Houma bound

While heading down the ICW we came across a herd of horses that were in a wooden area drinking water.  There are no homes or fences around any of the land so not sure if they are wild or belong to someone.   

On our way into Houma we went through the Bayou Blue pontoon bridge this is a road on a barge with cables they swing open like a door to let you by.  As we were coming into Houma area we could see a few homes and a herd of cattle swimming; something else to watch out for on the ICW.  This part of the waterway took the brunt of Katrina you can still see the some damage and construction still going on to repair buildings and homes.  

One of the many new homes built up along the waterway.

At a local park there was a flocked of buzzards eating something large in the water could not get close enough to see if it was a fish or not.   

We docked at the Downtown marina for the night this is a park area with benches, play yard lots of shade trees they made this to accommodate transient boat travelers along the ICW.  No shower or bathrooms they do have running water and electrical.  They even have a local bus stop at the marina.  We were within walking distance to a few gas stations and a laundry mat so we were able to get the laundry done and restock our bread and cokes.  When we got back to the marina we order pizza.  There were another sailboat and a catamaran that also tied up for the night.  They were both coming from Texas and meet up with each other at Sabine pass and have stayed together since they are heading to Florida.  Gil talked with them and exchange information places to stay & things along the water way we have both found.   We had a great 4^th, missed seeing fireworks through they are banned in this parish.  Gil was up and down a few times otherwise we slept pretty well.  Looking forward to tomorrow it is suppose to be a very scenic route.

Cedar trees and spanish moss

Our 5:30am wakeup call from same security guard letting us know we were still to close.  We explained to him last night approval from the supervisor he laughed and said he was not right he would have to tell him so.  We told him we would get ready and head out in the next 30 mins.  He was a nice guy he felt bad waking us up both times.   Started the engine heard a squealing noise, alternator belt was loose tighten that up gave the Perkins a quart of oil and we were off by 6:15am it was a hot muggy windless day.  Headed down the Crown Point and Lafitte named after Jean Lafitte of pirate fame.  We saw quite a few homes , an air boat ride company with 6 boats ready to go.  We entered the Barataria waterway came across a couple of gators swimming along. The waterway is lined with cedar tress draped spanish moss hanging down almost to the top of the large elephant ear plants growing into the water.  We have seen many waterfowl living in this area.  
Hydrangeas are so thick in some areas you have to zig zag around them, had a couple get stuck on the prop did a quick reverse to get them off.  Engine was starting to run a little hot.  We traveled into Larose where we crossed Lafourche “pronounced  LAH-FOOSH”  we passed several large ship yards and was surprised at the size of the ships in the yards.  Our plan is to stay in Houma tonight, do some laundry and update our route to see when we will make it home.