We slept well last night for a change as we were well off the Intracoastal .  We pulled in an “oxbow” which is a channel that goes in, circles around and comes back out.  We went past a refinery and dropped the anchor.  Then, we got a call on the VHF radio from someone at the refinery who told us we better pull a little farther in as some barges would be turning around near us.  There was plenty of room to go farther, and it was deep, so we thanked him and moved.  There were a lot of refineries around us all lit up last night.

We started this morning by having to get permission from a lift bridge to open for us.  It was a 50 ft fixed bridge and lifted to 73 feet.  We need at least 70 feet.  Apparently, no one is at this lift bridge as most boats going through can use the 50 feet.  We had to call last night to notify them that we’d be coming today as there isn’t an operator there unless someone needs to come through.  This morning, the lift bridge operator was there and let us through. 

Daisy didn’t get to go out last night or this morning, so she was very anxious when we left the anchorage.  She could see the shore, but it was all marsh thus we couldn’t go in.  She has gone on the trampoline before but every time I took her up there this morning, she just looked at me sadly and walked away.  Finally it became too much for her and she went on the trampoline.  We praise her but she still doesn’t like it.

We entered Texas today.  Finally!!  The marina we wanted to stop at tonight is on Sabine Lake in Port Arthur, Texas.  We called them on the phone this morning and they said they were destroyed by Hurricane Ike last summer and the lake is strewn with debris.  It was a good thing we had a number to call.  The cruising guides we are using were written earlier this year before the last hurricane season, so we may run into other destroyed marinas as we approach Galveston, which was also hit by Ike.

We decided we’d anchor out tonight, so we went under the Rainbow Bridge and into an oxbow.  It seems pretty far off the shipping channel.  There are large ships coming down the river, but we don’t think barges come here.  Barges are a problem as they just pull over whenever they want and if you are already there they might not see you until it’s too late.  We found a nice anchorage just before Port Arthur and there were two big barges in there already so we had to go on.

We’ve decided to go out to the Gulf and do day sails from Galveston to Corpus Christi rather than continue on the Intracoastal for another 264 miles.  We’ll be very happy to leave all these barges behind.  We’ll get to Galveston tomorrow and from there we’ll go out in the Gulf for the 24 hour sail to Corpus Christi.