July 24 - 28 Lake Charles Cruise
L'auberge du lac Casino & Resort
July 24 - 25, 2008
Fay
KemHelm
We set out early Thursday and were run over by a band of showers from Hurricane Fay as it went ashore in South Padre Island some 400 miles away.
Kem takes the helm and guides us through the storm
Rain
PassingElPaso
Conditions were pretty much like this off and on down the Houston Ship Channel and the ICW until we hit Port Author 12 hours later
We got no more than 500 feet in front of the tow El Paso entering East Bay Cut when we hit "white out" conditions. Rain so hard we couldn't see the bow. Had to call him to let him know we were slowing (ha) as we could not see buoys marking the narrow channel..
BobHelmRigsSabine
JackUpRigsProps
Heading south now in the Port Author Ship Canal (instead of channel) heading to the docks in Sabine Pass
This jack up rig has propellers to drive itself to location
WaterTower
GolfClub
Golf ball water tower - Pleasure Island Port Author
The club house (golf) at Pleasure Island Port Author
MarinaAtCasino
CasinoStack

Welcome to L'auberge du lac Casino and Resort

Three LYC vessels made the trek. Sabbatical, Spirit Dancer, and Coral Cay

The building behind the boats is actually a floating barge. Note the riverboat style stack on the left upper corner of the picture. In Louisiana, casinos could not be built on land.
DancingOnLido1
GuysDanceToo
The music was playing, the mirrored disco ball turning and dancing was commencing on Spirit Dancer's "Lido" deck. Guys demonstrate fancy dance steps.
Guitar Don
Guitar Bob
After dancing on the Lido Deck, it's time to make our own music. Don Mitchell on Guitar Bob consults the word song book while belting out a tune.
Depart Casino
Bob Radio
Departing the casino at sunrise heading back to Sabine Pass Bob chatting up towboat driver to get meeting and passing preferences. "See you on the one whistle captain?" "See you on the one."
NavyTransportShip
NavyTransportShipStern
Navy transport ship loading tanks, trucks, etc. Note USCG patrol boats Stern view. On our way to the casino the ramp was down and the CG gave us an escort past the ship
ICW View1
PortView
View of the Texas ICW Port view of ICW with new Garmin
Stbd view
StevesLanding
Starboard view with autopilot, depth gauge and radar display Steve's landing Bolivar Peninsula. This is our first stop October 1st as we depart on the great loop.