To Houma

3/9-10/07 – This morning we experienced our first taste of rush hour on the water. There was a constant stream of speed boats whizzing by starting at 6am and giving us a nice roll out of bed wake up call. As we pulled out we are being following by a flock of birds, all crying out “fish, fish fish-mine, mine, mine” I know we look like a fishing boat, but really!!! The terrain is not at all what I expected to find this far south in Louisiana; it’s actually quite beautiful and green. Not just water surrounded by marsh grasses, but many different kinds of trees and bushes; some in bloom. Entering Larose we found ourselves again surrounded by shipyards. It’s amazing to see how they work on these vessels, some on the hard, and some still in the water. I’m talking BIG ships and we’re still not sure how they got there. Next to these operations are pastures of horses and cows, all very unusual – boats and grazing animals. We still have the many different barges and tugs to deal with, but we are learning their language. Do you know what a red flag two strung out is? We do! Or how about a two empty side-by-side? For about 3 miles today we tagged along behind a loaded two strung out, at 3.9 knots. (Aren’t you impressed?!?) It’s been rather another stressful day, weaving in and out of barge traffic; avoiding the various growths of water plants and debris, so we’ve decided to tie up in Houma (pronounced Home-Ah). The city marina is located right off the canal between twin bridges. This enables us to watch barge traffic all day. (Oh Boy) Houma is a nice little town, we had dinner at the Samari Dragon and decided to walk it off and see what we could find. What we found was reminisce of their own Marti-Gras celebration; purple, green and gold bead necklaces hung, or thrown everywhere. This is an old town with lots of pride and history. There is also a sizeable medical center right across the canal. We found a large size announcing a CASA festival next weekend. Those of you that know me know of my association and affection for CASA, it made me feel good to see this wonderful organization hosting what would appear to be a large event.
I was sitting on the aft deck watching a dad and son fish across the canal, when all of a sudden we all heard a very loud noise, much louder than any speed boater or tug. It was sea plane taking off UNDER the bridge; I’ve never seen anything like that in my life. It was too quick to grab my camera, but it would have made a great shot. After these last few days we’ve decided to take a MHD (Mental Health Day). It’s time to restock our food supply, get some laundry done and relax a bit before we continue with our journey.