Tag: dolphins

So there we were, in the middle of the Houston ship channel, coming on dark and with only running lights on our vessel. Huge barges, ships and tugs surged by on our starboard side, and all I could think about was… Do they see us?

Fresh off our adventure down to Sayulita, we had another one in the works. Edgar has always wanted to live on a boat, and he’d been walking by this particular one for months. It was docked at a marina not far from where he was living, so he often passed it and commented, “That’s a really nice boat.” The idea took hold and even though there was no for sale sign on the Bow Out, he decided to do some investigating. The harbor master at the marina said he knew the owner, and that the man did want to sell it. Edgar got his information, arranged a meeting, took a tour, and a fair price was found. The Bow Out sold, as she was and where she was, and a new adventure began to take shape.

Edgar’s job was moving to another city, and the idea was that the boat would move with it. We’d spend some time fixing her up in Rockport, Texas, and then spend a long weekend cruising to Kemah, just outside of Houston.

For several weekends we cleaned and took stock…spent time in the engine room and cleaned some more. The prior owner had lived on the boat for eight years, and left a lot of stuff behind, so it seemed every time we opened a cabinet or drawer, we were met with a new stash of boat parts. I was holding up a lot of mysterious items and saying, “Does this look important?” or “Do we need an extra one of these?”

Our first attempt to move her ran into snag when we put her in reverse. There was a strange noise and then…nothing. She wouldn’t go. We eased her back into the slip and Edgar dove down for a better look.

It was the propeller key, which had slipped out and allowed the wheel to turn freely on the shaft. One of our new neighbors at the marina was a retired machinist and was able to give us a piece of stock, which had to be shaped, and then Edgar made another dive to put the propeller back on, and the key in its slot.

When a local shipyard could take her, we motored two hours to get her pulled out of the water and get a good look at the bottom. The barnacles needed to be scraped off, the blisters repaired, the propeller addressed, through holes replaced, new zincs installed, and a fresh coat of paint applied. We stood back with our hands on our hips and declared her ready. It was time to head into the Intercostal Waterway… known locally as, “The Ditch”.

The ICW runs for 3,000 miles and includes wide open sections in broad bays and other areas where you need to mind your depth finder or you will find yourself run aground. We got maps and downloaded a chart-plotting app to help us find our way. We estimated we’d average about 8 knots per hour, and that it would take the entire weekend to get there, especially since we didn’t have spotlights on the boat, and weren’t planning to travel at night. We spotted some marinas along the way, and planned to stay in Matagorda the first night. There were a lot of unknowns. This was our maiden voyage on the Bow Out, other than the short trip to move it from the marina where we bought it, to the shipyard. We’d done a bunch of checking in the engine room, but weren’t sure if other problems would emerge on a longer journey. We filled up on fuel and snacks and picked up Kate at the airport… she flew in especially to be a part of the adventure. We got a good night’s rest so we could leave at first light.

On the first big day of our adventure, we were greeted by some surprise visitors, and faced our first locks of the journey. Check back in tomorrow for the next installment.