What began as an early and calm morning turned out to be quite eventful. We cast off from our marina docks at about 6:00 a.m. with one of our slip neighbors generously snapping photos and wishing us Bon Voyage.
Kaleo motoring out of the marina
From there, we:
- Navigated an unexpected crane crossing at the entrance to Clear Lake (yep, before we were even fully out of the marina). They quickly moved the crane arm to let us by, so no biggie.
- Needed to make a quick stop into Seabrook Shipyards for Matt to walk the half-mile to have our propane tanks refilled. (We missed their closing time by about 30 mins on Sat.). Well, they were out of propane but had empathy for our plight so the guy working there drove Matt to a nearby competitor to get them filled. On the ride back, they got to chatting and Matt learned that our new friend had just been released from spending 9 years in prison. He was a nice guy, trying to get his life back together, and we graciously thanked him for his favor and prayed for his renewed path.
- Had a beautiful motor sail to Galveston averaging 7 knots (and a record time for us in 3 hours)
- Got stuck in the mud as we were entering the ICW. An embarrassing Tow Boat US visit but it was good to have learned our depth sounder about 2 feet off from being accurate. Insurance paid off for us again with this one.
- Made our way along the ICW for a bit, only to find our intended destination to be a dilapidated structure that was formally Steve’s Landing (cross that off your must-see list).
- Our back up anchorage was Stingaree’s Marina and Restaurant. Well, our chart plotter wanted us to believe it was about 2 miles closer than it actually was and sent us down a misguided channel to get bogged in the mud AGAIN. A serious chat with the Big Guy upstairs, and Matt at the helm, returned us into the ICW to continue on by calling Stingaree’s for their exact location. (A good lesson to never trust one source of navigation equipment.)
- Ah, within sight but just out of reach to their finger pier (think your pinky finger pier for size), we were just about to breathe a sigh of relief when… you guessed it. Stuck. That makes three strikes on our first day. So, we tied up to the piling with a long line, dropped the stern anchor and were out of the ICW for the night. Another sailboat, who hadn’t made it to the anchorage before dark, frantically searching for a place to tie up for the night, almost became stuck in the mud with us but we were able to relay the shallow depths to them before they turned in.
Welcome to the ICW jungle.
After enjoying breakfast migas for dinner, we headed to bed early with anticipation for the next day’s 40 mile run (that’s long for a slow moving sailboat).
N 29° 28.07/W 94° 38.71
