Monday, March 27, 2006

We rose with the sun, ate breakfast, and pulled up an anchor covered with
Louisiana black mud.  We retraced our path downstream and under the bridge
and entered the ICW.

During our exit, I draped both sides of Genesis with every fender we own to
protect us from the sides of the impending Calcasieu locks.  I also prepared
bow and stern lines, as well as spring (center) lines to use to tie the boat
while inside the lock.  I prepared all sides because I did not know which
side we would occupy.

We notified the lockmaster of our presence and waited, along with two barges
for our turn to go through.

The gates opened, and two barges came out.  Then, the lockmaster called for
us to enter and motor through without having to tie up.  We idled slowly
forward as the entrance gates closed behind us, and the exit gates opened in
front of us.

The lockmaster cleared us to leave, and on the other side, we found a line
of barges waiting for a turn.  Jim heard on the radio that their wait would
be several hours.

Almost immediately after the Calcasieu Locks is the Black Bayou Pontoon
Bridge.  The pontoon bridges can be tricky because an above water cable
pulls the bridge open for boat traffic.  It is important to wait until the
cable is lowered into the water's depths before crossing the opening.  The
bridge tender sounds an "all clear" signal (one long and one short horn
blast) when it is clear to go over the cable.

Later, at another pontoon bridge, we saw a large, fast power boat zoom past
a loaded barge and enter the opening before we heard the "all clear" signal.
According to what we heard on the radio, the boat driver thought he had
touched bottom, when he actually had skimmed over the cable as it was being
lowered. We hoped he at least has sense to have his boat hauled out to check
for damage to his hull.

We heard the bridge tender hail the boater on the radio and quite politely,
we thought, remind him of the one long and one short signal.

We anchored that night on the Mermentau River and enjoyed the sunset in a
beautiful, secluded spot.

We were tempted to let the cats out of the cabin and on the decks, but did
not do it because of the possibility of alligators lurking under the surface
on the off chance that a cat (or one of the crew members) might decide to
take a dip.