Stingaree: Third time is (hopefully) a charm

Out in the middle of Galveston Bay

Well, here we are again, one of the two places where Dragonfly has spent the most time (not counting time spent "on the hard" at Pier 77).  This time, we hope to break the dreaded Stingaree Curse, and actually make it out of here without something else breaking.  Joan even brought along a piece of poster board and some markers, and if something DOES break, she will construct a "Boat For Sale" sign right on the spot and then hitch a ride home!

Our friend, marker "31A", entrance to the ICW

The trip here from Kemah was, I am pleased to say, uneventful.  It was a bit foggy at daybreak out in Galveston Bay, evidenced by the photo above.  But with a reliable GPS chart plotter to guide the way, I was able to navigate smoothly.  It also helped immensely that all the ships and barges were much too smart to try and traverse the bay in fog like that.  So we had the entire ship channel all to ourselves.

Actually, I lied: one thing DID break on the way.  The @#$%& latch on the aft cabin door malfunctioned.  We had put Snow the cat in there while leaving our marina slip, so the noise of the engine starting wouldn't scare him off the boat.  But once clear, we couldn't get the bloody door open!  Poor Snow was trapped in there, diesel noise and fumes and all.  Joan finally forced it open with a crowbar.  (I'll fix the blasted thing later.)

Awesome power boats rafted up at Stingaree

Anyway, Stingaree turns out to be an entirely different place after the weather warms up.  I tell you, this is one happening place!  Seems everybody in south Texas with a boat likes to hang here.  The restaurant and the outdoor deck are just busting over with activity.  Every inch of dock space has a boat parked, and then some.  And there's all sorts of fun-and-games for the whole family.

We passed the tug "Grayson", our grandson's namesake

Outdoor deck very busy with partiers

In other news, Joan and I finally did our long-anticipated anchor drill.  We headed for a secluded cove attached to Clear Lake, and successfully lowered and raised up our 35 pound CQR anchor.  While on the hook, I once again donned my wetsuit, and dived down to try and clean the intermittently-working depth sensor.  I was able to find it in the murky water and give it a good scrubbing.  But the @#$% thing still only works occasionally.  Grrrrr!

Dragonfly tied up in her regular spot

The weather forecast for tomorrow (Sunday) is rather dismal, so we will probably stay here two nights.  Our next stop is Taylor Bayou, just west of Sabine Lake (near Port Arthur), where we plan on anchoring for the night.  It should take about eight hours from Stingaree to get there, all on engine power.  Stay tuned!

here's Marina Del Sol at a quiet sunset

This is the mud bank where we got stuck last time, when the steering failed.  Fortunately, we were safely out of the middle of the ICW.