This leg of the trip is shown in brown, covering the area of Louisiana coastline from what this link calls the “bird’s foot delta to the St. Bernard delta, which once ended at the Chandeleur Islands. More on those islands later. This link shows how the lobes of the delta have changed over time, during the time before we tried to “tame” the river.
Dawn found Legs III spudded down in East Bay, along the east side of the channeled mouth of the Mississippi, the grassy delta seen as the green margin along the horizon. When spudded down this way, the ‘boat becomes a platform.
As we made out way around the low lying Pass A Loutre Wildlife Management Area and all its bays, traces of oil/gas infrastructure were everywhere. “Pass A Loutre” translates as “Otter Pass.”
Some platforms–eg. the one with the tanks topside and the crew boat to the left side– seemed active, whereas others
might have been in process of being dismantled by EBI liftboat Jimmy Holmes Elevator. EBI claims to have conceived of the basic design for liftboats, although EBI boats have the single leg on the bow, whereas most other liftboats, including Legs III, have that single leg on the stern. Legs III was launched at Blue Streak and then fitted out at Marine Industrial Fabrication Inc.
See the two workers below the hook and headache ball . . . ?
I’m not sure which channel or pass through the grassy delta ABI C emerged from, but she overtook us, giving us a clear look at the
stainless steel IBC totes used to transport liquids of all sorts safely between shore and platform.
Farther along we passed a platform
where Ms. Tami was flying the dive flag.
A GOL boat, Sea Service 1, stood by a platform.
A sizable flame burned off its flare boom (or burn boom).
I gather most platforms along Pass A Loutre were pumping, given their flares.
Others might be relics of a time when they were active and now seemed like patina-encrusted industrial sculpture.
In late afternoon we began to follow our goal for the day, the long, thin, crescent-shaped sand bar called the Chandeleur Islands, part of the Breton National Wildlife Refuge established in 1904 by POTUS 26, T. Roosevelt. I’d noticed the 50-mile chain of islands from the air as I flew into New Orleans on my way to port of Iberia, and they looked roughly like the lead photo here, which shows them from a north to south perspective.
Those boats are anchored on the inside of the islands in Chandeleur Bay.
The islands are accessible only by boat AND seaplane. Southern Seaplane out of Belle Chasse LA offers many tours, but also brings folks out to this fishing lodge, spudded up on the inside of the Chandeleur Islands. More on the lodge– Chandeleur Islander–in this Youtube clip. Yet another option is Compass Rose if you want to fish by kayak but ride over on a mothership over from Biloxi. Surfers have laid claim too, although they might want to keep it a secret.
All photos, any errors, WVD, who looks at the photo above and tries to imagine what it’s like when a hurricane barrels across it….
7 comments
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August 16, 2022 at 1:17 pm
eastriver
Good post. Great links.
August 16, 2022 at 2:36 pm
Bob
When the lift boat is spudded down at night what lights does it show? In the fog what sound signal does it make?
August 16, 2022 at 6:26 pm
tugster
Hi Bob– Great question. When I typed “liftboat” into the CFRs, I got only this: https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-46/chapter-I/subchapter-L/part-134. As I was told by multiple sources, the USCG considers liftboats as boats, which need to conform to all the boat regs, until the legs are down and the hull out of the water; at that point, the USCG rules don’t apply and no light or whistle rules apply. In practice, the yellow deck lights go on from dusk to dawn, and we’d never spud down in a channel.
August 16, 2022 at 5:25 pm
ws
Nice photographs like Bernd and Hilla Becher, and O Winston Link
August 16, 2022 at 7:32 pm
tugster
ws– Thx. I had to look up those names . .
August 16, 2022 at 6:00 pm
BillyTheHat
I would like to nominate this photo for the 2023 calendar. Dscon5188-1.jpeg.
August 18, 2022 at 2:40 am
thebubblytipsymermaid
Human seaway vessels are hefty. How ships navigate without sinking is a mer mystery.