Some A'comin, Some A'goin and Some A'sittin

After spending a week working on “Little Lara” we left Baytown  for Port Arthur, Texas on September 22, 2015. This required we sail down the Houston Ship Channel for 20 miles to Bolivar Roads, then east for 89 miles through the Gulf Coast Intracoastal Waterway.

Large ships chasing "Little Lara"
down the Houston Ship Channel

The Houston Ship Channel achieved its earliest significance as a link between interior Texas and the Gulf of Mexico as the only waterway in Texas that was dependably navigable. Farmers over a large area brought their cotton to Houston to be shipped by barge or riverboat to Galveston, the best natural port in Texas, were it was transferred to seagoing vessels and thence to market. Goods destined for the Texas interior came upstream, and visitors and immigrants made the route one of the most traveled in Texas in the pre-railroad era. Even after railroads and automobiles later

Large ships waiting to enter
the Houston Ship Channel

diverted traffic, the Houston Ship Channel remained an important transportation artery for bulky goods. The Houston Ship Channel first opened to large ocean going vessels November 10, 1914. Today it is one of the busiest waterways in the United States. As we sailed down this inland seaway we encountered fishing trawlers, tug boats, barges and mammoth ocean going vessels. These large ships could be seen in front of us, waiting offshore to come into port or lined-up, behind us, as if on a freeway, as they headed out into the Gulf of Mexico. The sea traffic made sailing this area nerve racking for Peggy and me as we counted at one time over 16 huge ships coming towards us – either in front or from behind. These ships can reach lengths of 1300 feet, widths of 59 feet and travel up to 20 miles per hour. To put this into perspective, “Little Lara” is 24 feet long and 8 feet wide and travels up to 6 miles per hour! Luckily (or skillfully, depending upon to whom you talk) we were able to transverse this congested area safely, suffering only frayed nerves.

In Red
Gulf Coast Intracoastal Waterway

The Intracoastal Waterway is a navigable toll-free shipping route, extending 1300 miles along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico from Brownsville, Texas to Ft Myers, Florida. This waterway is a channel with a controlling depth of 12 feet. Although the U.S. government proposals for a waterway were first made in the early 19th century, the Gulf Coast Intracoastal Waterway was not completed until 1949. It utilizes sounds, bays, lagoons, rivers, and canals. The route is federally maintained. It was originally planned to form a continuous channel from New York City to Brownsville, Texas, but the necessary canal link through northern Florida was never completed. The waterway is not always straight as it meanders through these sounds, bays, and lagoons.  One portion we transversed is referred to as "The Wiggles" because of its serpentine route.

"The Wiggles"
(Note: "Little Lara" is represented by the red triangle)

Today, the Gulf Coast Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) is primarily used as a route for barges, but it also furnishes important access to major gulf ports for the large oceangoing vessels. On the ICW we encountered a great deal of barge traffic. A barge is a flat-bottomed boat built specifically to carry freight such as oil, petroleum products, foodstuffs, grains, building materials, and manufactured goods. The standard barge is 195 feet long, 35 feet wide with a capacity of 1500 tons. The average tow on the Gulf Coast Intracoastal Waterway is two barges, but flotillas can go up to six barges, depending on the type of cargo, the river segments being navigated, and the size of the towboat. Towboats push these barges up and down the waterway and can range in size from about

Tight Squeeze -- two tugboats
passing on the ICW

117 feet long by 30 feet wide to more than 200 feet long and 45 feet wide. They draft anywhere from six feet to nine feet. A towboat's diesel engine can produce power from a few hundred horsepower to 10,000 horsepower, moving a tow at four to six miles per hour. Why is a towboat called a "towboat" when it pushes barges you ask? The word "tow" comes from the canal age when a draft animal walking along the bank of the canal pulled a barge. As rivermen gained experience with moving barges, they found that, by lashing barges together and pushing them, they could control the barges better and move more of them. The control was especially helpful when navigating the smaller rivers and tight river bends. Like the Houston Ship Channel, we found large volumes of barge traffic all along the waterway. Some were coming, some were going, and many were tied up waiting for their next cargo shipment. Though seeing a four hundred foot barge and towboat coming at us was not nearly as nerve racking as a 1300 foot container ship, it still proved dicey as we would approach one in a narrow part of the channel or when we would suddenly encounter one coming around a bend.

As we crossed over into Louisiana we arrived at the Calcasieu Locks.  These locks were designed to limit salt water from migrating upstream into Louisiana's freshwater channels and bayous.  The "Lock Master" informed us the locks were closed each day, except weekends, until 5:00 pm for repairs.  This made it difficult for us as there is no safe anchorages east of the locks for 20 miles, a distance great than we could travel with only two hours of daylight remaining, so we decided to sail up the Calcasieu River for the city of Lake Charles.  Here we found a new marina close to the down town area, and a beautiful city park with a playground our grandchildren would die for. We plan to remain in Lake Charles so we can attend General Conference and while we wait to see what hurricane Joaquin decides to do. Peggy was excited to learn that there is an Acadian (Cajun) music and food festival here this weekend. We have enjoyed the first two weeks of our trip. True, the weather has been hot and humid, but the plant life has been beautiful, the birds and marine life have been interesting and the people have been fabulous.  Plus, we are safe in an interesting, beautiful part of Louisiana.  We could not ask for more.  Fair winds!