We departed Crowley's Yacht yard this morning headed down the Cal-Sag canal. The mast is in good hands at Crowleys and we're now a motor boat. We watched 2 small tugs maneuver a 700' ore carrier up a very narrow channel prior to departing. We soon caught up to them and had to pass them at another very narrow spot. The tugs put out a LOT of prop wash. First pucker of the day!
Soon we were out of the heavy industrial part of the Cal-Sag and into a mix of light scrub forest and a smattering of marinas & industrial sites. Barges are the main use for the canals here. We were cruising along nicely when I spotted a double wide barge set on the left, port side bank and another double on the right bank, leaving me with only about 20'. As I approached this, I realized the starboard double wide was moving toward us! I quickly circled back before getting next to the port side double and getting stuck in that precarious spot with the moving barge bearing down on us! Lots of jockeying around till we finally nestled up to the front of the stationary port side barge and waited for the starboard barge & tow to pass by. Second pucker of the day!
The next adventure was our first real locking. The Lockport lock dropped us 45'. Quite impressive. We had a lot of concern with handling these large locks. All went very well. Hopefully that will be the norm for all our locking. Third pucker of the day!
Collected plenty of video for another clip. We may take a day off soon and I'll get back to editing. We'll need more wifi to upload. We're finding open wifi is not common. So that will limit my upload capabilities.
Been following your progress. Bet that weather was fun on the lake. Didn't know that you actually have to motor down to the gulf. Lots of gas and time. Enjoy the scenery. Sure you will have many more "barge' moments. Regards......
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