As the sun goes down, we are sitting at anchor in the Mermentau River, just a short way up from the ICW, where we can safely pull in for the night. We aren't far from civilization because...
A boat just zoomed past us, so we are rockin’ and rollin’.
The Mermentau River goes all the way
up to Lake Charles, Louisiana.
Back to this morning...
After a fairly early morning...both of us awake at 4am when
Waz got up and turned the Genset and Aircon back on...we finally arose around
7am. I went outside to revel in the
morning, the sun coming up to the east, and the birds flying over head in
formation. I love the early morning bird calls and the damp in the air. Sitting
so close to the marches was great. I remarked to Waz that we really needed to
be in a Kayak or something closer to the water, to fully appreciate them.
We turned left just past the first tow , up Taylor Bayou to anchor for the night. We could hear the Gensets of the tugs, but otherwise we were in the middle of nowhere marshland.
There is salt all over the boat and she is slippery and damp. We cant wait to give her a bath when we finally get to Delcambre.
After a simple
breakfast of yoghurt with fresh fruit and muesli and a cuppa, inside on the
coffee table, we set off for a long day of motoring.
We crossed over the Texas/Louisiana state line around 9.45am
this morning.
Waz had anticipated that we would travel some 50 miles
today to our next overnight anchorage.
After listening to the weather forecast, we decided to just keep going
and get as far as the anchor we were supposed to be at tomorrow night
(Thursday, Mermentau River).
Tropical Storm Ingrid, down in the Gulf of Mexico (not that far
away) is threatening to hose down on Friday, the day we are supposed to be
going to our marina stop in Delcambre, LA. We just heard from the Marina
contact to say they all have wet weather gear and are happy to greet us and
help us berth and hook up to all the necessary.
There were lots of tows at the beginning of our journey today. We were just outside of Port Arthur when we started this morning, and were confronted with many parked barges. As we joined the ICW again, and into Port Arthur, we had a confrontation with a HUGE vessel. We just had to wait for it to pass.
The town or city of Port Arthur is obviously an industrial one. The huge concrete levee that borders the ICW is right in the backyards of homes. Some have built lookouts high enough to see over the top of the levee. I suspect that most of the homes along the levee are below the waterline.
Today we did another first: Our first Lock. We had to wait for another Tow to come through before entering the lock.
Out the other side going towards the second 'first' of the day and trip, a Pontoon Bridge. This operates with a floating swing arm (boat) pulled open and closed by a cable that is then submerged to the bottom to allow boats to pass over the top of it.
Here it is closed.
..and open.
Some leisurely spectators to the goings on on the ICW
We had to pass through a second pontoon bridge fairly soon after the first. All these were negotiated easily. Fascinating stuff!
Apart from the off turn in the 'road' there are long stretches of straight waterway. One of them was 20 miles long.
The change in vegetation was quite marked, the further into
Louisiana we got. It was with much pleasure that we noted the marshes had
turned into trees lining the ICW and then tropical plants that looked familiar,
like fan palms and Monstera, all growing wild. The trees got taller and taller
the closer we got to our destination. 
I have to say, we are both very tired tonight. Not enough
sleep coupled with 9 hours (and 90 miles)of motoring has taken it’s toll.
There were lots of tows to pass, lots of times where we
were the only boat on the ICW...for hours...and
lots of time to think and talk and just enjoy the birds and occasional
Gator...especially getting towards the end of the trip.
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