I'm Back From The Island!
I spent the first half of last week in the New Orleans with my Brother David. We had a fantastic time and David was the best tour guide seeing that he has been there twice before. I have never met friendlier and nicer people in my life. Everyone I meet had a heart breaking story to tell about that bitch KATRINA (as they refer to her), but only if you ask them. The French Quarter, River Front and Downtown areas seem to be in pretty good shape. It wasn't until we rented a car on our second to the last day that we went out as saw the devastation. We first went to St. Bernard Parish and the 9th Ward (poor part). It was a little hard to distinguish damage from poverty because a lot of the homes are cheaply built and badly maintained. The real evidence was the parking lots full of FEMA trailers baking in the hot sun and humidity. Don't get me wrong, we saw plenty of downed structures and debris piles as well as water lines on the homes.
We then decided to drive across the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, a 28 mile water level bridge. As we were driving back I saw a marina on the New Orleans side and decided to investigate. What we found was amazing. Boats sunk, boats with their bows point to the sky, boats on the docks, boats in piles, boats a 1/4 mile away from the lake. For me this was heartbreaking.
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As we headed back to the city we drove through what was once the very nice suburb of Lakeview. There we found everything pretty much abandoned. Houses with water lines right up to the roofs, house with for sale signs, houses with FEMA trailers parked in front, houses with signs that read "please don't bull doze". Lots of spray painted information on houses and cars as well stating that they had been inspected. The next thing we noticed was under a freeway clover leaf junction. Lots of abandoned cars that had been submerged and were being cannibalized for parts.
I spent the second half at Two Harbors on Catalina. Met Darryl, the owner of a E-38 that he sailed to Tahiti. Darryl is a member of Little Ships Yacht Club out of Long Beach. They were having a gathering of the Little Ships Club and they were all great sailors! We snorkeled and saw a big Halibut and three good sized Leopard Sharks. We had a pretty bad Fog on the return on Sunday. About two hours with about a half a football field of visibility. My radar paid for itself that day! We also ran into a very friendly pod of dolphins. All and all a outstanding trip!
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Skipper Jeff,
Over and Out for now.