Cool Ship Name
Last night in Galveston, we sail tomorrow even though the weather is to be windy, cold and raining. But wait, that’s what it has been the past week. This is day 10 and we have not seen the sun in over a week. We rented a car for three days and toured the area, hustled parts and reconned Port Arthur to see if there are any boater’s facilities there. There aren’t. Not only that, all of the little rest stops in the guides between here and there are no more. So, tomorrow will be a long haul but hopefully not as long as Matagorda to Galveston. Ike really did a number on Galveston and the Bolivar Peninsula communities nearby. Thousands of homes are gone. The amazing thing is that the debris from those homes has been removed. Galveston’s commercial world is back to normal but there are many homes that still have the famous FEMA blue tarp roofing. The seawall and the businesses along it were really devastated. The Flagship hotel that was built on concrete pilings is still close off with barricades. The shore side of it has a three story hole in the side. It looks like the concrete pilings that support the hotel are seriously compromised. Several of the historic buildings on the “Strand” are under stabilization work. This town took it on the chin. Unlike New Orleans, it appears much of the vegetation such as large trees have survived. I am guessing it is because the sea water did not stand long.
As of today, we have spent 666 days aboard Why Knot. Of all that time, and just 10 days into the adventure, this is the longest time aboard in a row. So, fellow universe travelers, every day we don’t go get a hotel room adds to the count.
I toured a submarine in Seawolf Park yesterday. It is the USS Cavalla, a WWII Gato class sub. At her commissioning, she was state-or-the-art. She sailed in harms’ way and was credited with sinking a Japanese Carrier. Now here is what occurred to me whilst in that sub. She was 306 feet in length. She had over 80 officers and crew. That works out to just 3.825 feet per person. We have it made. We have about 21 feet each and we don’t sleep in a bunk shared by two other hairy legged guys.
We will depart Galveston and enter the ICW heading for Port Arthur. That means we have turned the corner and will be heading east at last. When we brought Why Knot back from New Orleans, post Katrina and Rita, this area was in shambles. Looks like it will be no different this time. If the weather was a bit better, we would punch offshore for the leg to the Sabine. Alas, we are to be stuck in the ditch for a very dull section, except for the tows. It’s past time to leave Galveston.
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