The Wrights at Sea: OLD MAN RIVER

Friday January 23, 2009 - We pass through Baton Rouge and are that much closer to New Orleans. On any other day we would anchor for the evening. However, past mile 195 on the Mississippi River, there are no places to anchor outside of the channel. The river becomes more narrow and there are no outlets, jags, islands, nothin'. In one of our Mississippi River guides we come across Weber Marine at mile 167 - supposedly we can tie up to them. Josh calls them and arranges our evening sleepover.

Baton Rouge

One of many ships we see within and past Baton Rouge.

Will learns how to pull himself up and stand in the cockpit.

Traffic on the river.

I get us ready to tie up to Weber Marine - we figure since it is a barge, tying up will be like a lock.

Uh, it ain't like a lock.

Weber Marine is very personable, talkative and helpful. They don't charge us to stay the night - they are just south of the Sunshine Bridge and are surrounded by barge businesses. Before we goto sleep Josh comments "We are sleeping among giants."

At 11pm, the circus begins. Barges are running all around us - our boat reacts and is suppressed by our lines. The barge we are tied up to acts as a huge wall we are being thrown against. We wobble, we bop, we lunge and we duck. Josh and I remain in our sleeping bags in the forward cabin hearing the hum of oncoming barges and anticipating the next round of wakes. (Will does great and sleeps through it all - after a bout with teething pain). In the morning I comment that sleeping there was more like "being in the toy in the bath of a giant child." Although, writing about it has made me think that a toy boat in a washing machine would be a better anology. In any case, we were very happy we stayed with Weber Marine. Our last day to New Orleans was cut from an 18 hour day (110 miles) to a 12 hour day (75 miles).

The sunset at Weber Marine.

Saturday January 24th 2009 - We wake up with anticipation. It's 5:30am - and it's too dark to begin our trek. But, we are out and about by 6:30 am. Thank you Weber Marine!!

All too soon we are enclosed by fog - thick and dangerous fog. Josh uses the GPS and Radar to navigate through the river. I position myself on the bow and look for potential problems. The main problem is my visibility - 25 feet to 100 feet. Not much time to react if anything did come up. Josh is able to see oncoming barges with the Radar - this piece of equipment is completely necessary on the river, any river. We do this for 2 tense hours - and we get some nice photos.

The fog is like ribbons when it's not too thick.

Fog and sunrise.

Thick fog is disorienting.

Big ship, little tugs, smoke on the water.

New Orleans skyline!

French Quarter.

Thanks New Orleans!

After the fog had lifted, we had some really nice comfortable weather. It was fantastic and a really nice day to be out on the water. Once we got to the lock at 3:30pm it was starting to cloud up. I didn't realize it would take us so long to get through the lock and canal and into the mouth of Pontchatrain. By the time we arrived at the last lift bridge, it was 5:30 pm dark and rainy. Again, it's great to have the GPS.

Josh takes us through the storm and into Schuberts Marine. We had a little bump along the way - there is more than one way to go once we get to the inlet that services Schuberts Marine. We tie up at the Yacht club and Josh, looking like Gordons Fisherman with red foul weather gear on, has to find someone to help us. Eventually he gets someone who doesn't turn their nose up at him and we make our way to Schuberts. It is definitely a welcomed sight!! We tie up, turn off the engine, turn on the batteries, eat dinner and go to sleep. We sleep in the next morning - we wake up at 7am.