Out of the Bayou 2

The cane is still growing,

the chili is heating up, along with the air.  

This is jump-starting the weather,

 and fast-moving winds brings buckets of unforecasted rain.  This rain, not predicted, dropped the temperature 20 degrees in fewer than 20 minutes!

Alligator patrols, by mostly submerged A. mississippiensis, never stop.

You know what they say about “red in morning…”

sailor take warning, I’ll add [and gators come swarming.]

All that has postponed our leaving in the way in the way I anticipated.

Enjoy views of the vessel above the water, and from

below.

Hope springs.

And how did I get out of the bayou this time? With a toast.  The JT Meleck I’ll have to try another time.

I got out by plane.

Google a St James LA map and you’ll see exactly where we crossed the Mississippi heading back NE. 

After some delays, this series will be continued, even if I need to do it this way.

All photos, WVD, who’s happy to be out of the heat dome. 

Out of the Bayou 1

Well . .  or with an accent, I’d say whale . . .  I’m not out of the bayous and sugar fields yet, but it’s getting closer.  When we do leave the dock, there may be several days that not even the robots will be posting, so be patient if this doesn’t update.  Either that, or you could do searches in the archives of  5200+ tugster posts for your favorite photos of who knows what.

Some day soon, we’ll leave the NISDC and the land of … legs, alligators, mullet, gar . . . . and start toward the sixth boro. 

Here are some recent photos of Superior Attitude, Gar, 

beautiful dawns and dusks,

and the neighbors Maggie Kay and 

Red Fin.  The image below inspired me to rewrite the words to wimoweh . . . “in the bayou the murky bayou the gator lurks tonight . . .  ”  and you can imagine or freestyle the rest . . .

All photos, WVD, who posts when possible, with assistance from the robots of tugster tower.

 

Along NISDC

As the robots diligently do their thing in the tower, I’ve been out gallivanting, as you likely know.  The where and the how long . . . you might not know.  Answer:  I’m in the New Iberia South Drainage Canal, aka NISDC, kinda sorta between the fascinating home of Tabasco on Avery Island and the bayou still as uncharted (well . . . not really) as in the days of Jean Lafitte and his Baratarians, and of course some of their descendants. 

From a distance, you know the locations of waterways and ports from hundreds of spuds, three per vessel. More on this indigenous species of technology can be seen here (published 1985) and here. 

This one was supposed to have departed a week ago, but “boat time” says it leaves–as I do–when the work is complete, maybe a week from now. 

Meanwhile, the delay means I get to see a series of sunrises and sunsets

and the light effects on the bottom of hulls, something not otherwise visible except with a snorkel mask–at least–in the realm of the alligators.

No, I’m not going in here. 

Work on other lift boats ends, and new ones arrive and get snagged near our dock.

Others pass by on fingers of the NISDC to elevate themselves elsewhere. 

And when rain comes, it’s intense but cooling.

All photos, WVD, who arrived here too late for the Shrimp and Petroleum Festival (yup… that’s the name)  and too early for the Sugar Festival. Guess I’ll have to return for that. Of course, today is Creole Culture Day not far from NISDC.

Previous tugster posts from this area can be seen here, here, and here. With denser populations, places east of here have figured in posts like here and here. 

And just for context, the NISDC heads south to the Gulf ICW. More on this section of the ICW can be seen here. 

 

Road Fotos 2021 F 1

For some context, Road Fotos 2021 E left off in September here, and I’ve not caught up with road fotos for November.  But let’s jump ahead to December, and a trip we could start in New Iberia, about 150 miles west of New Orleans.  It was a reconnoitre, a gallivant to investigate what to spend more time on in a subsequent trip. More on that at the end of this post.

New Iberia is a low lying settlement, epicenter for the lift boat fleet.  Click here for an image taken after Hurricane Ike.

x

From the raised deck of a lift boat, I had this perspective on a ship yard across the waterway.

Some lift boats are for sale, others–like Jane below–in the yard for inspections, and

and still others are being dismantled, scrapped, like

the one that has these lift motors removed and possibly in triage for either recycling or rehabbing.

Heading by car for open water at Cypremort, we passed this church on stilts.  With greater time, I’d love to attend a service here.  With more time, Louisiana black bears might be spotted here.

I’d have to be there on a Sunday morning at 0900.

Taking the trip slightly out of order, let me add this moody photo bowsprite took from a low bridge over Bayou Black.  A thousand more photos like this would have reduced travel speed to a saunter pace. 

Here the intrepid bowsprite is recording the mosses in the trees, maybe collecting some for a multitexture project.

Like I said, I have many more;  selecting is tough, like this old tree.

The road and bridge system across this whole Atchafalaya region, half the area of the state, is quite impressive. The rest of these photos are thanks to bowsprite.

I love the higher bridges on these roads when less trafficked because they provide high points, great for taking photos, like this of the GIWW and other waterways of Louisiana looking west and

this, looking east.  With an entire other lifetime, I’d love to travel and explore this all the only way possible, by boat.

You may have heard of the disposal of the RORO Golden Ray, the car carrier that capsized outside Brunswick GA;  final cutting up is happening here, and over by the cranes, what you’re looking at is slices of the ship at M. A. R. S., Modern American Recycling Services in Bayou Black.

High bridges also facilitate a view of the an industry I’d not known was so visible this area, sugar cane production.  In the lower half of the photo, that’s a newly planted cane field.

Swaths of cane of different stages of growth were everywhere. 

In the foregound is newly planted, and beyond the machinery, that’s a crop ready to harvest with

large tracked machines like this. To see these machines at work, click here.

In large transports like this, you see the chopped cane

heading for the refinery.  This one below–the Enterprise mill— in steamy operation near New Iberia is one of many.  Definitely, a return trip would involve seeking permission to see all steps in this process closer up. 

Photos by bowsprite when indicated.  All others, WVD, who believes that you only halfway smell the daisies on the first time to determine what to spend more time at if and when you return.

 

Specialized 26

As the title indicates, this features #26 in a string of specialized posts. And what is specialized in what, you may think.

A lift boat, aka an elevator!  I’ve had lift boats here, and here.  I’m led to believe they’ve been around at least since Jehu.  Really, Jehu is a vessel I’ve not found an image of, but built around the time I was born.  Equally early examples might include Sal Duhe, and any of those on this shipyard list.

Stable above the crashing waves, that is Brazos, a 2014 lift boat with maximum berthing for 47 (!!) currently elevated near Smith Point, and there to provide data for wind farm construction.

But that space . .  . this design, what else might this be used for?  Nemo, both the Verne character and his modern wannabes, had their submarines, and the Maldives have The Muraka.  If you need and have time for a lengthy digression, see this analysis of Nemo, reread 20 Leagues under the Sea, and reimagine the story in  . . . say . . . 2120 in a world modified by sea level rise.

But let’s get back to this sometimes spuma-stern beach . . . which I visited exactly a decade ago.

What other flags could fly here, what decorative rings of paint?

It is indeed a vessel.  Note the plimsoll marks, the draft numbers, and the nozzle wheels, which to see clearer you’d have to get a boat.  And this lift boat also has a life boat, or at least a number of life rafts.  So what other usages are possible?  

Well, John Noble had his scrap boat, which you need to go see if you’ve never been to the Noble Maritime Collection on Staten Island.  Seen in the sixth boro, here are some conversions. There’s MLB 36391.   For really big budget projects, there’s Arctic P and Lone Ranger… now Sea Ranger.  Oh the possibilities for other second lives!

All photos and fantasizing . . . WVD, who leaves the ball in your court.