Mermentau Revisited

June 20th -
Our anchorage was great last night, both anchors held very nicely and we were able to weigh anchor easy this morning. We pulled back into the ICW behind a 2 strung out barge. We watched as he entered the Calcasieu lock and after lifting 1 whopping foot exit and cross through the Black Bayou pontoon bridge. When it was our turn the lock master said ‘just stay in the middle captain’ which meant no tying off or fenders to put out for the deck boss (me) I put on my PFD just in case I had to step out on deck, but never did. This was a first for us, locking through and not securing the lines. Fortunately there was no breeze so it was easy for Tom to just mosey down the lane and out the other end (after a long blast on the horn from the lock master) Funny thing after he closed the gates behind us he hopped in his truck and drove down to the other end to open the exit gates. Then we passed through the pontoon bridge and eventually passed the barge that was ahead of us.

We have entered Louisiana and it’s easy to see the big difference in landscape. I believe the temperature has even dropped a few degrees. I’m seeing a few things I noted the first time we passed this way and you’ll likely see a few photos that look similar, but from a different direction. Such a the house who’s windows were bigger than the door, this time it was surrounded by family of folks fishing. The bulldozer that looks like it should be used as a swing.

We entered Mermentau River intending to stay the night 7 miles up at Myers Landing in the town of Lowry but when we arrived it was a beehive of activity. The one little bulkhead where I was told we could tie up was consumed with little boats, jet skis and families of all sort and sizes sitting around and frolicking in the water. Boats whizzed by us in all directions pulling skiers or tubers. We felt rather menacing being the largest thing on the water and totally out of our element. So we opted to skip Myers landing and anchor out in our old ox bow back down river. Now the last time we were here we found ourselves in a major storm and it was rather nerve racking pulling anchor and getting out of here. This time we expect the weather to be fantastic. We have dual gators, one aft and one forward keeping a close eye on our activities. When we pulled in we noticed a couple of tugs and about 6 barges ‘parked’ on the north entrance of the ox bow so Tom and I pulled along side and radioed to ask if they were going to have more visitors tonight or did they expect any work to be taking place (no late night deposits?) one of the captains indicated they’d been here for month and nothing was happening. In fact shortly after we anchored they left on a little work boat.

Both anchors are holding tight and we’ve got the generator going so we can have A/C tonight. We are surrounded by dragon flies, water hyacinth, cypress trees decorated with Spanish moss and exposed knees. The cicadas are chirping, birds are singing, and the gators are waiting.