Day #1: to Stingaree Marina

 

Well we made it!  After four years of planning and six months of getting my boat ready, we finally made it to a Destination.  No, not the Bahamas.  Not even to Miami, or New Orleans.  No, we managed to slug our way from Kemah to the Stingaree Marina, our first planned nightly stop, a distance of 35 miles.

In the Houston Ship Channel at daybreak

The day started with a 3:00 wakeup alarm.  Then guzzle down some coffee, rush to get the boat ready, and get out of Marina Del Sol by 4:30 am, so to ride the tide. 

Navigating thru Clear Lake in the black of night was a bit challenging.  I had no visual marks that I could rely on, and so had to rely entirely on my GPS chartplotter.  The good part is that it worked well - except that the AIS warning alarm kept going off every few minutes telling me that a collision with another vessel was imminent.  I finally figured how to just turn off the bloody alarm - all while driving and navigating, mind you - ignoring all the on-screen warnings saying that I should not do this! 

Eventually we made it to the Houston Ship Channel, which we had all to ourselves in the pre-dawn hours.  The wind and waves were calm as can be.  But as the daylight gradually brightened, more and more ships and barges appeared, and the wind picked up and it got choppy.

Entrance to the Gulf ICW

Finally we reached the entrance to the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW), and I made my long-anticipated turn to the east.  Immediately the water became calm.  I was able to throttle back a little, so to cut down on the noise and not work the engine so hard.   Stingaree Marina was now a mere five miles ahead.

Fishing fleet on the ICW

I wish I could finish this article saying that the entire day was rather uneventful.  Unfortunately, that was not to be the case.  About a mile and a half from Stingaree, a loud rattle suddenly started up.  I throttled back and went to investigate.  The engine looked Ok - there was nothing obvious.  I determined that the vibration only occurred when in gear; it stopped when in neutral.  But the boat was moving, and we had propulsion.  A likely cause was that the propeller caught something, maybe a crab trap.  But there was nothing we could do now except throttle down, keep going, get to the marina, and investigate later.  When the weather is sunny, I'll have to get out a snorkel and mask, and get in the water to check it out.  Not looking forward to that.

Deck at Stingaree looking out over the ICW

In the meantime, more screaming northerly winds are projected for the next two days.  Here's where our relaxed, no-place-we-gotta-be-now schedule pays off, and we can stay tied up here for as long as it takes for the weather to settle down before heading onward.  (Assuming I can fix the prop.)  Stay tuned!

Pelicans lining up for a free meal

 

 

 

Dragonfly on the left, tied up to a finger pier that is only about a foot wide!