Taylor Bayou to Adams Bayou

Tuesday was a short trip for us, only 25 miles. The anchorage at Taylor Bayou was peaceful and quiet as usual. This is and old outfall canal were built but never used by one of the oil companies. Winds were very light and it is so far out in the toolies that you don't encounter many other boats. We have been there on a weekend and the small fishing boats do come out during the day. But other than the large refinery off in the distance that lights up the entire sky at night, we are pretty much to
ourselves. We both slept like logs for a change. We were up early as usual and went through our morning routine. I know, how boring, but cruising is not always about sandy beaches and tropical sunsets. However, we did have occasion to see a pink ibis as we entered the waterway from Galveston Bay, a big gator a short while after High Island and last night were serenaded to bed by a multitude of frogs singing "Ricky, Ricky, Ricky!!"

We passed through Port Arthur, which is a seaport, so naturally we shared the waterway with a couple of ships. Plenty of room for passing and again lots of tug and barge traffic. But today the sun was shining and the breeze was light and it was pretty delightful. The 25 mile trip to Adams Bayou only took us about 4 and one half hours and that was because we took our time, running the engine at a lower RPM to conserve fuel. This is not always great for a diesel but it does not hurt once in a while. We had a favorable current so in just a little more than an idle we made 5 or 6 MPH. While under way each day we do an inspection of the bilge and engine compartment about every 3 hours if we are running under power. We are looking for any water, oil or fuel leaks, stuffing box drip, loose belts or anything out of the ordinary. On a few occasions this has headed off what might have been a more serious problem and allowed us to correct whatever it was.

Adams Bayou is a very nice easy to enter anchorage right off the waterway. There is a fuel or chemical loading station on the Bayou so you must come in beyond that to anchor. A short distance into the Bayou a small highway bridge blocks anything but small boats from going further. But it makes for some great exploration by dinghy. A well known but long since closed Marina and restaurant sits just before the bridge. It was in pretty bad shape the last time we were here and has gotten worse since then. Buildings are boarded up, windows broken and sunken boats are everywhere. As we came past another cruising sailboat was tied to one of the dilapidated docks, I suppose for free.


We decided anchoring was our preference. We are anchored near a small boat ramp so it can be a bit busy on weekends. There are many supply boats in and out here ferrying supplies and crew to the oil rigs as well as pipeline crews working in the Sabine Lake and along the waterway. At the end of the day we have had maybe 15 or 20 vessels ferrying the workman back to a parking area they have set up just beyond the bridge. This is indeed oil country and the rush for profits here is obvious. Wind forecasts for Wednesday are 15 to 20, yeah right, so we will stay put for the next day or so and catch up on minor boat chores and, most importantly, get a little much needed rest. We have been going all out for weeks and that includes right up until we untied the dock lines. If you are not seeing photos with these posts, that is because we are sending the posts over our Icom M710 HF radio via the Winlink email system and it does pretty much text only. When we have the next internet connection we will post some photos. We are really out reach of any WiFi signals even with our nifty new WiFi adapter and antenna.