We got an early start this morning.  First, we had to go ashore in the dinghy to let Daisy take a walk.  Although we were very close to the shore at our anchorage, there was a strong current, so it was not easy to steer the dinghy.  It was foggy this morning, so we waited for the skies to clear and then headed for the Gulf at 8 am.  It was 50 miles to Galveston.  We had 3-5 ft seas and 8 - 10 kts of wind from the NE. 

We called some marinas in Galveston this morning and got the same story we heard in Port Arthur and Sabine Pass.  There is only one marina which has diesel fuel and they are only open part time.  Also, they’ll only take cash.  There are no marinas with a slip for us to stay in for the night, so we thought we’d have to anchor out.  Galveston is a commercial port and we had to take the long deep channel in to the city.  There were 21 ships miles outside the port, waiting to come in.  They are in 40 feet of water, and lined up in a row.  There were many more anchored right outside the channel.  We also saw a Carnival Cruise ship coming in. 

It was great to be back on the open sea and actually sailing again.  The last 13 days we have been motorsailing on the Intracoastal.  We do not plan on going back to the East Coast next spring on this waterway.  While it was perhaps a very safe way to travel during the day, it was often a problem finding a place to anchor.  When there were marinas, they only charged $20 - $25 for a transient berth but rarely had electricity or water.  Still, that was preferable to being close to large barges chugging by all night long.  We have an alarm on the anchor and if we start to drift, it goes off.  It’s a concern that if we did drift, we’d be in a barge’s path.  With all of the anchorages we were at during this trip, we didn’t drift and had safe, although rocky, nights.

The weather has been cloudy and cool, although it will be in the mid 70’s when we reach Corpus Christi in a few days.

We got into Galveston Harbor about 5:00 pm and looked for Pier 19 where we were supposed to get fuel.  Two dolphins escorted us safely into the harbor.  I wasn’t coordinated enough to get a picture of them, although I tried. We went up and down the piers looking for the “little tan shack with a red barrel in front of it” for awhile and finally got Andy from the “Party Boats Pier” on his cell phone.   We were right in front of the fuel dock.  It was only $2.00 a gallon for diesel.  We

filled our tank and our five gallon cans (5 of them).  Andy told us we could tie up to his dock for the night as one of the party boats was in dry dock.  Photo above shows some of the destruction at the dock we were at.  The party boats are actually fishing boats which take passengers out into the Gulf.  For dinner, we went to a great restaurant a few blocks from the dock, Willie G’s Seafood and Steakhouse.  Much of Galveston is in shambles, and restaurants and stores are boarded up.  Along the water most of the restaurants are closed, so we were lucky that Wille G’s had been repaired as we had a wonderful seafood meal.  While we don’t usually like to go out on New Years’ Eve, this time we were very hungry for a good meal.  Also, my birthday is on January 1st, so I got to have a chocolate pie for my birthday cake.