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		The following is an excerpt from Chapter Six, a description of Bayou Portage: Bayou Portage and Discovery Bay   During the three years that I kept my sailboat at Discovery Bay Marina, entering the Bayou Portage channel was like coming home.  Even so, negotiating this channel always required caution and my full attention.   Wandering outside the dredged cut even with just four feet of draft will quickly put you hard aground.  As mentioned above, the Bayou Portage channel splits off to the east from the Wolf River channel at junction marker “A”.  We will explore this Wolf River channel, but first let’s take a long side trip into Bayou Portage and the bizarre ruins and abandoned dreams to be found along its banks.   A straight east-west channel marked by three green beacons, the middle one lighted, leads to the entrance to Bayou Portage.  This middle, lighted beacon has a large osprey nest built on top of the piling.  Each year as I have sailed in and out past it, I have seen a family of young ospreys reared there.   The old Bayou Portage bridge defined the word “dilapidated.” Like a border crossing leading into a Third World country, it stood as an ominous portal and a first glimpse of what to expect in this forgotten backwater known as Bayou Portage.  As of this writing, the bridge has been removed, and will be replaced in what is estimated to be a two-year project.  Previously, the bridge was not manned by a fulltime tender, but the tender who was on call could be reached by calling either the Highway 90 bridge tender or Discovery Bay Marina.   Reaching Discovery Bay Marina by VHF is always an iffy proposition, depending on whether the bar is open or how loud the jukebox is blasting.   Once inside this bridge crossing you will find yourself in quite protected waters.  There are a few residences on the south shore near the bridge, but most of the shore here is marsh and pine trees.  Heading straight east past the bridge will take you to a junction of navigation possibilities.  A marked channel that leads off to the southeast is used by industrial barges and terminates in a man-made dockage basin where these barges are loaded and unloaded.  The other option is to hang a left at the first red navigational marker, which is floating nun buoy #12, and wind your way into the upper reaches of the bayou to Discovery Bay and beyond.  This channel is not marked and is surrounded by extremely shallow water.  Local advice says to follow the shoreline with it off your port side, staying “about 40 feet from the bank.”  This has always worked for me, and I have yet to find the bottom here, but you will see soundings of only 5 to 6 feet, even in the deepest part of the channel.  This leads you in a northerly direction, and soon the way leads to the entrance of what appears to be a small creek.   By now you will see the masts of several sailboats that are docked in the hidden basin, and the ruins of a two- story building, a few scattered RV’s and some boats on trailers will be visible on the eastern bank of this creek.   A no-wake sign is posted at the entrance to the marina, and just inside the narrow passageway, a funky little bar built half-way out over the water on pilings guards the basin.  This is the office and watering hole for Discovery Bay Marina, and the place to find perhaps the best cheeseburgers on the entire Gulf coast, if you happen to arrive when Jack Waldrip, the owner is working behind the bar.   Discovery Bay Marina is not the kind of place you will find to your liking if you are used to posh marinas where you can hook up to all the amenities for the night and enjoy security and convenience to shoreside services.  This backwoods yacht basin is not convenient to anything, there is no security, and there may or may not be water and electricity at the dock when you arrive.  If the electricity does work, don’t expect to hook up to it with your normal 30 or 50 amp. shorepower cord.  You will need an adapter for a regular house-hold three-prong socket to plug in here, and your cord may have to be long enough to try out several of the outlets until you find one that works.  The docks themselves are always in need of repair, so before stepping off your deck, be sure you are stepping onto solid wood that is still nailed down.  Most of the boats in the basin are badly neglected or even abandoned.  More than one sunken vessel will be seen in the slips.  The encircling piney woods and abandoned buildings provide protection from strong winds, but these windless conditions frequently enable hordes of marsh mosquitoes and no-see-ums to swarm the marina.  These are some of the downsides to the marina.  As I said, it may not be to everyone’s liking.   If, however, you have traveled in undeveloped countries or done a lot of backcountry exploring, this character-laden marina will appeal to you as it did me.  As it turned out, I put up with the inconveniences and kept my sailboat docked there for three years.  Most of the time the place is quiet and private.  There are freedoms to be had in such a place that you won’t find in many marinas.  This includes the freedom to build or rebuild your boat right at the dock, or to target practice with your pistol if you prefer.  Liveaboards are allowed here, and there are usually at least two or three full-timers living on their boats, as well as others living in RV’s parked near the bar.   Despite the lack of other amenities, there is a nice swimming pool near the bar that is kept clean and well- maintained.   Bathrooms with showers are provided, as well as a commercial washing machine and dryer.      Occasionally there are rowdy parties at the bar, usually when there are football games on TV or during holidays.  The marina has also played host to quite a few outdoor parties, live concerts, and even the occasional wedding.  These events are few and far between though, and usually the dockage basin is a peaceful environment in which to work on your boat or just lounge on the deck and enjoy the quiet.   Beyond the marina basin, a series of waterways leads even farther into the backcountry.  There are a few residents living along these shores, but for the most part the area is heavily wooded.  The area surrounding the marina once was part of a 700 acre planned resort community with 1500 residential lots. The arrival of Hurricane Camille in 1969 put an end to that.  No one has been willing or able to invest enough in the property since then to develop a sewage treatment facility, and the county will not permit further construction on the property until this takes place.  Six houses were built before 1991, when this restriction was implicated.  This explains the presence of the many dilapidated buildings and the poorly maintained road that leads into the area.   At the entrance to the property, off Arcadian Road, one can get a feel for the grandiose scale the original developers had in mind.  A fountain and brick sign stands at the entrance and rows of tall cabbage palms grow in the median of the broad boulevard that leads to the marina.  Perhaps someday someone will invest the necessary money to bring the original plan to life, but until that day, Discovery Bay will retain its unique character.   For those who would like to drive to Discovery Bay for a cheeseburger or just to look at the boats, the easiest route is from Menge Avenue, in Pass Christian.  This avenue runs north and south between Highway 90 on the beach and Interstate 10 to the north.  Turn west off of Menge onto Arcadian Road, a narrow street that winds through woods and fields and past several homes built up on poles near the edge of the marsh.  The entrance to Discovery Bay will be found on the south side of Arcadian Road.  The palm-lined boulevard leading in quickly narrows to a roughly-paved, pot-hole filled road.  Follow this across a small bridge, turn left, and then follow the pavement through a series of right turns until it dead-ends into the marina parking lot.   The waterways upstream from the marina can be explored by those in small powerboats, canoes, or kayaks, but cruising size boats will find no where else to go other than a few private docks.  During hurricanes, quite a few boats are brought into these waterways, and good protection is found from the wind, but the entire area is subject to flooding, and the marina docks have been completely submerged many times by storm surges.   The Sunken Schooners of Bayou Portage   Long before Hurricane Camille stopped the completion of the Discovery Bay Resort, Bayou Portage was the scene of another unexpected loss of property.  In the early 1930’s, when sails began to give way to engines on the commercial fishing vessels, the Dunbar and DuKate Seafood Factory in Pass Christian sailed their old schooners to Bayou Portage.  There were 13 or more of these vessels, some as long as 65 feet, docked in the bayou for safekeeping until buyers could be found.   A man was hired to watch over them and perform required maintenance, but after about a year, they all began simultaneously taking on water.  They were pumped continuously and the source of the leaking was found to be caused by some type of wood-boring bug.  Dry sawdust was used to temporarily plug the holes by releasing it under the damaged areas so that it would float up inside the holes and swell.  This was a common method used to patch holes in wooden hulls until they could be hauled out for more permanent repairs.   Despite these efforts, all these schooners sank at their moorings within six more months.  The type of organism that caused the damage is still not known for certain.  They were not teredos, (commonly known as shipworms) which are mollusks, but were said to resemble the “roly poly” or pill bug that lives under logs and rocks.   These isopods have marine relatives, and one of these wood-boring crustaceans is the most likely suspect, but it may never be known for sure which kind of animal sank all these schooners.