After a month of finalizing boat projects, purging earthly (and non-marine/non-voyage) belongings, packing an unimaginable amount of spare parts, tools, and gear, and another few days of provisioning for a 20+ day voyage for five people, the Uptown Voodoo Queen shoved off from the marina in the Industrial Canal on January 18th to make it in time for an 8pm appointment at the Ted Hickey Bridge.

The plan for the evening was to transit the 2 miles of Industrial Canal in the nighttime hours in order to be at the junction with the Mississippi River by daybreak—transiting the River during maximum daylight was essential for our novice experience in a highly trafficked channel. Getting down the Canal to this jumping off point required an appointment to have the first bridge opened (the Department of Transportation has to call in an electrician to manually open some of the Canal bridges due to their state of disrepair), passing under the “High Rise” (I-10 bridge), radioing to the LNN railroad bridge to open, radioing to the Florida Avenue bridge to open (and radioing ahead to the St. Claude Avenue Locks that we were en route), radioing to the Claiborne Avenue bridge to open, transiting the Locks, then passing under the St. Claude bridge to dock just at the Canal outlet to the River for the evening.

The single dock line to get through the Locks caused us some trouble, swinging the stern away from the wall with the incoming current and requiring the dinghy to help push the stern back into position while other crew fended off the bow from the wall. After all that excitement, we safely made it to dock at the River.

Arising the morning of the 19^th to forecasts of impending high winds and rain in the afternoon prompted a decision to stay put until the next day. One last night in New Orleans was spent with Maxwell’s family at our favorite restaurant then a restless sleep listening to the whistles and honks and creaks of the traffic in and out and over the Locks.

Parked at the dock past the Locks