Sailing The Gulf a travel blog by mhaleyrn Clark and I are ditching the kids and taking off on "Double Wide" our 40' Manta Catamaran for 3 weeks. we plan to sail from Ingelside By the Bay, Texas to ?, Florida. We hope to be in New Orleans for 4th of July. We will start the journey June 27th, 2009 view all 48 photos for this trip

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Getting Ready! San Antonio, United States A lot has happened since Clark and I first planned this trip. We are having a heat exchanger problem with the port engine and must make repairs prior to the trip. We are also having the generator worked on, which we hope to have back on the boat and installed on June 26, cutting it close!! The engine problem may delay the trip for a few days, so we have decided not to go to New Orleans and travel along the coastline to Destin, Florida. July 12, 2009 is our mark to come home. We have arranged for a crew of friends/family to meet us where ever we are on the 12th and help us sail across the Gulf home. We estimate this leg of the trip will take @ 5 days. Wish us "Bon Voyage" (French for "Good Journey"). written by  mhaleyrn on June 24, 2009 from San Antonio, United States from the travel blog: Sailing The Gulf Send a Compliment 1 comment...

Bon Voyage, Ingelside, Texas Port Aransas, United States We are off!!!!! With mechanical delays all fixed, we left the dock at 7:55 PM, ran aground at 8:00 Pm, opened the bar and gave it another go! My Bon Voyage pictures are lost somewhere in this computer, if I find them I will post them. Winds are ESE (East Southeast) at 22 mph. Latitude (LAT) 27 49, Longitude (Long) 97 13. We are motoring up the channel at 5.5 knots (1.2 statute Miles = 1 nautical mile), as we are traveling into the wind. My father-in-law Jim Haley is traveling to Galveston with us. He lived with my mother-in-law on their Morgan 38 "Afterglow" for 10 years and is a tremendous help! We arrived at San Antonio Bay at 10:00PM, LAT 27 51 Long 97 03. Winds are 13mph and we are anchored in 15' of water. We are near the Aransas Pass Light House (owned by HEB). written by  mhaleyrn on June 27, 2009 from Port Aransas, United States from the travel blog: Sailing The Gulf Send a Compliment 4 comments...

Matagorda Island State Park Port Aransas, United States One thing about this web site is, if it doesnt recognize the city you are in, it won't let you list it. We are acctually near Port O'Connor. What a day!! Just livin the dream!! Today we motor-sailed up the Intercoastal Waterway to Matagorda Island. Winds where light at 12 mph, with an average speed of 5.5 knots. There where lots of dolphin playing around the boat and several tugs pushing cargo. We had to stay alert. Currently we are anchored at Army Hole. Once an army base, now it is owned by Texas Parks and Wildlife and is a State Park. You can only travel here by water. Our coordinates are LAT 28 20, Long 96 27. written by  mhaleyrn on June 28, 2009 from Port Aransas, United States from the travel blog: Sailing The Gulf Send a Compliment 2 comments...

Day 2 and 3 Seabrook, United States What a day and night at sea!!! We awoke in Army Hole only to discover that our weak batteries where weaker than we thought, as in non-existant! Thank goodness our cabin batteries and engin batteries are different. We traveled to Port O'Connor, fueled up and headed for the Gulf. We left the jetties at 9:00AM and headed about 10 Miles offshore. Winds where light about 10 to 12 mph. We ran our Port (left) engine the whole trip to keep the cabin batteries charged. We had only enough juice to run the navigation lights and instruments. The anchor and sails had to be put out and in manually. We cruised at an average of 6 knots and arrived in Kemha/Seabrook at 6:30 AM today. We sailed the boat in 2 hour shifts. I would sail 2 hours and get 4 off to sleep and do whatever. We did not have a transient slip lined up, so we puttered around Clear Lake until 8:00AM, made some calls and ended up in a slip with power at Seabrook Shipyard. Our current coordinates are LAT 29 33 LONG 95 01. My sister Lana lives close by and loaned us a car, we went to West Marine for our first trip of the day. West Marine is the Home Depot/Lowes for boaters. We had a terrific lunch at Joe Lee's and are headed to the airport to send Jimmy home. He has been such a help and full of knowledge and experience to share with us, he will be missed!!!! written by  mhaleyrn on June 30, 2009 from Seabrook, United States from the travel blog: Sailing The Gulf Send a Compliment 1 comment...

Day 4 Seabrook, United States We are still in Seabrook waiting on the new batteries to arrive. Jimmy arrived safely in San Antonio last night. My sister-in-law Laura picked him up at the airport. We awoke this morning and found it lonely without his presence. Hi Jimmy, we miss you!! I will catch up with the laundry and restock the galley, as we are tossing around the idea of heading straight to Pensacola, FL, ETA 3 days 6 hours offshore at 6 knots. We plan to leave tomorrow at 9:00 AM, so if you don't hear from me thats why! My sister's Lana and Leigh Ann and Lana's husband Bruce came over for drinks and a boat tour we all went to dinner at Baily's in Seabrook for a fantastic food. Great times!! written by  mhaleyrn on July 1, 2009 from Seabrook, United States from the travel blog: Sailing The Gulf Send a Compliment 1 comment...

Day 5 Kemah, United States We just finished a great dinner sail with Leigh Ann, Lana, and Bruce. The new batteries arrived this afternoon and have been installed and all electrical systems seem to be working. We have decided to set sail in the morning for Pensacola, FL. We expect it will take @ 3 to 4 days. Therefore, I will not have any entries for several days. Keep watching and I will catch you up. written by  mhaleyrn on July 1, 2009 from Kemah, United States from the travel blog: Sailing The Gulf Send a Compliment comment on this...

Day 6,7, & 8 Empire, United States This is the closest city this site will let me use. If I had to do it again, I would not use Blogabond. Our current Lat/Long is LAT 29 12, LONG 088 46. We have spent 3 days and 2 nights on the water. It is hotter than HELL!!!! The water temperature is 84 degrees and you can feel the heat from the water around the boat. We have had little wind, maybe 5 knots and 0.5 to 1.0 foot seas (almost glassy). One or both engines have been running at all times to keep us at 5.5 to 6 knots. We work the nights in shifts. I get 8pm to 10 pm, Midnight to 2 AM, and 4 Am to 6 AM, Clark takes the other times and we share the days. Dolphin played on the bow one day, we caught a king fish while trolling a green and yellow squid, one lone crab floated by, and I saw the biggest trurtle in the world (he was camera shy)!!! We passed by an abandoned lighthouse off the La. coast and currently we are in the "Dead Zone", no marine life due to the Mississippi River flowing fresh water into the gulf. The water went from blue and clear to briny/brown the closer we got to the Mississippi. We expect to reach the Pensacola jetties tomorrow around 12:00 Noon. It has been so hot!! Clark finnally got the generator working last night and we had A/C to sleep in, it felt so good! The nights around La. produce shrimp boats like fleas, you have to be alert at night and have a sound radar for guidance. I am having a great time despite the slow go and heat. written by  mhaleyrn on July 4, 2009 from Empire, United States from the travel blog: Sailing The Gulf Send a Compliment 1 comment...

Day 9 Pensacola, United States We made it!! We cleared the jetties at 6:48 this AM. About 15 hours out we had engines full speed ahead as we out ran a rain squall. Still no wind and pushed on. Then it happened, the end of my midnight to 2 AM shift around 1:45AM the wind came barreling at our back @22mlh. A storm was pushing us in at @7.5 knots. Can you believe it, we finally got wind after 4 days and 3 night of motorsailing. We dropped anchor at Spanish Point, a beautiful cove with the whitest sand beach and crystal blue water. Then we ate quickly and went to bed. We where tired! It's 11:45 AM and we are going to check out our surroundings. Our current location is Lat 30 19.205N, Long 087 20.011W. written by  mhaleyrn on July 5, 2009 from Pensacola, United States from the travel blog: Sailing The Gulf Send a Compliment 3 comments...

Day 12? Fort Walton Beach, United States I think its day 12?? We headed out of Pensacola yesterday morning, but there where to many rain squalls. We tucked into a cute cove and spent the day just hanging out and exploring the island next to us. We are currently sailing up the coast and passing Fort Walton Beach. We are on our way to Destin, Fl.(about a 6 hour sail). The generator broke again so we are ordering a part. Once again very little wind and calm seas, so we are motorsailing. The water is dark blue and beautiful. We are in @55' of water, the skies are grey and squalls are all around, though none have come close to us. I took a picture of a water tower in Pensacola, every time I looked it reminded me of a Charms Blowpop. I sure wish I had one of those right now!! Clark has been busy workationing down below in the main cabin. Somebody has to pay for all this fun!! written by  mhaleyrn on July 7, 2009 from Fort Walton Beach, United States from the travel blog: Sailing The Gulf Send a Compliment 1 comment...

Day 12 or 13? Destin, United States OMG!! My internet connection stinks! Sorry Ive had a hard time getting a connection today. We ar currently in Destin, Florida. LAT 30 23 LONG 086 30. We are on night 2 day 3, not because we like it a lot here, but because we are waiting on a generator part. We arrived yesterday in Destin around 3:00 PM It was a choppy ride with 3 to 4 foot seas and 10 to 15 mph winds. We were able to maintain about 6.5 knots on the 5 hour sail from Pensacola. We ordered a part for the generator which arrived, but we found it was the wrong part. Winds were not in our favor, so we decided to order another part next day air and wait for it. The part arrived this AM, we were excited to get moving, but as we tried to turn on the main engines we found that their batteries were out of juice. Clark is off to buy new batteries while I wait in the A/C. This place is beautiful, and if you like to fish its the place to be. In the AM the harbor rumbles with the sound of charter boats getting geared up and ready to head out to the Gulf. Where we are anchored there are few boats so we are what the tourist rentals come out to see. All day long it is a constant flow of parasail, glass bottom, snorkel, dolfin watch, pontoon boats, and jetskis. This is rental world here!!!! Also, many of you have been concerned about pirates. We did see some. They are a lot easier to spot than you might think. The Blue Angels are stationed near here and paractice everyday. Tomorrow and Saturday there is a Blue Angels show, so we are headed to Pensacola to jockey a good place to anchor and watch the show. written by  mhaleyrn on July 8, 2009 from Destin, United States from the travel blog: Sailing The Gulf Send a Compliment 1 comment...

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