Wax River

Coming up on Bayou Boeuf Locks.  There is one barge in front of us the lock is 1000 feet long so we should both get into easy.   The lock was pretty torn up broken in many places rotted in others.  When Gil tied off the one of the boards was loose has to change to another.  We lifted 3 feet then entered into Morgan City this is the second most populated commercial city since we left the Mississippi river.  Once leaving the lock we checked in with Berwick traffic control (think air traffic controller) we were told what was ahead of us and where to check in next.  In Morgan city the ICW merges with the Atchafalaya river went south bound 3 miles on the river before turning west on the ICW again.  Starting to notice a pattern the gators seem to hang out by the large barge ropes along the side of the river got a photo of a rather large one sitting on the bank.  When the barges hit the bank that make a ramp going up the banks from the river this makes nice slides for the gator to get back in the water fast.  Plus the bonus would be a man overboard, I am sure the left over dinner scraps are just as good.

We were able to make really good time doing 6 knots most of the way we covered 66 miles today even with the late start from the bridge opening.  Went through some s type curves in the river the tug captains kept referring them to the wiggles we got video of them talking on the radio quite entertaining.

As we approached the Wax Lake outlet (a deep drainage ditch from bayou Teche and the Atchafalaya basin) run off we were starting to see the current the books and signs along the banks warned off.    While the current was strong and the tugs went across at a 45 degree angle we did not have much of an issue getting across. 

Our travels took us through Bayou Sale which is a small commercial town.  We came across some homes built along the river banks in coves.   Our anchorage point for the night was Franklin canel it looked to be a small area that we could tuck up into.  After watching a Tug come ripping around a bend in a canal similar in size and shape of Franklin we called to the local tug captains to see if that is canel they used.  One captain said no that would be a safe place.  He told us we might prefer the Charenton drainage canel as a sailboat was anchored out there already.  We opted for this since it was only 2 miles away.  We dropped the hook with the sounds of thunder and wicked looking thunderheads with no rain.  Me and Gil sat on the bow watching the gorgeous sunset in a cool breeze with a cold beer while we waited to make sure the hook to set.

 

We popped out the Ipad and watch a movie on the bow until we could not take the mosquitoes any longer retreated to the cockpit.  Around 11pm we had a large spot light up the entire boat, this was a feeling of comfort as the tugs and barge could see us and the fact when ask we do show up on their radar made us feel comfortable.  The barge was looking for a place to park for the night so we watched him get settled in then headed to bed. 

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