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Oct. 26 – Houma, LA

Houma City Dock
Miles to Rockport, TX - 468

“It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see.” ―Henry David Thoreau

We had a long day filled with locks, barges and industrial lined shores. Our first lock this morning was the Industrial Lock that raised us up to the Mississippi River. Once out of the lock we cruised past New Orleans...the best view of the day. We exited the Mississippi about six miles up stream at the Harvey Lock. This lock isn't used by commercial traffic, so there isn't usually a wait. We found out a few days ago that it will be closed for maintenance for three weeks starting tomorrow. We lucked out...the alternate route wouldn't have been fun. After crossing the river we had about a 58 mile cruise to Hoama.

There are few options in this area for docking or anchoring. This part of the ICW is a man made cut which is either very commercial or very remote. Most of the commercial areas have something to do with shipbuilding or repair...barges and tugs in all stages of life are everywhere. The barge traffic is very heavy, even if there was a small cove to anchor, it wouldn't be safe because the barges travel day and night along the river. There's constant chatter on the VHF radio...totally different than what you hear in Florida or on the east coast. It’s kind of entertaining…what you can understand of it.

We had to wait for the first lock this morning with another large pleasure boat, tied off to some pilings. Kathy and I visited as we waited and discovered we were headed to the same dock for the evening...not a big surprise since it's all there really is in the area. After securing the boats we had a chance to relax and visit for awhile. They live aboard full time and are on their way to Texas...although on a much slower pace than us.

Approaching the Industrial Lock
Waiting at the Industrial Lock
There were four tugs locking down before it was our turn.
New Orleans
One of the barges we saw today
One of the larger, nicer shipbuilding facilities we went by today.
Can you tell we're in the back bayou country of Louisiana?

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