Sailed to CAT Island

[JamesG161]

Not CATalina!
What a beautiful day to be sailing! Temp 78°, wind SSW at 11 knots steady on a close reach, 12° heel at 7 knots steady, seas 1 foot.. No humidity, no bugs, fresh air, cold beverage.

Anchored at sunset.

Wish you all were here!
Jim...

 

[BigEasy]

Real nice Jim, enjoy the scenery & nice weather!

 

[kloudie1]

Wish I coulda gone out there too.. It was a beautiful day for sailing today.. Enjoy, Jim

 

[jssailem]

Beautiful sunset James. Must have been a lovely sail.

 

[WayneH]

Been by Cat Island several times. Anchored at Ship Island a couple of times. But Horn Island is still my favorite.

 

[JamesG161]

Horn Island is still my favorite.

I agree but the Admiral and I set sail at 3PM, could have made Ship before Dark. Horn Island has great anchorage but a bit too far today.
Jim...

PS: ohhhh my ... love the relaxation that Sailing brings....

 

[JamesG161]

When I see Gulf Islands and CATalina I always do a "double take" . For those not familiar with one of the safest sailing waters between the Barrier Island that run from Louisiana through the panhandle of Florida... He is a quick map.

 

[JamesG161]

 

[kloudie1]

It is about a 60 mile run from my slip. Makes for a long but interesting sail.

 

[JamesG161]

t Horn Island is still my favorite.

Well 2nd great sailing day, but the Gulf was full of people heading to the island to celebrate.
1) Emergency call to USCG... Boat on fire on West Horn Island. 34' yellow power boat totally a aflame and 2 people seen jumping overboard. Mississippi Dept of Marine Resources and Park Ranger arrived and rescued the 2. Boat Burned and sank. FIREWORK Celebration not intended.
2) Ship island regatta of about 40 ≈14' sailboats with a myriad of colored sails as we breezed by them at 7 knots on their Biloxi to Ship Island leg.

3 Arrived at Horn Island in about 2 hours. Island was packed with boaters (not shown)

4) Admiral decided we should return to Ship Island for anchoring. Just as we passed back by the Regatta horn sounded for the Ship Island to Biloxi return leg. 40+ took off and we were suddenly surrounded with "crazy racers". No concern that our 13 Ton boat moving 7 knots was going crush them We hove to.
5) Here comes a 3 barges on the ICW. Do you think those Regatta boats cared? One played Chicken with a Barge
and the barge Captain call in channel 16.. "You are in my path" , That one made it.
6) Last boat had to make a drastic change... DE-MASTED himself. But not run over. He found out USCG is not in the habit of towing boats.
7) We decided to return to Cat Island after Hull speed sailing all day.

You gotta love Memorial Day with good weather and all the antics.
Jim...

 

[Gene Neill]

Coincidentally, one of our favorite places is DOG Island, just off the western edge of the map above.

The coastline between Dog and Cat is some of the best sailing in the Gulf of Mexico. 300 miles of awesome!

 

[BigEasy]

Gene,
Cant say that I am familiar with Dog Island, It must be part of the Chandelier Island chain.
FYI, I bought a book a few years ago entitled " Exploring Coastal Mississippi" by Scott Williams.
He is an avid kayaker and sailor who has explored the barrier islands of MS thoroughly. Its a good reference for those that want to visit them.

 

[JamesG161]

The coastline between Dog and Cat is some of the best sailing in the Gulf of Mexico. 300 miles of awesome!

Dog (near Carrabelle FL) is the most Easterly of the Northern Gulf coast barrier islands on that 300 miles. But you must include....

the Chandelier Island chain

They are perhaps the best fishing in the Gulf. East from the Chandeleur Islands (us Southern boy's pronounce it like Big Easy did)

30 minutes east, Louisiana Marshes (unspoiled fishing)
30 Minutes West, Fish Haven 12 (tuna, snapper, cobia, marlin, king mackerel, etc.)

They have fishing tours that take you to floating camps, the camps are Fully staffed, boats, gear, hands to clean your fish, cooks to make your meals... search the web.
________
These Barrier islands provide safe harbor from sudden Gulf squalls.
______

See, I wasn't kidding about the ICW barges versus Regatta.

Excuse the blur , 20° heel and 7 knots , Admiral with feet against console.

3 solid days of hull speed sailing. What a ride.
Jim...

 

[WayneH]

So I read an interesting fact about the Gulf ICW. Supposedly, the Texas portion covers 1/3 of the entire GICW and is responsible for 75% of the tug traffic on the GICW. Now, I don't recall those facts precisely BUT having traveled from Freport, TX to Pensacola, FL several times I can tell you that you will meet or be passed by more tugs in Texas in one day than you will see between New Orleans and Pensacola in a week.

Case in point: We talk to all the tugs we can see on the AIS as you usually meet them in places you don't want to meet 1000 feet of steel. Curves, wiggles and locks. It's usually no problem and the tug will tell you which side he wants you to pass on. But Memorial Day weekend 2015 in Big Lagoon, Florida, we were going to meet a barge and tug on the north end of the S curve on the west end of Big Lagoon. The Admiral called on the VHF "Brown Water 5, this is the sailing vessel Impetuous calling" (Tug name is changed to protect the innocent). Pause. "Brown Water 5, this is the sailing vessel Impetuous calling." Long pause. "This is Brown Water 5. Is someone calling me?" "Yes, this is the sailing vessel Impetuous on your bow. We are going to meet you in the S curve. Which side of the channel do you want us on?" "Wow. No one calls us asking that. The one's will be fine with us." "Thank you, Brown Water 5. We'll see you on the ones."

And that was the only channel 16 traffic I heard on Memorial Day Weekend in Pensacola, FL. Between Freeport and Galveston, you would have radioed 10 or 12 tugs. Between Galveston and Port Arthur, you would talk to 25 or 30, easily. Look up on google maps "Port Bolivar, TX" and zoom out a couple of times on satellite view and count the tugs right there. Multiply that by 65 for the statue miles between Galveston and Port Arthur. Yep, it's a lot. And you are talking to most of them. I put the Admiral on the radio because her voice gets better response than my voice does.

OMG! Just remembered something that the Admiral missed one day while we were on the GICW. She asked a bridge tender "What do I have to do special to get through the bridge?" "I'm special." At least, I "think" she missed it.

 

[JamesG161]

We talk to all the tugs we can see on the AIS

I have resisted adding AIS, just for your point. Nice, but to monitor WHO? I am sure the 40 regatta boats didn't have AIS. Our vessel traffic is light, compared to most SBO posters.

I did hail that Barge Captain after he passed Gulfport Harbor shipping channel. No AIS needed.
"Calling the Barge just passing Gulfport channel heading West, this is Sailing Vessel Saba"

"This is the Eugene" over. "This is the Sail boat on your Port Beam" -> "Are you the guy I nearly ran over?" -> "No, but the is why I am calling you. Did you have Collision Avoidance Radar detect him?" -> "Didn't have to! He was in my path!" (the small boat probably didn't have a VHF) -> "I was curious if your radar detects my boat" -> "Aren't you the boat on parallel course to my south?" -> "Yes" -> "No problems" -> "Thank you!"

BTW my boat was faster than that Empty Barge that day.

I "think" she missed it.

No way! Women are trained to ignore it, with a touch of class"
Jim...

PS: I will get AIS, not for me, but for other boats who want to know our boat in the dark. We use Apple app "Friend Finder" for our boating friends.

 

[pateco]

I thought you were talking about this Cat Island.