Rockport to Lydia Anne Channel Anchorage

Rockport to Lydia Anne Channel - 5 November 2010

As usual, I was up before the sun.  It’s not that I couldn’t sleep.  I was just very excited to be leaving.  We had a great time in Rockport, but for all the time we spent there, we just had to get going.  At around 0830, we fired up the engine.  We had to first get off the concrete quay we had been tied to for a week and then get fuel.  Fuel was, unfortunately, not available at House of Boats, so we had to go around the corner to Coves Marina.  Coves Marina, as opposed to where we were in Coves Harbor, is on the other side of the parking lot.  For us, however, we had to go out into the GICW for about 50 feet and then into a narrow inlet.  It was interesting.  For the first 500 yards of our trip, we had barely 6 feet of water under the boat.  Our draft, fully loaded is close to 4.5’, so we were definitely churning up mud. 

The folks at Cove Marina are very nice.  This is one hell of a place.  They have two really large warehouse-like structures in which they dry-stack hundreds of boats, 5 decks high.  There are two giant fork lifts used to move boats up to 36 feet from the racks into the water.  They have valet service.  A boat owner can call as little as an hour in advance, two hours on weekends, and have their boat launched, fueled, and their coolers filled with ice and their favorite beverages so that when they arrive, their boat is sitting there at the dock, ready to go.  They have a small marine supply store, fuel dock, ice house, and bait.  They have a pump out for MSD’s, and fish cleaning stations all right there on the premises.  It’s one of the most complete boating facilities I have ever seen.  There were three chaps there to help us get our fuel (around 130 gallons, and empty the holding tank.  They were very helpful. 

By the time we got off the dock, the wind had picked up to around 15 knots.  We easily got off the dock and then slowly made our way out of the marina and into the GICW.  We had decided we would shake this cruise down with a short jaunt over to a place called the Lydia Anne Channel to anchor for the night. The anchorage is about 12 nm from Rockport and 17 nm from Corpus Christi.  I continue to get my directions messed up.  There are no mountains to reference, and the coastline here is not oriented like I am used to.  Corpus Christi is actually south west of Rockport, but you have to take a highway that says :North”  to get there by car.  In any event, to get there by water, you have to go southwest.  However, to get there via the Alternate GICW, you first have to go south east for about two miles, before you make the turn to the south west. 

The charts are quite good.  The markers are all essentially where they should be.  Around here, it you stick like glue to a chart plotter, you will run aground.  You have to take notice of the positions of the marks and stay in between them.  Sometimes, when between the reds and greens, there is 16 feet of water, where just 10 yards to either side of the marks, the water is shallow enough to see birds standing in the water.  Ok.  So, the rule is, stay between the marks, and you are in the channel.  I suppose in other places less traveled, there are places where shoaling occurs within the marks and bumping bottom is a possibility.  At least here, the marks are good.  A lot of commercial traffic travels through here, so it is important that they get through.  I have yet to see a dredge working, but I would imagine that if a 650’ barge hits bottom, a dredge will clear that out pretty quick.

So the trip to Lydia Anne was quite uneventful.  I will say, however, that I think it will become my practice to clean the front windows every day before we leave.  With the sun and the white caps, it was not always easy to see the marks.  This is where a chartplotter really comes in handy because you can see approximately where the mark should be.  Then, voila, there it is. It was also useful to have to pairs of eyes on the water.  The current going into Lydia Anne was also quite remarkable.  Noticeable was the fact that, as soon as we got behind Mud Island, the seas laid down completely.  However, our speed rocketed up.  For the trip towards Lydia Anne, I was running at about 6.5 knots at 1200 RPM.  This was about right, or at least what I would expect.  I pushed the RPMs up to around 1400, however, because we had a quartering sea and it was easier to drive at a slightly higher speed.  Again, once we got behind Mud Island, things changed.  A ripping current was present.  I backed the RPM’s down to 1200 and was making 9 knots!  Hell, I’ll save the fuel at that rate.  Getting into the Lydia Anne Channel was much easier than advertised.  With the seas laid down, the marks were easy to see.  We identified the lighthouse to starboard and then the white marks identifying a shallow ship wreck and then the area where we going to anchor.  We maneuvered in close to shore, but not too close, making sure we were well out of the channel, and dropped the hook in 14 feet of water, nose into the current.  At that point, the current and wind were coming from the same direction.  Later in the day, however, the current did a 180.  The boat laid to the current, completely disregarding the direction and speed of the wind.  Very cool.  Never seen that before. 

The water is absolutely flat here.  It is also full of dolphin.  They are grey creatures, unlike the variety of colorful dolphin we are used to seeing at home.  I think they are true bottle nose.  They behave more like sea lions than dolphin.  At home in the Santa Barbara and San Pedro Channels, dolphin would not come near an anchored boat.  Here, they bask around and around, in groups of 3-5.  You can hear them breathing and splashing. 

We had some wakes from passing boats, but nothing really to speak of.  The sunset was very nice and we barbecued steaks, had mashed potatoes and green beans for dinner with wine and Lone Star beer - my new favorite. 

Today, we will go to Corpus Christi.  This is the big city in South Texas, and is at the back of Corpus Christi Bay, approximately 17 nm from here.  This should be interesting.  I’ll tell you more about that later.  Right now, I’m going to sit here and enjoy another South Texas sunrise over the Gulf of Mexico.  It’s warm out already.  I think it’s going to be a hot one.

Leaving the Coves Marina in our wake.

Dolphin at play under the bow as we were leaving Coves Marina in Rockport, Texas.

Tug pushers on the GICW.

The new AIS I installed is working wonderfully.  I can not only see the ship coming on the radar, but I can see them coming around bends on the chartplotter.  With one click, I know their name, their length, beam, draft, tonnage, destination, course over ground, speed over ground, as well as the closest point of approach and the time to the closest point of approach given the current state of affairs.  This is really helpful in an approaching or crossing situation as I can call the ship directly by name and reference their location.  Then a discussion may be had concerning the best way to handle the crossing.

 


The Lydia Anne Lighthouse at sunset from our anchorage spot.

A perfect end to a perfect day.