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September 23, 2004
Location: Clear Lake, Texas
Miles Traveled: 0

We were planning on leaving Kemah today for Double Bayou in Trinity Bay. Unfortunately tropical storm Ivan is on it’s way towards us, so we decided to wait here at the dock until it passes. It’s forecast to go thru here around 1900 tonight. We’re hoping that tomorrow’s weather is more favorable for us to leave around mid morning for the 4 hour sail. Since we didn’t leave we decided to go to Skippers for dinner with Mitch and Debbie. I had the pork chops (very good) and David had the Ghyro sandwich.

September 24, 2004
Location: Double Bayou, Texas
Miles Traveled: 23

We left Kemah this afternoon at 1325 and arrived in Double Bayou at 1800 . Winds were light at less than 5 knots the entire trip so we motored the entire way. It was mostly sunny in the mid 80’s. We’re forecast for scattered thunderstorms today and tomorrow, but the rest of next week is supposed to be great. Before we left today we went and got our fishing licenses as we plan on trying our new tackle and our luck here in Double Bayou.

The trip over to Double Bayou was basically uneventful. A four and a half hour trip in waters as smooth as glass. Crossing the Houston Ship Channel was easy as there just wasn’t that much traffic. Once in Trinity Bay, we were greeted with an abundance of playful dolphins including lots of babies. They were jumping and playing in our wake coming as close to a foot from the boat. David and I slowed the boat down and put the engine in neutral for a short while so that we could enjoy the dolphins.

Entering Double Bayou was much easier this time than our last trip as all the markers were actually there this time (so many were missing during our last trip). The waters were unusually high in the bayou due to tropical storm Ivan which was also causing a lot of vegetation to float out of the bayous that needed careful navigating around.

Once inside Double Bayou, we took the East Fork to our favorite spot and tied up for the next few days. The dingy was launched for a quick ride around the bayou, then it was back to the boat for a quick dinner of salami sandwiches and chips before bed. During the night there was a lot of thunder and lightning to be seen and heard, but it all went around us and we never saw any rain.

September 25, 2004
Location: Double Bayou, Texas
Miles Traveled: 0

Got up early and tried my luck at fishing, but they just weren’t biting today. David and I took the dingy for a ride and explored the East Fork (we had always done the West Fork before). We took the dingy about 5 miles up the bayou and saw a few scattered houses and a sunken shrimp boat. Didn’t see any alligators either, but lots of spiders making their webs over the water between the trees on either bank. These spiders were huge! About the size of a fist. We saw two sailboats come up the bayou this afternoon, a small Hunter and a Coronado 35 center cockpit. They tied up about a mile up stream from us. Tried fishing again this evening, but still no luck. Grilled steak on the BBQ and asparagus for dinner, then we watched Castaway on DVD.

September 26, 2004
Location: Double Bayou, Texas
Miles Traveled: 0

Got up early again, jumped in the dingy and went fishing again. Yep, still no luck. Can’t figure it out, every time we’ve been here before the fishing has always been good. One of the problems I’ve been having is that I keep loosing lures. I thought that I wasn’t tieing them correctly so I had David start tieing them on for me, but I still kept loosing them. Well, come to find out the line on the two rods we just bought was rotted. When we grabbed the fishing line with both hands and gently pulled the line would snap. So I guess we’ll have to take them in when we get back and have new line put on the reels. When I was out fishing in the dingy I saw Mitch and Deb in their Island Packet 38, s/v Destination, coming into Double Bayou. I quickly pulled up next to them and told them were we were moored then I quickly went back to our boat and told David to help prepare the boat so that Mitch and Deb could raft up next to us. It was a great treat to have them there. Mitch and their dog Gizmo jumped into the dingy with me and we went to do some exploring while David and Deb made some spaghetti for lunch. We went a couple of miles up the bayou and saw a small alligator, about 3 1/2’ long. Once we got back to the boats David and Deb had the spaghetti and garlic bread done so we sat for lunch. It was great, and many thanks to Mitch and Deb for coming over to cook us lunch.

After lunch it was time to say goodbye to s/v Destination and continue with our shakedown cruise on our own. Late in the afternoon we did some prep work on the boat in anticipation of an early departure tomorrow. The awning was taken down and stowed, sail covers removed and the dingy stowed. You guessed it, I had to go fishing again, and with the same results. Chili and rice for dinner with oranges and plumbs for desert. After dinner we listened to the radio to check the weather forecast then went over the charts for our trip to Galveston. After deciding on a departure time for tomorrow we both went to bed early.

September 27, 2004
Location: Galveston, Texas
Miles Traveled: 32

Up early today to we can make our way down to Galveston. The weather is absolutely beautiful; sunny, mid 80s but still no wind. The forecast for today is calm waters in the bay with winds 5 to 10 knots from the north. After our morning coffee we untied our lines from the trees and motored out of Double Bayou at 1015. The waters were again very flat and there was less than 5 knots of wind. The trip down to Galveston was basically non-eventful. The bulk of our six and a half hour trip was spent in the Houston Ship Channel where we shared the waters with shrimp boats, tugs and barges and lots of large commercial ships.

As we approached the Galveston Channel we were greeted by an abundance of dolphins. They were swimming all around us and right next to us, some jumping playfully and doing summersaults.

At 1645 we tied up to the docks at Harbor House in Galveston. The folks there at the Harbor House Hotel were gracious enough to let us use the showers in one of the vacant rooms, and it was a shower well needed. Since our plan was to head offshore in the morning for Freeport, Texas we decided to have an early dinner and go to be early. Grilled steak on the BBQ with green beans for dinner, peanut butter cream cookies and tangerines for desert.

September 28, 2004
Location: Freeport, Texas
Miles Traveled: 55

Knowing that today would be the longest traveling day on our shakedown cruise we got up early so we could leave at the crack of dawn. For some reason I thought that sunrise was at 0600 so we were up at 0500. I checked us out of Harbor House and paid the bill then helped David get the boat ready. Unfortunately sunrise wasn’t until 0700 so we waited another hour and had some more coffee before leaving.

Just as the sun began to make an appearance we left Harbor House and motored down the Galveston Channel towards the Gulf of Mexico with a beautiful sunrise off the bow. There was a lot of traffic this morning including pilot, crew and shrimp boats as well as ferries moving commuters and large ships coming and going. The forecast for today was mostly sunny with winds of 5 knots out of the North. Once we entered the Gulf of Mexico it still felt like we were in the bay, the seas were only 1’ at most. We unfurled the jib after we rounded the south Galveston Jetty, but after a couple of hours we furled it back in as there just wasn’t enough wind to keep it filled.

Our trip to Freeport in the gulf was very easy at an average speed of 5.6 knots. We were able to maintain a good rhumb line course despite the many shrimp boats. Along the way we saw occasional spots of the calm waters boiling and watched the seagulls and pelicans diving to catch the smaller fish that were running from the large fish. It was neat to see the skip jack tuna swarming these smaller fish, jumping with their bright green and yellow colors.

As we approached Freeport we noticed a rather large ship starting to come out of the Freeport entrance, so we decided to wait and do circles before entering the Freeport Fairway. Once in the fairway we were able to enter Freeport fairly easily despite the congested traffic of shrimpers, fishing boats and other large commercial vessels. As we approached the jetties we were again treated more playing dolphins. After entering the  protected waters of the jetties we turned and headed east on the ICW (Intracoastal Waterway) for the one mile to Bridge Harbor Marina where tied up at 1655. Spaghetti with meat sauce and garlic bread for dinner, tangerines and plumbs for desert. Before heading off to bed we went over our route on the charts that would take us east on the ICW to Offatts Bayou.

September 29, 2004
Location: Offatts Bayou, Texas
Miles Traveled: 35

Before leaving Freeport this morning we decided to fill up with diesel, a whopping 18.83 gallons (we hold 80 gallons). After figuring out how many hours we had already run we were happy to find out that we were only burning .75 gallons of diesel per hour. Again, our trip to Offatts Bayou was uneventful as the weather continued to behave. It was mostly sunny and in the mid 80s, winds were out of the north at less than 5 knots. For the first half of the trip we shared the ICW with a lot of barge traffic, all but one were westbound. David was at the helm most of the day while I did a few small projects down below including a couple of cat naps.

When we turned off the ICW to enter Offatts Bayou we ended up touching the bottom briefly but never slowed down as it was very soft mud. We anchored right in the middle of Offatts in 23’ of water using our new Spade anchor with 125’ of chain. We sat on the boat for about a half hour to make sure the anchor was set and wouldn’t drag, but after realizing that it was blowing less than 5 knots I really didn’t think we would drag even if the anchor wasn’t set. After backing down on the engine just to make sure the anchor wouldn’t budge we turned off the engine and launched the dingy. We did have one problem that I had to take a look at, our depth sounder quit working as we were coming into Offatts Bayou. I called the local West Marine and John was kind enough to meet me at one of the docks with a new transducer which I needed to troubleshoot the problem. After some testing it became clear that I needed to re-bed the in hull transducer. Once it was cleaned up and epoxied to the hull everything was working as it should again.

After a couple of dingy rides and exploring it was time for an early dinner of grilled pork tenderloin and rice followed up with some peanut butter cream cookies. Watched the news and off to bed.

September 30, 2004
Location: Offatts Bayou, Texas
Miles Traveled: 0

Didn’t do much today. I took the dingy over to a convenient store that has a dingy dock and then walked to West Marine to return the transducer John brought over for us yesterday. While I was there I bought a Garmin handheld GPS to add to our inventory. Took a few dingy rides, tried my luck at fishing and actually caught a small catfish. It was too small to keep so we put him back in the water, didn’t catch anything else for the rest of the day.

Took a couple of cat naps. Ashley hates it when the diesel engine is running and as soon as she sees us get the key for the engine she runs and hides until the engine is turned off. Once it’s off she relaxes more, and while we were at anchor she enjoyed her time on deck watching the birds and laying in the sun. Checked our position with the GPS and radar and we haven’t moved except for the normal swinging at anchor. For lunch we had bhindi masala (an Indian dish) with basmati rice and for dinner David made some salmon cakes. More fresh fruit for desert.

October 1, 2004
Location: Clear Lake, Texas
Miles Traveled: 31
Total Trip : 176 Miles, 8 Days

We weighed began to weigh anchor this morning at 0800, but just was we starting bringing in the chain the alternator belt started squealing so we shut down the engine and changed the belt. Once the belt was replaced we finished hauling the chain and anchor in and began making our way out of Offatts Bayou at 0845. Surprisingly the chain and anchor came up clean considering we the bottom here is all mud.

Just before we entered the ICW I hailed the Causeway Railroad bridge operator on our VHF radio to see what traffic was like and to inform him of our impending arrival. The passage under the bridge is very narrow and there is not enough room for a sailboat and a barge at the same time so I wanted to make sure we weren’t meeting a barge headed in the opposite direction. The bridge operator told us that traffic would be clear however we would have to wait as he had the bridge down for railroad traffic. We waited in the ICW doing circles until the train had passed and the bridge was up. Passage was easy then we continued our way towards Pelican Cut and on to the Houston Ship Channel.

Our trip home was not any different than the past week as it remained mostly sunny, in the mid 80s with little to no wind. There was  a lot of traffic in the Houston Ship Channel, more than I’ve seen before. Aside from the normal barge and ship traffic there were also a few other sailboats heading north.

Once we exited the ship channel and began heading towards the Kemah Channel the wind finally started to pick up, it was actually blowing 10-15 knots. It didn’t really matter any because we still couldn’t raise the sails with the wind on the nose. Before entering the Kemah Channel we were greeted by more dolphins, always a welcome site. Our journey ended at 1610 when we pulled into our slip at Waterford Harbor Marina.

Overall this was an excellent shakedown cruise. Though we would have liked to have some wind to try out the new mainsail, it’s good to know that our diesel engine runs very strong. We did come back with a small list of things that we wanted to do or change, but nothing on the list will keep us from going to Florida in Novmeber. Considering we only had two minor issues arise in the eight days we were gone (depth sounder and alternator belt), we feel that we had a very successful cruise. Though we now only have 5 more weeks before departure time we only have four weeks to do any final projects. Damon’s family will be here the week prior to our departure and we would rather spend time with them than work on the boat.