Morgan City to New Orleans
31 MAR 2012
Capt. Gil


What an adventure! We left Morgan City dock at 0723 on the 29th. We arrived at the Houma municipal dock about 1300. Friends and fellow cruisers Steve and Marsha came to see us and we had a great visit.
The next morning as we were preparing to back out into the waterway, I made a blind call on VHF 13 advising of our intentions because visibility up and down the Intracoastal Waterway is restricted at the dock. I got a reply from a big tow, so we waited until he had passed. Truthsayer does not back well with her full keel, and the bow swung with the wind and current so naturally we were pointed the wrong way. After some jockeying with the rudder and throttle, we got pointed toward New Orleans and were underway about 0724. It was a pleasant run to LaFitte, LA where we were going to stop for the day. There is an air boat base there giving swamp tours, but no marina facilities, so we anchored behind a small island
A boat stopped and advised us that we were anchored in a bad place because barges came thru there all night long. I re-checked Active Captain and confirmed that several people had anchored where we were. We did move about 500 ft and set a stern line to keep us from swinging into the channel. I slept with one eye open and did not hear a single tow pass us all night long.

The next morning we made it to the Harvey Lock about 0930. We had to wait on one vessel locking from the river to the canal, about a 45 minute wait. Then we entered the lock. We secured to the lock wall with a single line to the midship cleat. I kept the onboard end of the line snubbed around the cleat and took up the slack as we rose about 6 feet to the river. Truthsayer exited the lock and contacted New Orleans traffic on VHF 12 as we entered the Mississippi. We passed downtown New Orleans and the French Quarter as we navigated downstream to the industrial canal.
The Industrial Canal Lock website was still showing about 15 boats waiting in both directions, so we did not know what to expect. We fell in behind the Capt Anthony with 4 barges loaded with rock and reported to the lockmaster. We were instructed to follow the Capt Anthony into the lock. This saved us many hours of waiting for our turn, as the website was showing 24 hours plus queue time.
We waited behind the Anthony while one lock turn from the canal to the river completed and then we entered. We got a midship line secured, but the Anthony's prop wash caught us and we got crosswise in the lock before we could get a second line secured. No damage, but sorta scary.

Exiting the lock we had poor communications with the bridges and were unsure if they were really going to open for us. But all went well until we passed the intersection where the GIWW splits off from the Industrial Canal. We called the L&N railroad bridge and got no answer. I needed to slow down until we established communication with the bridge, but when I pulled back the throttle there was no response. The cable had broken! We went thru two more bridge openings with me down in the engine room adjusting the throttle and Marina steering the boat. I finally left the throttle at idle and we very gingerly made our way to the dock at Seabrook Marina. Needless to say, we were glad that stressful day was completed.