Navigating Flooded Waters

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The Mississippi is currently 30-40 feet above normal. What we see as little bushes above the water are really big trees. We weren’t able to stop at Nottoway plantation today as the method of docking used there is called ‘stumping’ i.e. tying the ropes to tree stumps, and the stumps are all under water so we’re sailing today and stopping tomorrow at Francisville.

We left an hour or so late yesterday as some passengers had been delayed by stormy weather at Houston.

It was really magical in the evening watching the lights of ships and onshore facilities all lit up with the shadows of trees occasionally interrupting the view. I could have stayed out all night.

Below Baton Rouge all the traffic is industrial with ships and barges carrying anything from oil and coal to sugar cane and soy beans. The currents are too dangerous for pleasure craft. The surface looks smooth but you can see the swirls and whirlpools on the outside of the many bends. Our neighbour on one side of our cabin is Jim, a retired US Naval Engineer who has done this trip many times so he is a good go to person if I have any questions. Our neighbours on the other side come from Bucklands Beach!

Snub nosed little tug boats push the barges up stream and control them going downstream. Sometimes they have two or three barges in a row. I’m not sure how they do it. Ian has just seen 25 barges, 5 across and 5 long being pushed by one large ‘tug’. And you can imagine how fast they are going downstream.

Before the advent of steam boats barges, made of wood, would carry crops and goods downstream, then be dismantled, the wood being sued for other purposes because there was no way of getting them back upstream. So the first steamboat revolutionised industry on the river.

In New Orleans we watched freighters skid around the corner of the nearby bend in the river so now we are doing the same thing as we set out to cross the river for the quieter part of the on the inside of the bends.

The good news is that the river was receding but the bad news is that there has been more rain East of the river which is due to enter the Mississippi from the Ohio and Missouri Rivers. So we’re in for an interesting 3 weeks!

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