Galveston to Pensacola

[HMT2]

I am thinking about sailing from Galveston to Pensacola in mid-late October of this year. I would be interested to hear from any one who has done this. Your experience, places to go, Marinas to use, hazards etc. I will be sailing my 1983 Hunter 31 and will either be double or triple handed. I would appreciate hearing from those who have sailed this and what your experience was.

 

[TFrere]

I have met many that sail from Kemah to Florida. I will send you a private message with the details from one of these couples. Here is a link to their website.
http://www.sailblogs.com/member/noagenda/

 

[HMT2]

Thanks I will look forward to it.

 

[Charlie Jones s/v Tehani]

I've done Port Lavaca to Pensacola 6 time each way. I am not able to respond in depth right now-Am in a restaurant, and out of town. Be back at home Monday evening, so I can tell you a lot about it then.

 

[HMT2]

Thank you, I look forward to hearing from you

 

[Delezynski]

Is this a quick trip or are you going to be taking your time? If taking your time, how long do you think you want to take?

We just sailed from New Orleans to Pensacola. took about 5 months. Had a GREAT time at Mardi Gras! Found some very nice places, some no so.

We Will be posting a few videos of the trip on our Youtube page soon.

Greg

 

[HMT2]

A quick trip. I have about two weeks to get there, enjoy a little and get back. I am wanting to increase my offshore sailing experience and figure that October would be a good time to do it and it works for my schedule. I'm a few years from being to take five months to do anything but work. Kids in college that kind of stuff.

 

[Charlie Jones s/v Tehani]

14 days is a very short time period for that trip. Pushing HARD, it takes me about 10 days to just get there. Did a delivery trip in Feb once, on a delivery trip schedule, and we were 6 days, Orange to P'cola.

This all inshore.

Galveston to P'cola offshore is a Bi**ch. You are hard on the wind almost always, in very shallow water, and have to go around the toe of Louisiana. And there are about 300 million oil rigs, and platforms off the SW coast of La. Did an offshore Vermilion Bay (SW Pass) to Freeport- 2 1/2 days aand we had about an hour and a half on the second day when we COULD NOT see rigs. And on the water depth- 75 miles out, in 72 feet, with rigs all around- no place to run if a squall gets you. Take a look at Campbell's. His suggested "turn mark" to get past the rigs toward Florida is at the 100 fathom line, a LONG way out

27deg 50.00-' N
92deg 35.00' W

I ALWAYS go to at least to the Mississippi River in the ditch, THEN begin sailing- Lake Bourne, Mississippi Sound- some very good sailing there. Or out between Ship and Horn or at Mobile Channel, and back in at either Perdido, or Pensacola itself

Oh and a small point- EAST bound, head for Harvey Lock (mile zero GICW). WEST bound, plan for Algiers. Adds 5 miles, BUT you get to go WITH the river both ways , which could be no small thing. In 1982, in a 7.5 knot boat, took me 5 hours, Industrial Lock to Harvey, bucking current.. That's a 5 mile trip by the way

 

[HMT2]

Thanks for the information. I appreciate it.

 

[Stan Breaux]

Sabine Harbor/ Sabine Marina at Pensacola Beach

I would recommend Sabine Marina at Pensacola Beach if you are interested in being in a beachy area once you arrive.

They take transients, and it is the most protected area from wind and waves.

You can also anchor out, but within 100 yards of Sabine Marina if you need to save money.

 

[Charlie Jones s/v Tehani]

Yep- Little Sabine Bay is one of my favorite spots. Another is the Fort McRae anchorage , sometimes known as "Sand Island" Used to be able to watch the Blue Angels practice right over head form there. Don't know if they still fly now though.

 

[kloudie1]

A fine trip, but LONG.. It would be pretty tough to get from Galv to P-Cola and back in two weeks .. I have done Galv to Mandeville on Lake Pontchartrain a few times and Mandeville to Pensacola a few times.. The shortest is probably to go out at Gallveston to Fresh Water Bayou, just west of Vermillion Bay. Then up to the Gulf Intercoastal Water Way (GIWW) then to Harvy lock then down Mississippi at New Orleans to the Industrial Canal.. then continue on GIWW to Pensacola.. about 200 miles of motoring if you are lucky and can sail a bit.. total trip is around 480 miles one way. LOTS of big commercial traffic inside and lots of rigs outside. GIWW all the way is possible too, of course.

 

[RTB]

We just returned to Texas last month. We left Kemah on Nov. 15, 2012.

From Texas to Pensacola was ditch all the way for us. Then outside mostly to the Keys. Two Bahamas trips with a run up to Brunswick, Ga. for last year's hurricane season.

We left White Sound (Abaco) on April 1. Now we are back. There is so much to see along the way. Enjoy!

Our blog-
http://www.sailblogs.com/member/brogdon/?show=map

Ralph

 

[HMT2]

RTB...Nice! Maybe someday. But not just now. Sounds like a more rigorous trip than I was planning for. Maybe I will make a short outside trip to the Calcasieu Pass Inlet and motor up to Lake Charles for some Steamboat Bill's and a little roll of the dice for a few days then home down the ditch. Anyone with experience on that route? I know there are rigs, they are all over the Texas and Louisiana coast. The deep water is a long way out from the coast.

Thanks for all of your information, these forums are great for sharing information!

 

[WayneH]

Some things to look out for heading up to Lake Charles.

You're in a ship channel and most of the other vessels will not even spill their coffee when they run over you. But the channel does have shoulders where the water depths run between 11 and 20 feet.

At markers 91/92, you will cross the ICW and there is a LOT of traffic through here. Listen to channel 13 and talk to the tugs that will be crossing your path.

We've spent a night or two in the eastern arm of the horseshoe at markers 103/104. Make sure you are in the north/south portion as the tug boats turn around in the southern section. Because we anchor out most of the time, I can't tell you about anything beyond marker 104.

Going home the ICW:

If your air draft exceeds 50 feet, you will need to call the Ellender Bridge 4 hours prior to transiting the bridge. When we are westbound, we call the night before as it is only an hour from our anchorage to the bridge. Someone will probably call you on the radio if you're running late.

Normally, you end up motoring from this point over to the Sabine River due to the trees on each side funneling the wind onto your nose.

The Sabine River is almost as busy as the Houston Ship Channel so stay on top of your game here also.

When you leave the river, there is a cut about a mile down to the right. This is Taylor Bayou. Great anchorage once you get in a ways. Go up about a mile and take the left fork. Leave the north/south run to the tug boats. Tuck in near the shore as the sides are steep. Get your mosquito screens in before sunset.

From this point onward, you can mostly sail. Have your engine running before the High Island Bridge so you can make the S curves. And as you get close to Bolivar because the shoreline houses will block the southerly breezes.

Hope this helps.

 

[HMT2]

Wayne, thank you so much that is dynamite information! I saw on your profile you are messing around with racing. Have you or have you thought about racing in the Harvest Moon Regatta? I ran my first one last year and it was a blast! PM me if you want some information on it. Thanks for the information!

 

[WayneH]

I remember sailing into Port A in 2008 but most of the rest of the weekend is a rum blur.

 

[Delezynski]

HMT,

Back to it. I know your trip will be quick, but thought you might be interested in some of the places we stopped. As I said, I would let you know when I posted our videos.

You can see them at our Youtube page, listed below, or on our web page at;
http://www.svguenevere.com/pg3c.html

Hope you can get something out of our posts.

Greg

 

[spraygun]

The wife and I made the trip to Lake Charles many years ago from Galveston Bay.We always pick a full moon going east.That helped us see the million unlit rigs and platforms off the east Tx and La.coast.Unfortunately we had zero wind.I think it was August or September.So we had to motor the entire way.That was not planned. It was our first time that far east.The upside was ,the Gulf was glass smooth.We saw all kinds of fish and a couple of tiny birds came to rest on our boat.We also trolled for dinner.I think we stayed 14 miles off shore.We stopped out in the middle of nowhere and took turns going for swim.

We finally made it to the Calcasieu river.Lots of things to see.I think its about 20 miles upstream.We did go through several miles of love bugs so thick, you almost needed a mask to breathe. You certainly needed one for the odor of them being stepped on or sat on.It got so bad we had to wash the cockpit about every 5 minutes for over an hour.The first time we saw a ship coming down that tiny river channel,we were shocked. I would not want that job. We never saw that coming.

We ended staying at L auberge Du Lac.You can also go up around the bend and anchor in the lake that you see at the I-10 bridge.

You can also motor up Contraband Bayou for fuel and ice.There is now more to see up the bayou as well.

The trolling was fantastic on the flat sea. We caught 5 monster Jack Crevalles.

Fyi it took us 40 straight hours of motoring to get there.Luckily the wind came back to get us home. We were glad we did the trip.But once was really enough.we may go one more time in the future if there is more to do.

Its a cheap getaway.

 

[sailaway78]

One more thing

I have done across the Gulf several times. If you make this trip offshore, I would not even consider it without radar. Did it one time without and never again. There are so many rigs out there, almost unbelivable. There are big rigs, with satellite rigs scattered around them. And there will always be some satellite rigs that have no lights for whatever reason. On a dark night, they are very hard to see. Radar is the answer, and do not try it without radar.