45 minutes by land, 7 hours by sea?
Finally! Our first weekend, destination trip to Galveston, TX. We had been planning the trip for months, it seems, only to have one thing after another go haywire. First it turned from a family vacation into hanging out with friends. Then the engine decided to go out a few weeks prior after a day of sailing in the Bay. With the engine up and running, we decided to keep the reservation at Moody Gardens Marina and head south for the end of my Spring Break.
We, of course, were quite nervous. It was going to be the first time that we would be taking Nymeria so far away from the safety of our marina. It would be the first time to navigate to a destination. It would be the first time to take Nymeria into the Houston Ship Channel. It would be our first encounter with a draw bridge. It would be the 1st time to dock the boat without all of our lines already set up on the dock. It would be the first time to stay overnight at a different marina. So. Many. Firsts.
We gained as much local knowledge that we could and our fellow sailors at the bar were more than willing to help out. One of our older salty neighbors gave us his paper chart since it is always good to have a backup if the iPad fails. Our trusty retired ship captain taught us how to navigate and communicate with the tugs and tankers while in the channels. Others told us of the draw bridge and how to notify the operators to have it lifted. We utilized Google Earth images to get a birds eye view of our path and the Navionics app on my iPad to plot the actual coordinates to get us there. We also kept checking the weather, wind and tide reports to see if they would be in our favor. We were anxious but as prepared as we could be.
Since our friends weren’t showing up until a day later, it felt daunting so head out alone. But being creatures of habit, we started the day like we normally do for a long sail, by taking Pete, the dog, to be boarded and getting breakfast at the nearby dinner, Skipper’s. We rechecked the weather forecast as well as the wind and tide predictions for the day. We hashed out scenarios of what we think might happen and hoping that most of them don’t come true.
Departure time: 8:26 AM. We motored out of the marina and into the series of channels leading out to Galveston Bay. We were happy to hear the engine purr since it was just fixed the previous week. Once it was safe to get out of the channel, we decided to turn off the engine and sail into the Houston Ship Channel. This would be our only chance to truly sail on the trip since the wind was predicted to be against us (on our bow) the whole way. Once near the channel, we motor-sailed the rest of the way, against the wind and against the current. Finally, after 7 hours, we made it! Time to relax! Arrival Time: 4:05 PM
Once we recovered from the sail, we were touristy and checked out the attractions at Moody Gardens, the Tall Ship Elissa and did some goofing off at the pool and in the Historical Strand district in Galveston.
Departure time: 9:53 AM After a weekend of fun and debauchery, it was time to sail back home. We tackled the busy ship channel and the chilly, damp air. We motor-sailed back since the boats seemed much closer this time around. We were very relieved to have our engine run beautifully for the entire trip, find out that our AIS (Automatic Identification System) tracking works, and have a functioning radio to talk to barge traffic when hailed. We also figured out how to keep the iPad charged the whole way without a usb cable running to the helm and that we need a connector for our radio in the cockpit. Of the many other things that we learned, we ultimately learned more about our anxieties and fears but overall gain confidence in ourselves and Nymeria. Arrival Time: 3:12 PM
Stay tuned for Our Next Adventures….
