Freeport proved to be a relaxing little beach town almost totally deserted in the off-season. Most bars and restaurants around were closed for winter, but one place in particular, Castaways, deserves as much traffic as any place I’ve ever been to with those amazing burgers. Their pizza is great too, but the Bayou Burger and Breakfast Burger deserve international recognition.

Surfside Marina was also a great place to stay with a friendly staff (thanks Matt, I’ll be calling you for fantasy football advice one of these days) and good rates.

Anyway, ever since we jumped into Freeport from the Gulf we’ve been Eastbound cruising the “ditch” to avoid those regular chilly Northern wind fronts. When we landed at Pelican’s Rest Marina we picked up our friend Paul (aka: Brother Pablo) in Galveston, and after a night of debauchery we’ve been a trio of ride-or-die brown water cruisers.

The Ditch has been pretty kind to us so far with far more interesting sights than challenges. Here are a bunch of shots from everyday ditchin’ it from Freeport to Port Arthur.

^ This is right in the middle of Galveston Bay. I guess he didn’t have a depth sounder ^

Sometimes sunset pictures just come out incredible. I get the feeling we’ll be seeing a LOT of sunsets on this trip.

^ These two are from the Martin Energy fuel dock in Port Arthur. Chance is a top notch dude with a history in the hardcore scene, and he sure knows how to negotiate. A lot of remaining hurricane damage here.

We’ve even had enou…

#$@%^$% WHACK @$#^$&!!!!!

WOAH! just like that, I’m typing along about the previous leg of our trip and the damn ICW springs its trap. We’re on the long straight run between Sabine Lake and Lake Charles and a big sunken plastic looking container or something sneaks up on Contigo’s starboard bow. See if you see it in the picture below (click to enlarge).

Sneaky little Ditch. The 1970 Charlie Morgan 38′ slammed into that thing like DeMarco Murray over the Bears last week.

So as I was saying…

We’ve even had time and initiative enough to reseal some leaky port lights and do some rewiring along the way.

That said, we’ve had our share of minor screw-ups to laugh about…

So, now we’re on to Lake Charles and the marina at the L’Auberge du Lac Casino for NFL Sunday. Come on Dallas!!!

— Adam probably won’t like that last part… but ‘Skins fans rarely have much to appreciate these days anyway ;)