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
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