Transitting Soutwest Pass to New Orleans

[Coastie Paul]

Anyone been up/down the river from the pass to New Orleans over the last week or two (i.e. during the high water)? Any tips, news, or helpful observations would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Paul

[Coastie Paul]

The up and down transit to NOLA went well. We had a four knot head current going up. It was a long transit up on Monday. I had spoken to a bar pilot prior to arriving and asked for info. He gave some gouge on areas of set, current, traffic, debris, etc. Having pilots on most vessels helps and everyone monitors and responds on VHF 67 pretty well.
Today's transit down was at mostly 17 knots. I had only one larger downbound vessel (composite tug/barge), several large upbound, and four dredges at Head of Passes. It was still a long transit (7 hrs) but not as long as Mondays (12.5 hrs). All in all a good experience but glad I don't have to do it all the time.

[skinny stick]

I hate going into Venice,,worst place in the world is the Mississippi River