I made this trip from
Pensacola to Sabine then to Corpus Christi almost 2 years ago Aug\Sept. Just outside the MS River there are some large platforms you REALLY need to stay away from. Each one has a Coast Guard ship providing
security and they will come see you in a heart beat and then escort you out of the area.
Read your
charts well including the legends at the top. They identify some of these items.
All the platforms were well lit and or had horns on the unmanned ones. At night it's impossible to tell if a platform is several hundred yards or several miles away. So, on those 2am one eye
head bobbing nights, you'll swear you gotta swerve. Only to realize several hours later that platform was the size of a city block and was several miles away.
Also, keep a hand near when using the
autopilot. On our trip every time we crossed a submarine cable the auto pilot would take a hard right and follow it. Scares the crap out of you the first few times until you figure out what's happening. The
cables are identified on our
charts so we were able to watch as the boat crossed one and then followed it. After that we were able to prepare for it and as we got further out; 175NM was the furthest, the platforms become more scarce.
In a nutshell, keep a watch, keep the
radar on, stay alert and it's a great trip.
And a shrimp net, take a shrimp net. We had shrimp popping all around us and nothing to scoop them up with.
And a flyswatter. You need a good one.