05/06/2012 - Blessing of the Fleet in Bayou La Trash

Header image is a photo near the start of the Boat Parade.

A gentlemen who was on the sailboat "Wind Ryder" was out exploring Bayou La Trash by kayak.

The Blessing of the Fleet is a colorful event and it is about the only reason I will go kayaking in Bayou La Trash anymore. I use this event to see if anyone has cleaned up Bayou La Batre yet. No change Bayou La Trash - it is still impaired by trash and petroleum.

It seemed like a lot of the people on the Shrimp Boats had not seen a pedal kayak before. 

Many people waved, cheered, or looked at my pedal kayak in disbelief.

Michael White, FOX10TV was Grand Marshal for the Blessing of the Fleet (far left) and Archbishop Rodi of Mobile (wearing the cross) was sprinkling holy water on the polluted water.

I found it ironic that there was a bag of trash in the water as the Archbishop's Pilot boat passed by on the way back. "Bless this Trash."

Some boats had colored flags, some had American Flags, other boats were flying racist Redneck Flags. Which one threw all the beer bottles in the water?

All the activity up by the Lift Bridge sure had this Cormorant confused.

So why do I call this Bayou La Trash? Because the shoreline of this working bayou is disgustingly polluted with trash and has been for years.

The Shoreline is littered with garbage. No one cares. Poor leadership seems to be related to degradation of cities. Some people in Bayou La Batre are not happy with their Mayor Stan Wright and want him to resign.

Trash is a problem throughout Mobile County roadsides and it ultimately ends up in or along waterways. Mobile County has no one cleaning trash from its waterways. That is asinine. Travelers don't book vacations to garbage dumps. 

Disney World knows clean reflects in its pocketbooks which is why so much effort goes into keeping their facilities clean and litter free. Might there be a reason why tourists aren't flocking to rent kayaks to explore this bayou? There was a storm growing closer on the horizon.

A walk along the shoreline in Bayou La Trash will make most people sick to their stomach. See the dead cat?

Tassels from oil boom long since removed from the waterways still litter the banks of Bayou La Trash.

Here is a US Coast Guard boat, oblivious to the chemicals on the surface of the water near the partying "Kayla Maureen" shrimp boat next to a huge advertising banner, "www.alabamaseafooddirect.com". I pointed out the petroleum spill to the Coast Guard Boat. When I went back by about three hours later, the sheen was still there and there was no cleanup effort going on.

Here is another smelly petroleum sheen in a different location. 9 out of 10 times when I go kayaking in Bayou La Trash, there are petroleum sheens on the surface of the water in the same areas. Enjoy your Gulf Coast Shrimp, home grown in Bayou La Trash petroleum sheens.

05/02/2010 - Bayou La Batre Blessing of the Fleet

Launch: Bayou La Batre Public Launch
Destination: Bayou La Batre Blessing of the Fleet

Header Image

1) Bayou La Batre is trashy as ever. A shoreline like this is not good for eco tourism in Alabama in what could be a very enticing location for visiting kayakers.

2) Bayou La Batre is also an appliance dump.

3) A kayaker does not have to look very hard to find petroleum sheens on the water along with their noxious fumes in Bayou La Batre. 

4) Tons of people have been activated to monitor and address the BP oil spill, but they seem blind to the petroleum that already coats the local water surface of Bayou La Batre.

5) Breathing the air around this minor spill was terrible. I can only imagine what the air will be like when the BP oil starts coating the shorelines.

6) I reported one of the sheens (there were several in different locations) to the Marine Police who were at the Blessing of the Fleet. I applaud the Marine Police for responding and actually checking out the spill. One officer said it was diesel fuel and that the EPA won't respond to spills of this nature. The EPA's current method of dealing with these sheens is to let it evaporate or let the sun burn it off. They also went over to the shrimp boat where the sheen seem to be coming from and talked to the crew. Kudos to the Alabama Marine Police. BP gets severely sued for their accidental release of petroleum while shrimp boats go around releasing petroleum with without any consequence. It boggles the mind...

7) Anyway, I wanted to see the decorated boats of the Blessing of the Fleet today as well as check out the situation concerning the recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Many airboats and environmental response boats are on standby along with a news vehicle.

8) A barge was headed out into Portersville Bay with a load of oil booms. No booms were visible from the mouth of Bayou La Batre.

9) Water levels were quite high almost flooding Shell Beach road.

10) This year Alabama Cruises had a tour boat running up and down Bayou La Batre during the Festival event.

11) I was not the only kayaker out today.

12) These were some of the decorated boats that were going to participate in the boat parade.

13) This graphic on this shrimp boat was confusing. Piss on the shrimp? How distasteful. Well, shrimp does have about 5 times the cholesterol compared to steak, so, maybe it is best to avoid eating shrimp.

14) I uploaded this photo showing a cooler boat graphic on porpoise.

05/07/2006 – Bayou La Batre Blessing of the Fleet

Launch: Public boat ramps in Bayou La Batre. Launch Cost: Free. Route: Up and down Bayou La Batre a few times. Distance: 23 miles. Average Speed: 2.7 mph. Time: Approx 9 hrs. Pace: Leisurely. Weather: 70-80s, cloudy in the morning to sunny afternoon, one small rain shower, minimal current.

(1) Above left. I spent all day pedaling up and down Bayou La Batre with my decorated kayak and was left with mixed feelings. As usual, the waterway was a trash dump. (2) Above right. To make matters worse, at times it felt like paddling through a gas station because of all the petroleum fumes from oil sheens. I saw people swimming in this water today.

(2) Above left. A morning shower sent me scurrying under a bridge where some swallows pretended to hide in their mud nests built under the bridge. (3) Above right. There were some pretty wild flowers growing along the banks of Bayou La Batre.

(5) Above left. As soon as the sun came out, the boats for the Blessing of the Fleet started congregating. Party Time! (6) Above right. As the party continued on, the Archbishop continued on with the traditional Blessing of the Fleet, this being the 57th year of celebration.

(7) Above left. A group of boaters looks at the ceremonial wreath. (8) Above right. Then comes the boat parade which was rather slim this year. Very few shrimp boats participate anymore. The boat parade seems to be mostly recreational boaters now, along with one pedal kayak.

(9)(10) Above left and right. I feel very blessed for being able to enjoy another beautiful sunset.

(11)(12) Above left and right. A couple more photos of the sunset - Life is good!

05/01/2005 - Blessing of the Fleet Club Trip

It was sunny, temp about 65 degrees, strong northerly winds, and despite tide flowing in, because of storm water runoff, current was flowing downstream briskly. Brint and Linda with their canoe and Roland with his kayak, came out to this paddle. Launch: Bayou La Batre Public Boat Ramp. Route: Northeast up Bayou La Batre and back. Distance: 7 miles. Pace: Leisurely 2-3 mph. Time: Approx. 3 hours. Launch Cost: Free.

(1) Above left. There is a nice sandy launch area next to the boat ramp. Parking is about 100-200 yards away in a gravel lot. (2) Above right. After launching, Brint and Linda paddled over to view some Sea Gulls and Pelicans.

(3) Above left. As we headed north, at times it felt like being in a jungle of branchless towering iron trees. A pontoon boat can barely be seen amongst the giant shrimp boats. (4) Above right. Brint, Linda, and Roland get a close up view of two shrimp boats. Artwork adorns the front of most shrimp boats.

(5) After passing by the decorated boats and lift bridge, we proceeded further upstream fighting a current that was getting stronger as the bayou narrowed. Above left. A juvenile duck teeming with energy was excited seeing the green canoe. This silly duck was running on top of the water trying to keep up with Brint and Linda. Hmmm. Seems everyone wants to race when they are around Brint. After several turns in the bayou, the duck finally conceded the race and went ashore to rest. (6) Above right. Photo of one of the decorated shrimp boats we passed on the return trip. When winds gusted, all the streamers on the decorated boats created quite a din. Roland speeded back to the launch site due to time constraints and was gone by the time we returned. Brint, Linda and I proceeded to the Blessing of the Fleet festival to taste some of the seafood. I thoroughly enjoyed this trip on a perfect weather day.