Mile 83.9 - LBD The Violet Canal

83.9 LBD The Violet Canal

Located several hundred yards above the docked Navy Ships, the Violet Canal is a pre-Industrial Canal connection to the MRGO: the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet, hence to the Gulf of Mexico. A seven-mile channel called the Lake Borgne Canal begins at Violet, Louisiana, and was formerly much used by light-draft vessels because it cut about 60 miles off the trip from the Gulf to the Port of New Orleans. The Violet Canal is today cut off by the levee from the Mississippi, but there is talk of a re-opening to help reduce land loss through muddy water sedimentation. Today the old canal is used only by fishermen, and only those who are already docked on that side of the levee. Note: Following Katrina the MRGO has been permanently disconnected from Breton Sound with a rock dike just beyond Bayou La Loutre; it is not passable with a boat and would require portaging over rocks for canoes, kayaks or paddleboards.