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April 18, 2009
We docked Slidell, LA at Oak Harbor Marina. We went to a small nearby restaurant and ate fried bowtie pasta and crab dip. For dinner, Linda had Snapper Ponchatrain and I had Mahi Mahi with macaroni and cheese. We brought home chocolate bread pudding. We are in food paradise!
In Alabama we saw that it is crawfish season. We are about to take the intracoastal waterway across Louisiana. I think we will eat well.
Linda has decided to stay till the end. Hopefully that will be about 4 or 5 more days.
We left Gulfport about 9:00 a.m. because we waited until we saw the weather would be okay. There was very little wind early this morning but as the sun rose, the winds picked up. I thought we were going to have to stay another day. I checked the weather and it was not as bad as I expected but not good either. So, I went back to bed and slept till 6:15. We started getting ready to go and then decided to stay after we looked at the weather. Linda took a nap and I worked on the computer. Finally, the weather changed and we headed off. Well, we had to ask a couple of guys to help us off the dock because the wind was blowing but other than that, we were fine.
It took an hour or so to get out to the intracoastal waterway and then I raised the main and let out the jib and we sailed downwind with the motor running on a low rpm. We reached as high as 8 knots during the day.
I wanted to go to New Orleans. There is a boat yard there that apparently has transient slips–Seabrook Harbor Marina. They had an answering machine and never returned our call. Linda read the Waterway Guide and learned of an Oak Harbor Marina in Slidell, LA. It was closer. Besides, there was a tornado warning for this area so Slidell is where we headed.
To get to Slidell we left the intracoastal waterway and crossed into Lake Ponchatrain through the Rigolet. The Rigolet is a river like area, thirty and forty feet deep. We are nicely tied to the dock with plenty of dock lines and tied up for the tornado, if one occurs.
Post again tomorrow
Royal Crescent.
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I live in Slidell and received a link to your blog through an alert I get from Google every day that sends me news and blog links with the keyword "Slidell" in them. I just wanted to say welcome to Slidell. I'm assuming the place you ate was Marina Cafe in Oak Harbor? Great choice if so. Excellent food there. I also wanted to let you know a little more about the Rigolets (Rigoleeze, as we say it here). It's pretty much the biggest "entrance" and exit" of Lake Pontchartrain. The current flowing through there has some areas of the bottom "wallowed out" as deep as 90 - 100 feet. There used to be a very old and historical lighthouse on the west side of the highrise bridge where US Hwy 90 crosses the Rigolets. Unfortunately it was washed away during Hurricane Katrina in 2005. It is also a huge fishing area with all the tributaries and deep holes that offer fish a spot to bed. It's a very historical area as well. Fort Pike, which is situated on the south shore of the eastern entrance to the Rigolets, played a major part of helping to keep the British out of New Orleans during the War Of 1812 and was also heavily fought over by the North and the South during the Civil War. Whoever occupied it would have easy access to New Orleans and pretty much control the Mississippi River. Just wanted to give a little more perspective on the area for you and I hope you enjoyed your stay in Slidell. Have a safe journey on the rest of your trip home.
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ReplyDeleteThanks for the information.
Rodney