassageWeather

Paul

 

[cardude01]

Ahh good point on the extra helmsman needed-- I don't have anymore mates at this time. Maybe I'll do a multiple overnight trip like that if I put some sails on this boat. [emoji51]

I'm still planning on doing the outside and hitting anchorages each night. I thought the weather looked OK from Monday 13-16th? Only two days look good you think?

 

[McGillicuddy]

First of all, I wouldn't do it with only two helmsmen. Especially inexperienced offshore sailors.
Second, although it's still early to forecast next weeks winds the GFS model is predicting 2-4 seas during that period, nice on Monday, winds pick up to 20 knots on Tuesday then die down to 12-15 knots Wednesday then picking up a little on Thursday. So we are not in that time period yet where you can get 3-4 days of settled weather.

 

[McGillicuddy]

Daylight coastal with points of refuge, or ICW are the best choices.