When it comes to refitting or outfitting a boat, we are spoiled for choice here in the Galveston Bay area of the Gulf coast. The local area here in the Clear Lake Shores area is chock a block full of services a sailor might need. Just in our immediate area we have-
Chandleries: Blackburn Marine (our favorite), West Marine
Hardware: Kemah Hardware (our favorite), Home Depot, Kilgore’s Ace
Rigging: All Points Rigging, Stix n Rigging and the rigging shop at West Marine.
Yards: Clear Lake Marine, South Texas Yacht Services, Seabrook Marina Shipyard, True North Marine
Diesel service: Elite Diesel Service, A&C Marine Repair, Yacht Equipment Services
Yacht Systems Repair and installation: TnT Yacht Repair, YES Centers
Sail Lofts: Quantum Sails, North Sails, UK Sailmakers Texas
Marine canvas: TnT Marine Canvas, Phyllis Mitchell Canvas, 5 Star Upholstery
Marinas: Watergate (our favorite), Waterford , Blue Dolphin, Kemah Boardwalk , South Shore Harbour, Portofino, Seabrook
And this list is by no means exhaustive. For those who wish to do the Yacht Club thing, there are several to choose from. Into casual racing? Tons of options. Even charitable sailing service organizations, such as Sailing Angels offer opportunities for sailing and service.
When you factor in an all most year round sailing season, low moorage cost and availability of services, why on earth would you go anywhere else? I’ll tell you why. For bigger boats, the sailing kinda sucks. Thanks to the Mississippi river, the water is a silty brown. Galveston Bay is shallow so if you draw 6 feet as we do, you are very limited. There is a nice long stretch of deep water in the bay, which is the shipping channel and always so full of tankers and container ships its like playing a game of Frogger and the rule of gross tonnage always applies.
As for destinations and anchorages, there isn’t much. Sure you can do Galveston in a day. I love Galveston for its Victorian architecture and laid back, coastal vibe but you aren’t going to find any dinghy docks and if you do manage to land a dinghy, you aren’t going to be in an area that you would want to be in and is also not conducive to getting around anywhere without a car. Its a marina or stay on your boat the entire time. I remember when we first bought Ceol Mor being excited to sail to Redfish Island because that was the anchorage everyone said you need to check out. It isn’t an island at all, merely a dredging spoil area. Huh. If that is the must see destination y’all seriously need to get out more.
So if you are in the process of refitting, you would be hard pressed to find a better location but sailing, not so much. That is why its beyond time for us to move on. Despite Mark’s best efforts to prove the contrary, you can’t work on a boat forever. So everything might not be perfect on Ceol Mor but I hear there are chandleries and supplies elsewhere in the world and we’ve seen first hand that Mark can fix just about anything while on the go.
It is time for us to get on the go.
In just 2 days, the shippers arrive to pick up the few items we absolutely can not part with. Then begins a whole whirlwind of stuff happening at all at once in order for us to cut that last dockline and set sail. I’m nervous, but I suppose it would be foolish to NOT be a little nervous at such a big undertaking.
I’ll let you know how it goes.
