Keeping Her in the Ditch: Part Three
The following is a recap of our cruise from Rockport to Kemah, Texas via the ICW. If you missed day two you can catch up on that here.
We awoke early at Matagorda Bay, and we weren’t the only ones cutting lines in the half-light. It made for a pretty scene as we cruised our way back into the ICW.
Sunrises on the water are incredible, and we were blessed with another gorgeous one on day two.
We took turns at the wheel and planned our day. There was another set of locks, and we’d need to plan a fuel stop somewhere along the way. We’d kept tabs on how much we were burning, and it was possible for us to make it to Kemah on the same tank, but it wasn’t a sure bet.
The next set of locks went pretty smoothly. At this stop we heard more chatter on the radio, and we let everyone know who and where we were. The lock master coordinated with the other boats in the area, and they even let us move ahead in the line.
Have you heard of Chocolate Bay? It’s probably named for the color of the water, but just it case it was a suggestion, I took the hint.
It was getting later in the afternoon and we decided to plan a fuel stop, and used our chart plotter to look ahead. Our first choice was right on the way, but they weren’t answering the phone, so we sorted out a few back ups. They’d be a bit more out of the way, but would work in a pinch. We headed for option number one, knowing they could just be busy with customers and away from the office. The way in was narrow and shallow. We motored along for about twenty minutes before we spotted another boat. The passengers confirmed the fuel station wasn’t open, so we flipped around to head back into the open water.
Another place finally answered the phone and agreed to stay open for us, as long as we were buying at least 50 gallons. No problem. The Bow Out holds at least 200. That was the good news, but the bad news was they were near Galveston, and about an hour out of the way. We took a right by the bridge and followed the channel markers, but ran aground in a shoaling area. We didn’t come to an abrupt stop, but the sound of oyster shells scraping the bottom had us all picturing what might be going on below. We put that out of our minds as we pulled up to the marina and got filled up with fuel.
It’s strange how one boat can seem both big and small. The Bow Out is 40 feet long, but it felt like a battleship when pulling into the marina and sliding up between boats to reach the dock. The same boat in the channel felt the size of a bar of soap.
We thanked our new friends and headed back into the ICW. The entire route is a busy thoroughfare for barge traffic, and it wasn’t uncommon to see something like this cruising right beside us. It made for difficult steering, as vessels this size create strange currents, and I could feel the Bow Out being sucked in sideways. I gladly handed the wheel over to Edgar when this happened during my shifts.
With the sun setting, a little concern set in as well, as I realized we had a couple more hours to go, and no spotlights on the boat. We’d all planned to be back at work on Monday morning. We also didn’t have another place to stay, so we’d have to drop anchor and be out of the way of passing ships, a solution that didn’t seem ideal as there were no good anchorage options along the way. We decided to keep on.
As we entered the Houston Ship Channel, we first tried to avoid the traffic by staying just outside the channel markers, using our depth finder and chart plotter to look for any obstacles. Trouble was, we were finding out the chart wasn’t completely accurate, and we spotted some obstructions with the naked eye just in time. We decided to move into the channel and stay a comfortable distance behind the ship in front of us, confident that his electronics would be more sophisticated that our own.
The initial turn toward Kemah wasn’t hard to spot, because we could see the lights of the carnival rides from the water. But once we brought the bow in that direction, it was very difficult to see the red and green channel markers in the dark. Edgar kept his eyes peeled from the captain’s wheel, while I gazed out one side and Kate the other. We shouted to each other as we spotted marker after marker just in the nick of time. To make things even more interesting, our iPad was running out of juice. The 12 volt on the boat wasn’t quite 12 volt, and the iPad was smart enough to know it. It was dying, and along with it, our electronic visual on the route.
We scrambled up top to the fly bridge in hopes of a better view. We planted our feet wide; I downloaded the app on my phone, and as Edgar steered, I held the small screen in front of him. From up there we spotted what we thought were channel markers, and headed in toward the boardwalk. As we got closer we could see it was the right path, and we were all smiles as we celebrated along with the music blaring from the rides and nearby restaurants.
I’m not exactly sure how we navigated the final twists and turns, or how Edgar found his slip in the dark. The next thing we knew he was turning us around to park “bow out” – after all, that’s her name. It was late, but we were giggling with excitement and adrenaline. We’d cleared the locks, admired the dolphins, made friends at a fuel station and navigated the Houston Ship Channel at night. It wasn’t exactly as we planned it, but it was a success, and a true nautical adventure.
Recent Comments