New Orleans to Gulfport, MS

New Orleans to Gulfport

We had a delightful departure from New Orleans.  After getting fuel, we departed southbound back into the Inner Harbor Navigation Canal down to the turning basin and back onto the GICW.  It was a bright and sunny day with a light breeze out of the north east.  There was not much barge traffic at first, but it got more busy as the morning wore on.  As we headed east, we came into a construction zone where it appeared there was a wall being built.  I don’t mean any wall.  We witnessed the construction of a barrier wall apparently designed to keep out the sea in the event of another hurricane.  This wall is huge and made of concrete and steel.  It looks more than 30 feet tall (who knows how deep into the wetlands it penetrates) and a good 10 feet thick. I thought to myself, “gosh, if this can be built here, then why can’t California build a similar wall across its southern boarder?”  I guess it could be built if there were a real desire, as opposed to a need.  Well, that has nothing to do with what we are doing, so I’ll leave that one there.

It was pretty much 33 miles of straight-away to Rabbit Island.  Once we got here, we found the entrance to the anchorage easily as the opening is quite wide.  However, where the most current NOAA charts showed the water depths to be 16 feet, the water was actually only 7 feet.  Our friends on Trident showed up right behind us and said they were entering the anchorage on the other side of the grass island.  We turned around very carefully in the shallow and narrow leg we were in and followed our track back out to the ditch and then followed Trident’s track in.  Bill reported good enough water to anchor in so as soon as we felt comfortable, we stopped and dropped.



Trident

Rabbit Island is really nothing more than a wide spot in the GICW where there is a small grass island forming somewhat of an ox-bow.  Rumor has it, Rabbit Island was used as a staging ground for the many vessels employed cleaning up the mess from the recent oil spill.  Someone dragged an old oil rig in here and basically dumped it on the small island.  It’s not terribly slightly, but it makes a hell of a background for a sunset. 

We saw wildlife today we had not seen to this point.  It was a Marmot.  Actually, we saw two of them swimming at different points on the cruise to Rabbit Island.  The look like giant rats, but their snouts are a little stubbier.  I don’t know if they have a tail.  Actually, I understand they are more closely related to ground squirrels.  Either way, from my vantage point, they appeared to be in the 10-15 pound range, with thick, dark brown fur. They are quite good swimmers.  You don’t want one of those dudes running up your pant leg.    Brenda commented that she now knows what they really put in Boudin.

We have seen a swing bridge or two thus far, but not one as big as the one we can see from here that crosses the Rigolets.  It has 9 enormous sections.  The middle section is the one that spins, as if on a spindle.  It’s a railroad bridge.  So, any boat passing through the Rigolets to or from Lake Ponchetrain, or the Pearl River, or wherever, has to signal the bridge by blowing their horn.  Then slowly, and I mean slowly, the center section turns open and allows the boat to pass through.  The clearance is only 10 feet under that bridge so we would definitely require an opening had we been planning to head up that way. 

Now, you would think the nights are very dark on the GICW.  But you would be mistaken.  There are no hills or mountains.  The land is quite flat and low. In some areas there are very few trees.  There is a lot of tall grass.  So, from the elevation of our back deck, around 9’ above the water, you can see over the top of the grass and out into the distance.  There seem to be blinking lights everywhere you look, all around you, on all horizons.  On a clear night like tonight, the stars come all the way down to the horizon.  Sometimes it’s hard to tell where the water ends and where the sky begins, except we know that there probably isn’t a star with light characteristics described as FL R 2s17ft3m“4”. 

In addition to the darkness, you would also think it is dead silent out here at night.  Maybe it’s just me, but there seems to be a ubiquitous “hummmmm” all around.  When we were in Texas, that was usually some refinery working night and day.  There are not refineries where we are.  I wonder if it’s because there are not hills and the land is so flat that we might be hearing the hummmmm and buzz of engines or generators from far off boats or oil platforms.  Hard to say.  It’s not bothersome, but just when you think you have found the most quiet and peaceful place on the planet, you hear this hummmmm, but only if you concentrate on the sound of silence.  The sound of silence. 

We have decided to skip Pass Christian as there might be pretty skinny water getting in there.  When the north wind blows, as it has been for the last week, it pushes water out of the bays and sounds.  Also, after yesterday’s adventure discovering just how wrong charts can be, I have no interest in testing that theory going into Pass Christian where the charts show only 7 feet of water leading into the little harbor.  We’ll just have to let the locals keep it for themselves.  Instead, we will go to Gulfport, which will be our first stop in Mississippi, our third state on this odyssey.  Most of Mississippi is inland.  Only a small part of the state touches the Gulf, so we won’t get to see much of the state other than what little lies on the third coast.  Nevertheless, it will be interesting for sure.

It was a rough day getting to Gulfport.  It seems the National Weather Service changed its mind somewhat in the middle of the night.  As a result, we had a 37 nm trip with 15 to 20 kph wind on the nose the whole time.  Well, as some of you may know, there are no “swells” to speak of in the Gulf.  However, depending on the direction of the wind, the wind can create significant waves.  The waves are more significant because the water is so shallow.  So, when I tell you the wind was 15 to 20 on the nose, this means there were also 2-3 foot wind waves on the nose as well.  Abreojos does quite well in these kind of conditions and especially since the spacing between the waves is tighter than the length of the boat.  As a result, there is not much pounding.  Rather it’s just a sort of “jerky” ride.  It gets tiring after more than 5 hours.  Plus, for the last 7 miles, we had it perfectly on the beam.  Actually, it was slightly off the beam and on the starboard quarter.  So, we rode a cork screw all the way into Gulfport Small Boat Basin.

The SBB is just adjacent to the commercial harbor.  I’m pretty sure this is the only reason there is such a place as Gulfport.  It is a deep water port where large ships can come in and drop off cargo by the container full.  Or by the thousands of containers, actually.  Gulfport is also the Gulf home port of the US Navy SeaBees.  There is a casino, a couple banks, a golf course, and that’s about it.  I would imagine that if there is a sizable population of young folks here, there is a lot of trouble.  There is absolutely nothing for them to do.  This is not a destination for cruisers. There is neither a grocery store nor any kind of supply house within walking or reasonable biking distance.  There is, however, the Gulfport Yacht Club.

We stayed the night at the GYC.  Boy, let me tell you, what a gouge!  They charge $2.00 per foot per night.  There was no other alternative other than to push another 35-40 miles to Biloxi in foul conditions.  There is no municipal dockage yet.  This town and its yacht club were completely wiped from the face of the planet thanks to Hurricane Katrina.  The municipal piers are under construction and will likely be open this coming summer.

The GYC is a beautiful facility.  They have their own marina where members keep their boats.  This club is big into classic wood boats and just completed their Classic Wood Boat Rendezvous up some river in Louisiana the name of which I cannot recall, but which you access from the north end of Lake Ponchetrain.  It was a 4-5 day event.  GYC’s boats took all the top prizes.  A couple of them are here in the harbor and they are very pretty. GYC also started a high school sailing program this year and held a championship series at the end of the season.  Nice work.  They have a very nice bar which Brenda and I closed last night. (We are “closers” in Mississippi, too!) 

Other than that, there is not much happening in Gulfport, so we will throw off the lines today and head for Biloxi, MS which is another 37 nm down the line.  We have already made arrangements to stay at the Point Cadet Marina which is advertised as being right next to downtown Biloxi.  There is also a good chance we might rent a car and drive to Tupalo, MS, the birthplace of Brenda’s favorite musical icon.  Yes, that would be Elvis.  It’s about 300 miles from Biloxi.  You can’t get there by boat.  You can get to Graceland by boat, but not the holy manger of rock and roll. 

I’ll write more from Biloxi.  Here’s a rebel yell to y’all from Gulfport, Mississippi, a place where the Confederate Flag is still flown with pride.