Our Trip begins

July 3- The boat trip has officially begun!! NaNa arrived on Monday around noon!!! We finished a few last minutes errands and left the League City on July 3^rd. First stop was in Galveston to celebrate the Fourth of July and enjoy Moody Gardens with family and friends. The pool and gardens were beautiful. However, the kids enjoyed riding the paddle board while being pulled by the Princess of the Waves or some people named it Little Yachty (that is the name of the Dinghy). Taylor earned the title of Queen of the Paddleboard by riding it in a standing position with four other kids sitting down while being towed over waves and under bridges! NaNa was on duty when what to her wondering eyes would appear??? Taylor and Jocelyn jumping off of the bridge leading to the dock! Exploring the areas in the Dingy is a favorite past time during our trips. We explored two canals and saw many beautiful homes and boats.  The red- white- blue light up batons were cool as we ventured to watch the fireworks. The food was delicious and the company was awesome as usual. We didn’t have to rock the kids to sleep that night!

July 5- We started the second day of our trip meeting our departure time of 8:00 am and clear blue skies. For those of you who know us that was something to be proud of !!!  We saw Tillman's yacht docked at the Wharf and the Elissa Sailboat next to Harbor House.  The destination was Intercostal City at Shell Morgan’s Landing with a quick fuel stop in Port Arthur. We got in the gulf running 50 miles off shore and was facing 5-6 feet waves. We took it for a while and Captain Michael decided he had enough of white knuckling the steering wheel and moved closer to shore. There we only fought 2-3 feet waves.  We arrived at Shell Morgan at 4:45 pm where we spent the night. NaNa was sad because we did not see any alligators. All the girls except, Gracie, enjoyed several long naps throughout the day. Amy is the Great Chef and prepares great lunch and dinner menus.

July 6- Early Birds departed Shell Morgan at 7:00 am. Destination… to refuel at Moran’s Marina in Port Fourchen, LA. We have seen every kind of ship and every size ship ever made. NaNa was quick to point out that Captain Michael missed his opportunity to run over a piece of wood in the water as we entered the marina. At this marina, we always get to watch the sea gulls, pelicans and dolphins in action. Usually, fishermen are cleaning their catch of the day and feed them. They quietly and patiently are waiting for their food to be served in the water and NaNa is taking 300 pictures….until Gracie decides she wants to play. Gracie is the Queen of Bird Chasing. The boat is refueled and so are we. The weather has been hot, but beautiful skies. However, we did have a dodge a few rain storms, but other than that, blue skies with a much-welcomed over-cast sky. The only excitement on today’s journey was having to route around a huge dredging event in the middle of the gulf.  We broke our own record by running 70 miles off shore and the depth of the water reached 190 feet! The gulf looked like a mirror. In all of our years, including NaNa, we have never seen the gulf this calm. We began to wonder…is this the calm before the storm? Thank goodness it was not. We arrived in Venice and enjoyed swimming in the pool and having dinner at the restaurant. The only loss that we have had this trip has been Nana losing her prized Perry & Young Visor.  The good news is she knows where to get a replacement.  The good news for Perry & Young is that Nana managed to advertise for them in a place they never thought of.

Signing off

Capt Michael and Crew

Amy 

Taylor

Nana 

Gracie