Day 123: Delacroix, LA to Mobile, AL

Today we fished the Gulf of Mexico for spotted sea trout, black drum, and red fish. What fun!

We started the day bright and early at 5:45 am by meeting Capital Jack at Sweetwater Marina. It was still dark out but we peeked over the dock to see the green water teeming with minuscule baby crabs. There were hundreds of millions of them swirling around together just under the surface.

We headed out into the Gulf guided by the scarlet red sunrise to fish around the oil rigs and sunken tankers which provide structures under the water that fish love to hang out around. Pretty quickly we were catching spotted sea trout, which are much larger than fresh water trout. Liam caught the first fish of the day and we were off to a great start.

Ian in his happy place.

Next we moved closer to shore to try our hands at catching a few red fish. We caught a bunch of catfish (these kind are not good to eat so they went back) and a few small black drum (that look like a zebra fish with cool black and white stripes). Then Alistair caught a big one! Our first grown red fish. It was a hard fight and the fish was MUCH bigger than we expected. Wow!

Zebra fish!

We saw shrimpers in action. The boats look like giant mayflies swooping through the water with their draping nets.

Once Alistair got us rolling, Liam, Seamus and finally Ian caught their own red fish. Seamus got the largest of the bunch - an absolute elephant of a fish.

Captain Alistair drove the boat.

Check out Ali’s wind blown hairdo.

We also saw loads of seabirds and even a few alligators. We worked hard for our catch but had a wonderful time doing so. It was a great adventure.

Once our fish were cleaned and refrigerated, we said our goodbyes to Capitan Jack and headed for the state line. We crossed in to Mississippi driving past Biloxi. We were only in Mississippi for an hour before we crossed over into Alabama headed for Mobile.

Ali slept soundly through Mississippi.

Mobile here we come!

We pulled in to Meaher State Park just before dark. We all worked together to prepare dinner which was pan fried fresh fish from today and the shrimp we picked up at the seafood market yesterday on top of salad. It was delicious. Our best meal of far. 

We are sun kissed and completely wiped. Bed time for all after appreciating the gorgeous pink sunset.

Day 122: New Orleans to Delacroix, LA

After a late 8 am sleep in, we were off on a search for alligators. On our quest we happened by a hopping Saturday morning seafood market full of crabs, shrimp, oysters and yes, alligator - but not live, wild ones, farmed alligator meat. We bought five pounds of fresh local shrimp for $20 and some frozen alligator meat that Seamus was adamant that he wanted to try. There were loads of blue crabs at the market but we’re going crab fishing later in the trip so we opted out of those this time.

We did not have to look any further for live alligators than Jean Lafitte’s Swamp Tour. We puttered around the canals (artificial channels) and bayous (natural channels) for just over an hour with Captain Brent. He had the thickest  Louisiana accent (though he probably thought that we had accents too).

We saw at least a dozen North American alligators, from small ones to an absolute giant named Elvis Jr. We also saw a leatherback turtle, giant heron, egrets, a snakebird, water spiders, a scarlet coloured dragonfly, the teeniest frogs that could hop along the surface of the water, and very hungry catfish. Captain Brent fed the catfish Gravy Train dog food pellets, which all the animals seemed to find delicious. In terms of wildlife viewing opportunities for time spent, this was a winning excursion. We saw a ton of interesting animals, birds and insects. The Louisiana swamps and marshes are teeming with biodiversity.

In the afternoon we headed out for haircuts. It was time. Everyone was pretty scruffy. We selected Ricouard’s Barber Shop where three lovely Louisiana gentlemen, Mr. Jimmy, Mr. John and Mr. Donny, took great care of Ian and the boys. They got fantastic haircuts and the boys even got their necks cleaned up with shaving cream and a straight razor like big men.

For lunch we stopped in for a New Orleans traditional muffuletta sandwich. This is four sandwiches in one! It is crusty white bread, spread with olive salad and filled with mozzarella, ham, salami and mortadella. 

We devoured this enormous (and enormously delicious) sandwich and then headed off to find the ferry to St. Bernard County. Luck was on our side today and the ferry was running on time. We drove on last and got off first. It felt weird sitting in the truck while it was positioned perpendicular to the direction the ferry was travelling. It was a bit disorienting, though the trip across the Mississippi River only lasted five minutes. We thought of it was a short but sweet river cruise that got us on our way. Alistair proudly requested to pay our $2 fare with his tooth fairy money. It was very generous of him.

As we drove off the ferry, we passed houses built on incredibly tall stilts. Many stilts were two full stories tall -  crazy high - before the floor of the actual house even started. We then passed through a concrete levy that had the ability to close (blocking the highway) during hurricanes to protect the homes inside the levied community of St. Bernard County (half of them elaborate mansions and the other half mobile homes) from flooding. The houses inside the levy were all built on ground level; no stilts here. We subsequently drove through a second concrete levy, exiting the community, and the stilts began again. We asked Google how often this areas floods and the answer was OFTEN, lol, specifically, 1915, 1927, 1947, 1965, and 2005, 2012 and 2026. Good grief. No wonder they need levies or stilts.

We are sleeping tonight at Sweetwater Marina in advance of our fishing trip tomorrow. It will be an early morning so we’re turning in early tonight.