Throwing off the Dock Lines

Peggy's Post: We spent the summer back home in Redding with Kelly our college-aged daughter who has been attending Brigham Young University. The summer was great and we enjoyed spending time with family and friends. At summer's end we again dropped Kelly off at BYU and visited our other children Amy and Eric in Utah. We were especially grateful to be able to spend time with Leah, Jon, kids and their new baby Odin.

We flew to Houston from Salt Lake City then rented a car and drove to Bayland Marina in Baytown,

Bayland Marina

Texas where we had left “Little Lara”. Of course, in order to sleep on the boat, we had to shift all the “stuff” we had stored in the cabin – dinghy, solar panel, whisker pole, dodger, sails, and cockpit cushions. “Little Lara” looked pretty good except for a little mildew on the interior wood which cleaned up easily. 

Working on boat projects

While we had the rental car we were able to do errands like going to the bank, post office and grocery store.  But the best part was being able to go to the Houston Temple, attend church and to visit family.  We sure appreciated Jill on the boat across from ours giving us a ride back from dropping the rental car off at the airport.  Some of the projects we worked on getting ready to leave Baytown included putting on the sails, rigging reefing lines, reinstalling the dodger, changing the engine oil and transmission fluid, replacing the oil filter, cleaning the seawater strainer, tuning up the outboard engine, checking all the electronics and navigation lights, rebuilding the head (toilet), and checking out the engine. The only glitch we found was the navigation program on our IPAD stopped communicating with the external GPS, so we couldn't see where we were on the chart. It was a pain trying to figure out all the confusing channel markers in the Houston Ship Channel, but we managed the old fashioned way using latitude and longitude. Thankfully Jay was able to figure out that we needed to download the newest IOS 9 (operating system) which took care of the problem. Definitely a tender mercy because they just came out with IOS 9 the day we needed it!

We spent our first night anchored in Offatts Bayou near Moody Gardens and Schlitterbahn in Galveston. It was a quiet night as we were the only boat there. I would have liked to go ashore but we haven't inflated the dinghy yet. The plan is to wait until we get through the locks at New Orleans then we will tow the dink behind us. The next day we enjoyed motoring east

Moody Gardens

on the Intracoastal Waterway. We found the Towboat Captains pushing the barges were very friendly and helpful, though it was a bit difficult understanding their East Texas-Louisiana accent! We tied up the second evening at Stingeree Marina (I'm glad I called ahead because they have only one transient slip). After bumping bottom we entered their very small, shallow basin. Soon “Little Lara” was tied up and settled in, so we took a walk to find ice cream, and surprise, we also found a beautiful beach. We walked along Crystal Beach cooling our tired feet in the 80 degree Gulf Coast waters, enjoying the cooling sea breeze. Yes it has been hot and humid, and No we do not have air conditioning on "Little Lara". So the cool ocean breeze and the cold ice cream were wonderful treats. We definitely recommend the seafood at Stingaree restaurant. The honey jalapeno grilled shrimp were fantastic! After several days we eventually found our way to Port Arthur and the Port Arthur Yacht Club. Here we plan on spending a few days to re-provision, refuel and attend Church.

Port Arthur Yacht Club

We have had such a marvelous time meeting people since we left Baytown. Mike at Stingaree Marina was a big help, and Butch at the Port Arthur Yacht Club offered us a guest slip, showers, ice, and breakfast with his famous homemade biscuits! Calvin gave us a ride into Walmart, and we've been invited by the club members to join them for a weekend BBQ. Everyone we have met in Port Arthur has offered to give us rides or to loan us their car! Thanks so much to the welcoming committee: Butch, Calvin, Greg & Ruth, John & Ginger and the rest of the gang. They are all extraordinarily friendly and so very helpful. If you have a chance, come to Port Arthur Yacht Club.  We promise you will not be disappointed! We hope you are all safe and well, and we will check back in next week.