The usual early morning wake up came, but surprisingly it hasn’t been hard to wake up at all. Maybe because we go to bed at 8:00 most nights or maybe because each day has such purpose – to get to the next spot with as much daylight left as possible. Matt went to start the motor and rhun rhun rhun, nothing. Rhun, run, run, nothing. It wanted to start but wouldn’t. After a brief moment of despair, Matt got out Nigel Calder’s Boat Owners Mechanical and Electrical Handbook to see what the issue might be. Though oil pressure was the most likely culprit, the book said to check that the engine was getting enough heat to start firing. A quick inspection revealed that the preheat solenoid had broken loose from the engine (meaning, it wouldn’t preheat the engine and couldn’t start). Understandably, Mr. Beeker (affectionate name for our Westerbeke engine) was a bit too cold to get up and going right away this morning. A simple replacement of a bolt and the tightening of another and Mr. Beeker growled to life.
Bundled up against the cold
It was pretty chilly as we got underway (the coldest morning yet at about 50 degrees) and as Matt said, “This morning puts the icy in ICW.”
Next up, as R2-D2 (our auto-pilot) was guiding us along, it started veering too closely to the starboard shore and before Matt could react – thump – the boat stopped. Yep, stuck in the mud. Again. Now, an all too familar occurance, we went through the usual drills of trying to motor ourselves off, but no luck. With mulitlpe barges and tugs coming down the waterway, we got on the VHF to alert them that we were grounded with hopes to avoid any further problems. After several minutes of radio chatter, two tugs agreed to help us out! One, Miss Kim, blocked traffic while the other, Saftey Spirit, dropped its barges in the middle of the canal to float along briefly and came to hook up to the bow of Kaleo. The deckhand tossed a line the thickness of a coffee can for us to connect our, in comparison, very puny line to. Moments later, without the slighest engine rev from the tug, we were flung to freedom into the middle of the ICW and back on course.
A swift pull out of the mud
We can’t thank these two tugs enough. Their generosity and kindness made all the difference in our day. It’s folks like the captain and crew of those two tugs who make even the challenging parts of cruising more enjoyable.
With water back under the keel, Kaleo was gliding along again when we happened upon our first (moving) alligator sighting. It was hanging out in the middle of the channel then quickly swam toward shore as we drew closer. This was pretty exciting as we’ve been waiting to spot one on the move the whole trip.
Because of our delayed start, getting stuck and the 64 miles to cover, night fell on the bayou before we arrived at our destination. A first for our trip. We turned on the navigation lights, radar, and chatted with the tugs closest by. The tug Big Bay agreed to let us follow her into Morgan City if we needed to. But by God’s timing, we were passing through an area that has a vessel traffic control service (like air traffic control) that not only we checked into, but they were able to tell us the location and direction of every vessel on the water en-route to our destination. About another hour and we were safely tied up to the Morgan City Pleasure Docks, bought some fresh shrimp from a shrimper tied up next to us and enjoyed a dinner of Christie’s Étouffée.
N 29° 43.59/ W 91° 12.93
