New Orleans to Horn Island, MS June 26

We were up before 0600 (that’s not so difficult as you move east in the time zone), and after off-loading trash and on-loading the water hose and AC cable, by 0630 we were off from the Pontchartrain Landing Marina that has been Texas Ranger’s home for the last 3 ½ weeks.  Just before departure, I discovered the tree frog that had stowed away in the Barataria Waterway on June 1 hiding beneath the flybridge instrument cover, so I jettisoned him to the marina grounds.  I hope he finds new family in his new environs!  We found a train crossing the L&N Railroad Bridge, but by the time we reached this structure which was built in 1911 by the Bethlehem Steel Co., it was raised and we passed right through.  By 0700 we had reached the junction of the Industrial Canal and turned east, and by 0950 we had passed the Michaud Canal with its NASA facility and new floodgates, and cleared the Rigolets into Lake Borgne.  By 1030 we were able to text our son-in-law and inform him that we had passed the Pearl River and entered his home state of Mississippi!  We had considered Cat Island or Ship Island as stopping points, but were making such good progress that we continued on past Gulfport and Biloxi to the eastern end of Horn Island (across the bay from Pascagoula), where we anchored about 1715.  It has been a long day, but not particularly stressful as we encountered few tows, and wide passages.  The sand is getting lighter, but the water is not (yet).  We will press on in quest of that clear water tomorrow...