With a tropical depression threatening the Eastern Gulf, we all had to head quickly west for Texas…..
It was to be a Galveston crew-change, and we were treated to a double-barreled rainbow along the way…..
…..amid the insanely gorgeous skies of the Gulf of Mexico. Thunderstorms at sunset before our last full night at sea were pure lagniappe…..
…..and our sister-vessel Potomac maintained her lead on us…..
…..as we navigated along the main east-west offshore safety fairway, passing by the deepwater platforms standing right at the very edge of the continental shelf.
The next day, as the thunderheads began to build again at midday, we picked up our barge alongside out in the open Gulf off of Bolivar Roads….. the old-fashioned way: turn on the barge, grab the strap, and put out a 3-part headline. We lurked in the anchorage for a little while, picked up our pilot, and then headed in for port. Once inside the protection of the jetties we put up a stern line and slacked the wire out a bit.
Coming through the jetties, the local wildlife…..