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by Mike Mangus - Columbus, Mississippi - USA

Part One - Part Two

September 23 – 27, 2015

Day 0, Tuesday, Sep 22nd

Got a later start than expected but wasn’t worried … it was only a 4 hour drive.  Arrived at Point Park, Pascagoula MS around 7 pm.  Nice looking park.  Neat and trim, lots of parking, four wide ramps, docks, lighted, even air conditioned bathrooms.  Even after dark there is a couple dozen people walking around and feeding a coven of stray cats.

Dropped a message to the MBI group to meet in the morning and went out to do some shopping and find a hotel for the night.  It took a few hotels, but finally found a tidy 2 star for $61. Very nice!

Day 1, Wednesday, Sept 23rd

Drove into the park at 7:30’ish to find Pat already there.  Good to see him again!  Over the next couple hours Travis arrives with Pilgrim, Terry with his “EZ’N” sailboat, and Murray with a O’Day 12’ Widgeon.  They get rigged and sent off on an outgoing tide and a northeastern stern wind.

During that time I rig the Little Tri.  I help get Pat’s Half Fast Cruiser in the water and he helps move the Little Tri to the ramp.  Figuring it will be easier to raise sail before putting the water in, I try to do just that … only to hear a big crack as the mast partner separates from the forward cockpit bulkhead.  Looks like I missed some damage from the FL120 beaching earlier this year.  With great disappointment, the mast is pulled off the boat and the boat dragged back to and uploaded onto the trailer.  At this point, I’m ready to take the Little Tri apart and head home for home vacation.  Then Pat offers a ride for the rest of the week.  Gladly accepting, I hurry and strap the boat down and move seabags to Pat’s boat.  Not wanting to clutter his boat, I leave much of my camping stuff behind in the truck.  

Woot!  Finally on the way!  Pat keeps the boat in displacement cruising mode, especially after we clear the breakwater and move into the sound.  There is a vicious chop, perhaps the worse chop I personally have ever been in.  For once I am glad the Little Tri broke on shore, cause I have no doubt that the mast partner would have let go while trying to sail today!  Murray wisely turns to starboard after the breakwater to run with the wind towards Round Island a few miles away.
Still, it is a good cruise on Pat’s boat.  We bob and rock a bit but the trip wasn’t scary at all.  Pat really understands his boat and the best way to move it through the water.

Eight miles into the 9 mile trip, I suddenly remember leaving the Little Tri’s mast laying alongside the ramp.  Gah!  Although the mast didn’t cost more than a couple hundred dollars, I am reluctant to leave it there for the rest of the week.  Pat graciously offers to go back to the park so I can secure it.  Which we do after arriving at Sand Island (spoil island around 0.3 miles from Petit Bois’s west end) and telling the others “We’ll be back!”.

After the round trip and back at Sand Island, we set up camp.  I decide to circumvent the small island and do some recording.

Back at camp, Stan notices I don’t have camping gear and offers his tent and sleeping pad.  He’ll sleep on the Pilgrim.  Pehr and I set up tents, the rest looking to sleep on boats.  Someone camp cooks some cobbler which is delicious!  As the sun goes down we have the best view looking out from our beach to the west, past the boats, and to the colorful sky beyond.

Day 1 Video Recap:

Day 2, Thursday, Sept 24th

Up and about around 7 am not long after sunrise.  Good thing Pehr convinced me to move the tent last night for the high tide covers my original camp spot.

No one in in a huge hurry, after all it’s only 15’ish miles to the next proposed camp site.  Even so, Pat wants to get out before the others so we can scout the Horn Island north shore for possible stopping points.  With the wind again from the northeast, the southwest running waves turn the north shoreline into a lee shore … not a good place to beach anywhere.  Still, we never know what cubby holes we might find.

Shoving off west towards Horn and upon clearing the little protection of the cove, we are immediately besieged by a strong southwest chop mixing with the long gulf swells coming in from the southeast.  Pat works throttle and angles through two different wave directions to dampen much of the rolling, but it is rough motoring. 

Moving west along the northern shore of Horn Island, things smooth out considerably without the gulf swells.  That still leaves the moderate northwest chop though.  We displacement cruise west along shore, noting Horn’s points of interest from the Mississippi Barrier Island Guide.  The Ranger Station pier slides by while I wistfully wish we could stop and explore, but the wind is still from the NE turning the north shoreline into a lee shore.  A bit after we pass the Chimney where stone blocks remain of the once tall chemical weapons incinerator.  Further west along shore we see another big boat though it seems to be tilting a bit.  Turns out it is grounded on shore.  We vow to return and take a look later.

Reaching the west end of Horn, we find the little protected hook on the point as predicted by the MS Barrier Guide.  We cruise around the end to see if there is a better protected area.  Although there is a shallow cove on the west end, it is barely blocking the southwest running waves.  It would be perfect for a southern breeze though.  Pat snaps a picture and posts to facebook for the others to see.

We find the small hook perfect for anchoring.  4’ water well protected from all directions by a sandy spit of land.  Even though high tide does wash tiny waves over the end of the spit, the water inside remains undisturbed. We anchor securely.

Since it might be a couple hours yet for the other boats to catch up, Pat and I decide to do some walking and exploring.  We hike around the point to the gulf side of the island where we find the usual beach stuff: driftwood, plastics, manmade trash, etc.  Considering it would be a full time job keeping the shores cleaned up, it is no surprise there is some trash.  As we walk, the local birds lead ahead, skirting the wave wash to pick food out of the mild surf.

We cut across from the southern side to the north shore to inspect the beached boat.  It looks to be a 40’+ sailboat by the chain plates.  Big interior still cluttered with stuff like bedding, CDs, etc.  The boat still has some hardware on it including two perfectly working winches.  Although the inspection sticker expired in Jan 2013, the boat looks like it has only been there for a year at the most instead of a few years.

We head east along shore on the way towards the Chimney.  About a mile short of it, here comes Murray in the little 12’ Widgeon sailing 20’ from shore.  Starting from Round Island, he sailed across the sound to Horn and hugged the shore as the first sailboat to today’s camp. 
So far we have walked perhaps 4 miles in the hot sun.  Pat is barefoot and feeling it.  Reluctantly but in agreement we turn back towards camp.
We come across what looked like rocks earlier but turn out to be big clumps of sea grass.  From the distance, these look like rocks with the waves breaking against them.  Kicking one over though shows it is nothing but lots of sea grass and sand.

Back at the camp sees the Widgeon anchored and Murray on walkabout nearby.  Peeking over the sand dunes are sail-less masts, so we wander around the point to find Travis, Stan, and Pehr in the Pilgrim anchored on the west side of Horn along with a music playing powerboat.  Travis and crew decide shortly afterwards that the bugs and music is unwanted and motor back around to where Pat and I are anchored.

Sails on the horizon!  Steven and Dave sail in on a Mariner 19 with an astonishing amount of sail raised (main and 150 genoa)!  Just shows how good those old O’day Mariners are.  They launched mid-morning from Park Point and sailed directly over.  We get them nestled in-between the Pilgrim and Half Fast.

Steven and Dave camp cook a delicious looking meal with steaks and backed potatoes.  Pehr , Murray, and I set up tents a bit away on dry land safe from the expected morning high tides.  As the sun draws down so does the wind, letting the gnats and bugs invade everyone’s camps.   Luckily, the high end DEET spray works as intended and soon after sunset I fall comfortably asleep in the tent.

Day 2 Video Recap: 


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