STUCK IN HOUMA DUE TO WEATHER

As I have said before, every now and then, you make a plan, and God laughs at your plan.  Well, New Orleans seems to have temporarily escaped us.  Traveling in winter has its advantages and its disadvantages.  Certainly the instability of the weather is a disadvantage.  It’s just too unstable and it’s going to get a lot worse before it gets better on Monday or Tuesday.

We plan to spend several days exploring the City of New Orleans.  However, another strong winter storm is preventing us from getting there today; probably until Monday or Tuesday.  Here is what the National Weather Service says about it:

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF COASTAL WATERS

OF SOUTHEAST LOUISIANA AND SOUTH MISSISSIPPI...SOUTHEAST

LOUISIANA AND SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI.

.DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT

THUNDERSTORMS...

AN ARCTIC COLD FRONT WILL MOVE INTO THE AREA LATE THIS AFTERNOON

AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS MAY DEVELOP ALONG THE FRONT. SEVERE

WEATHER IS NOT EXPECTED...BUT ONE OR TWO STRONG STORMS CAN NOT BE

RULED OUT. THE MAIN THREAT FROM ANY STRONG STORMS WOULD BE STRONG

WIND GUSTS.

STRONG WINDS IN MARINE AREAS...

WINDS ARE EXPECTED TO STRENGTHEN ACROSS THE TIDAL LAKES AND

COASTAL WATERS AHEAD OF...AND ESPECIALLY BEHIND A STRONG COLD

FRONT THAT WILL MOVE THROUGH THE CENTRAL GULF COAST REGION

TONIGHT AND EARLY SUNDAY MORNING. CONDITIONS WILL BECOME VERY

HAZARDOUS FOR SMALL CRAFT WITH FREQUENT GALE FORCE GUSTS EXPECTED

TONIGHT AND SUNDAY. MARINERS SHOULD CONTINUE TO KEEP A CLOSE EYE

ON ANY UPDATES TO THE FORECAST AS DANGEROUS WINDS AND SEAS DEVELOP

TONIGHT THROUGH SUNDAY. SMALL CRAFT ADVISORIES AND GALE WARNINGS

HAVE BEEN POSTED FOR ALL COASTAL WATERS AT VARIOUS TIMES.

For those of you who have ever travelled by boat into a major city, you know it is more complicated than cruising into, say, Channel Islands Harbor.  In the case of New Orleans, everything I have read suggests the transit into the City is, basically, pretty complex. 

First, there are 35 miles of GICW to travel on.  This area is very narrow (narrower than before), and the barge traffic increases from here on up through New Orleans.  For instance, we are docked off the GICW in a bayou known as Terrebonne.  The GICW right behind us is not very wide.  In fact, it’s less than 100 feet wide.  It is this way for about 5 miles and then there is a hair-pin bend where the GICW is also rather narrow before it starts getting wider. I’ve been seeing 1100 foot barges going by a few times each hour.  I have no idea how they do it.  I don’t want to meet a “six-pack” in difficult weather.  There would be absolutely no where to go.  We would use our AIS to know whether anyone is coming around that bend, but it could cause delay.  You definitely don’t want to get stuck between here and New Orleans in the dark with bad weather on you.  There is no place to hide.  You have to carefully consider the potential for delay and what it could mean should the weather turn to shit. An interesting idea just occurred to me.  When we go, we could wait for a barge going “up” and then pull out and follow him through this area.  These guys know what’s up and will not end up meeting each other nose to nose in this tight area.  So, if we follow one through, it would be like being a running back running behind his offensive line, right?  Right.  Good plan.

Then, after travelling approximately 40 more miles on the GICW, there are lakes to cross.  Lakes are not protected waters like the ditch.  Doing this in a strong south wind gets hairy when crossing the north side of a lake because of the miles of water over which the wind blows causing heavier currents, waves, and generally snotty conditions.  You either have to go faster to counteract the effect of these things, or you should stay put.  Combine this with the aforementioned concerns over barge traffic.  Also, when there is strong wind, the barges will push their noses up and crab across these lakes so as not to get blown down and out of the marks.  They take up significantly more room (like all of it) when they are “crabbing” in your direction.  Again, it’s an unnecessary variable to have to deal with in narrow channels and high wind.

Then, after 40 more miles of GICW and lake crossings, you have to go into the Harvey Lock Canal.  Imagine riding your bike onto the Long Beach Freeway (the 710) at rush hour within a couple hours after the cargo ships arrive and start unloading.  There is a lot of fast moving, really big hardware.  Combine this with the aforementioned concerns as well.

Then there is the Harvey Lock.  This is not a lock likely to let us through alone.  Thus, we would most likely be stuffed into the lock with a barge or two.  Gusty winds, increased water levels due to the wind, and general instability could lead to a disastrous situation (think aluminum can under a truck tire). Couple this with the aforementioned concerns.

Then, once you get out of the lock, you are “dumped” into the Mississippi River where the currents are strong, the commercial ship traffic is (or can be) thick, and then, there is the debris in the water.  Branches, trees, people, animals, or whatever else the mighty Mississippi has picked up between there and St. Paul, Minnesota and it could be an interesting soup!  We have to run 6 miles in the Mississippi before turning left into another canal, more bridges, another lock, and then finally to the back of the Inner Navigation Canal. 

Although the total trip is less than 60 miles, it is, generally speaking, fraught with the potential for bad things to happen.  Delays may also happen because of bridge operations.  So, strap on 20-25 knot south winds, thunderstorms and rain, coming on the doorstep of a northern storm supposedly arriving tonight….maybe late in the day, the possibility of delays and being stuck in a place where there is basically nowhere to bail out, tie up, or dock?  The decision seems easy, but it’s not always easy to make.

Cruisers cannot live on a schedule of any kind.  Haste in feeling as though you have to be some place by some time will invariably lead you to make decisions you will regret.  All the other issues remain, but at least we won’t have to do it in bad weather.  Even the barges run up on the bank when the north wind blows.

In the interim, I’ll put out a couple more dock lines and fenders, and we’ll just wait it out.  One of life’s complete truisms is that, no matter how bad the weather gets, it will always get better. New Orleans will be there in a couple days after this system passes.