| GALVESTON BAY MAY 2005 |
Our Galveston Bay trip started off at O'dark thirty in a parking lot in Grapevine. Thanks to Jerry and his fun ship,
we had an uneventful 5 hour drive to Houston.
Before we could go sailing, Cap'n Dave and myself had to put some time in at the Houston Coast Guard REC. Thats
about as much fun as getting your 40,000 mile body cavity search checkup. Its not somthin ya want to do it just has to
be done.
Off to the boats we go, we arrived at about 11:30. Check in was a breeze, our Hunter 340 "Magic" was clean and
ready to go. We would like to thank Cap'n Gary at Windward Seaventures for his excellent operation, hospitality and
local knowledge of the area.
After a few "turn here, no turn here" and "left LEFT LEFT" we crossed under the bridge leading to Galveston Bay.
Cruising past the Kemah boardwalk like we were somebody important.
Approaching the Houston shipping channel we made a couple of "turns of indecision". Thats a term we use loosely for
"where the hell am I?" Fortunately for us we had on board our "NPS" thats our Nick positioning system or NKN.
Nick knows navigation. Once in the Houston shipping channel it was fun to dice and slice with the big dogs. Navigating
our way in and out of the shipping channel past Redfish Island is an experience all bare boat charter captains should
do.
Motoring along toward Galveston in light winds with the rain coming down, passing old abandoned oil rigs then crossing
the ICW, Houston shipping channel, Texas City shipping channel and ferry boat route all at the same time, even our
NPS was having a hard time keeping us from cracking under pressure. Ahoy mate our swabby says, as the Harbor
House comes into view. Its time for some coldies and beer can shrimp.
The next day brings lots of sunshine, some good winds out of the south and more dolphins than swabby can shake a stick
at. Our adventure is only half over, we still need to make our way back to Kemah. We all wanted to sail out into the
Gulf just to say we did that but we ran out of time due to a late departure caused by a later then normal evening the
night before. Something about an Irish Pub, I don't know. I'm going to blame it on the current flowing against us.
Once again we passed the ferry route, ICW, Texas City channel and Houston channel all about the same time with lots
of traffic. Nothin like being under sail, slicing and dicing with the big dogs. Passing the old abandoned oil rigs heading
NNE under a broad reach, our only real challenge is finding our channel marker to get back into the channel.
NPS was spotfish on! We sailed through the land minds of oyster markers in a depth of 8ft and entered the deeper
waters of the channel. It was great jibing back and forth trying to time your jibes between big boats. After exiting
the channel and passing our previous turn of indecision we spotted the Kemah bridge and sailed toward home port.
Another excellent adventure comes to an end. We would like to thank Jerry, Mark, Nick and Jake (aka swabby) for
hangin with us on our first trip to Galveston.
The Galveston Bay area is a great place to sail. Its a navigational challenge, collision avoidance challenge and it has
great destinations to sail to and around with excellent bars and restaurants.
we had an uneventful 5 hour drive to Houston.
Before we could go sailing, Cap'n Dave and myself had to put some time in at the Houston Coast Guard REC. Thats
about as much fun as getting your 40,000 mile body cavity search checkup. Its not somthin ya want to do it just has to
be done.
Off to the boats we go, we arrived at about 11:30. Check in was a breeze, our Hunter 340 "Magic" was clean and
ready to go. We would like to thank Cap'n Gary at Windward Seaventures for his excellent operation, hospitality and
local knowledge of the area.
After a few "turn here, no turn here" and "left LEFT LEFT" we crossed under the bridge leading to Galveston Bay.
Cruising past the Kemah boardwalk like we were somebody important.
Approaching the Houston shipping channel we made a couple of "turns of indecision". Thats a term we use loosely for
"where the hell am I?" Fortunately for us we had on board our "NPS" thats our Nick positioning system or NKN.
Nick knows navigation. Once in the Houston shipping channel it was fun to dice and slice with the big dogs. Navigating
our way in and out of the shipping channel past Redfish Island is an experience all bare boat charter captains should
do.
Motoring along toward Galveston in light winds with the rain coming down, passing old abandoned oil rigs then crossing
the ICW, Houston shipping channel, Texas City shipping channel and ferry boat route all at the same time, even our
NPS was having a hard time keeping us from cracking under pressure. Ahoy mate our swabby says, as the Harbor
House comes into view. Its time for some coldies and beer can shrimp.
The next day brings lots of sunshine, some good winds out of the south and more dolphins than swabby can shake a stick
at. Our adventure is only half over, we still need to make our way back to Kemah. We all wanted to sail out into the
Gulf just to say we did that but we ran out of time due to a late departure caused by a later then normal evening the
night before. Something about an Irish Pub, I don't know. I'm going to blame it on the current flowing against us.
Once again we passed the ferry route, ICW, Texas City channel and Houston channel all about the same time with lots
of traffic. Nothin like being under sail, slicing and dicing with the big dogs. Passing the old abandoned oil rigs heading
NNE under a broad reach, our only real challenge is finding our channel marker to get back into the channel.
NPS was spotfish on! We sailed through the land minds of oyster markers in a depth of 8ft and entered the deeper
waters of the channel. It was great jibing back and forth trying to time your jibes between big boats. After exiting
the channel and passing our previous turn of indecision we spotted the Kemah bridge and sailed toward home port.
Another excellent adventure comes to an end. We would like to thank Jerry, Mark, Nick and Jake (aka swabby) for
hangin with us on our first trip to Galveston.
The Galveston Bay area is a great place to sail. Its a navigational challenge, collision avoidance challenge and it has
great destinations to sail to and around with excellent bars and restaurants.
| Cap'n Scott on the phone already lining up our next charter |
Hey this boat looks good, lets get on
it before the charter guy finds out
it before the charter guy finds out
So this is how you drive a boat
| Turn left, turn LEFT, turn LEFT who me? |
| Is that your buddies house? You know, the one that said come on over and play in the pool and suck down some coldies |
Cap'n Dave goin fishin
The only fish in this bay are fish stories
Turn right, TURN RIGHT, TURN RIGHT
Swabby says, I'm liking this!
Jake (aka swabby) lookin good at the helm
| Cap'n Dave's beer can shrimp. When asked how he made it, he said he could tell us but then he'd have to kill us. It turned out it wasn't that important to know. |
Cap'n Dave chillin with a coldie with
our NPS at an Irish pub in Galveston
our NPS at an Irish pub in Galveston
| Nothin like parking your boat right in the middle of town |
The Harbor House marina
Preparing to hoist the Island Bound flag
Suck it in sailor
What the?
The tall ship Elissa, lookin good
Cap'n Dave "let me show ya how to do it"
Now, how does this thing work?
| Swabby joining the ladder club and lived to tell about it |
Dolphin, every where, dolphin
Swabby up the mast in search of land
First Mate Mark taking a noon fix
Hey whats that black thing
with the little numbers on it?
with the little numbers on it?
Nick (aka NPS) making sure our GPS is correct
Now where are we again?
Home at last, Home at last
| See what a few coldies will do for ya, you'll get in any body's boat |
Cap'n Mark and his little boat that could