10.4 RBD Grand Pass

• U.S. Coast Guard Station
• US Fish & Wildlife Station
• Tiger Pass
• Cypress Cove Marina
• Venice Marina

Grand Pass

Paddling down Grand Pass and then Tiger Pass canoeists, kayakers, and paddleboarders will see a mixture of light industry and fishing docks. The USFW and US Coast Guard are also stationed here. You will discover representatives of many of the big oil companies such as Exxon-Mobile, Shell, Conoco, and Chevron, who have set up offshore supply and exploration headquarters in Venice, and then other big companies who service them such as Haliburton and Schlumberger. The only big oil you won’t find any evidence of here in Venice is BP. On the other hand, plenty of BP oil remains deep in the Gulf, and layered into the mud. Here are the most important docks in order of appearance from the top of Grand Pass:

Delta Well Surveyors, Cortech Industries, Patterson Rental Tools, Dia-Log Co. Dock, Newman Crane Services, Allied Towing Services, Louisiana Fruit Co., M.I. Drilling Fluids Co., Fulton Seafood, Bud's Boat Rental, Shell Offshore, Seafresh Seafood Co., Global Drilling Fluids, Milpark Drilling Fluids, Torch Venice Terminal, Jensen Seafood, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, The Western Co. of North America, Newman Crane Services, Tesoro Petroleum Distributing Co., Marathon Oil Co., Conoco Corp., Chevron U.S.A, Chevron U.S.A., Berwick Bay Oil Co., Arco Oil & Gas Co., Mobil Oil Exploration, Dresser Industries, BJ-Titan Services, Pennzoil Co., Atlas Wireline Services, Wedge Wireline, Inc., Schlumberger Well Services, Mayronne Drilling Mud & Chemical Co., M.I. Drilling Fluids Co., U.S. Coast Guard Station, Halliburton Services, Dowell Schlumberger Venice District, McDermott Corp., Baroid Corp., John W. Stone, OSCA, Venice Dock, Newpark Environmental Services, Bud's Boat Rental, Plaquemines Parish Wharf

Tiger Pass

Bear right where Tiger Pass splinters off Grand Pass and paddle one mile to reach the Cypress Cover Marina, an oasis for paddlers and fishermen in the otherwise very industrial Venice waterfront. Look for an opening in the rip-rap bankside to enter this protected harbor.

You could continue down Grand Pass or Tiger Pass to access the Gulf in West Bay. But there are no beaches down this route, and it is very busy with lots of oil exploration and recovery. Not recommended to paddlers.

The Wagon Wheel - Venice Salt Dome

Looking at Google Maps, or any satellite image, you will notice a giant circle cut through the marshes SW of Venice, looking something like a particle accelerator. What is this? Some creative landform sculpture? A message to extra-terrestrials? None of the above.

This circular canal is labelled “The Wagon Wheel” on some maps, but what you are looking at is actually the Venice Salt Dome. It was originally just solid wetlands. Oil and gas exploration and production was undertaken here starting around 1940. A manmade canal, 7 miles in circumference, was dug around the perimeter of the salt dome with regular cuts made towards the inside and outside for drilling rig access. There has been a tremendous amount of land loss in the area, in large part due to oil and gas activity.