There's blood on the deck.....and it's not ours!!

Got another early start this morning at 7:30 and travelled 42.2 miles from Houma, LA to Jean Lafitte, LA. We experienced our highest winds today topping out at 14 mph blowing directly on our nose with gusts higher than that.  There were white caps in the GICW!! The picture doesn't do it justice.

We only had one swing bridge to go through but it was unique in the sense that it pivoted from the

center.

We caught our first glimpse of New Orleans to our North at MM 25 but the buildings were too far in the distance to capture a good picture on my IPhone. Tomorrow, however, we will get our opportunity to see The Big Easy as we navigate a couple of locks, many bridges and travel down a small portion of the Mississippi River. We're a bit anxious. Hopefully, if things go well tomorrow, we'll be on the south side of Lake Pontchartrain by tomorrow evening.

We arrived today at Team Lafitte Harbor Marina about mid afternoon.  It is located on the Barataria Waterway.  This area is named after Jean Lafitte, the most infamous pirate of the Gulf Coast.  Legend has it that many of his treasures are buried along this waterway.

We decided to find a marina today instead of anchoring, even though this marina isn't that great and is about 6 miles off of the GICW. We did this because at the most popular anchorage in this area, the winds and the current will oppose each other overnight. We're not that experienced yet with anchoring, so we decided we'd rather be tied to a dock than up all night worrying about our anchor dragging (especially with such a big day tomorrow).

The marina is, well, a little rough. Its mainly a fishing camp for shrimp boats with direct access to the Gulf of Mexico. We are side-tied alongside a decrepit dock with some serious repairs needed. No electric or water is available. So, we'll run the generator tonight in order to have heat and to cook breakfast in the morning. The inverter can handle the smaller stuff.

When we arrived at the marina this afternoon, 15 knot winds were on the beam along with a nice current as we tried to tie to a short finger pier. It proved a challenge even with bow and stern thrusters. The captain of our buddy boat (Randy Jo) was a great help in managing lines on the dock as Brent tried to swing the stern against the pier. After tying up we saw this blood smeared on the boat but have no idea where it came from.

                                                  And here's your daily dose of pelican! I think his name is Ere?

We're nosed in tonight with our stern facing the channel. Hope the wakes from the passing fishing boats aren't too bad early in the morning.