Interesting.
BB himself stated: "I was in Biloxi, Mississippi, about to go on a fishing trip down on the Chandeleur Islands. I heard about it this morning. I received a phonecall from a couple of (MB)'s campers, and had I been out on that ship, I would have had no contact for a few days."
The charter services to the Chandeleur Islands are typically "mother ship trips". The boats are big, basically floating inns, where passengers launch smaller skiffs off the main boat to fish, then sleep and take meals on the main ship over the course of the days-long island cruise. From what I gather, these "mother ships" vary from spartan to very comfortable. In addition to private rooms, some have lounges with TV, game tables, etc. Passengers may be out of cell phone range, but every single one of my boating friends tell me that you are not "out of contact" with the shore while you're on a boat - especially a chartered passenger vessel. They also tell me this is common knowledge. While it's possible he would have assumed it, BB would certainly not have gone days without learning of MB's death.
My point about bringing this up again is that several people have suggested he could have just been down there fishing with a few buddies on one of their private boats that had no set departure schedule. However, the fact that BB himself calls it a "ship", coupled with his comment about having "no contact for a few days" (meaning a vessel large enough to accommodate passengers for multiple days and nights) tells me that this wasn't likely a private boat owned by friends but rather a chartered fishing cruise. While I guess it's possible BB was not going to be boarding that ship until later in the day or midnight on the 19th (some 10-20 hours later), I was only able to find one report of weather for that day in the area. It was FAIR weather for 48 hours surrounding his scheduled departure time. If the ship's departure was actually delayed that long, then why comment on the near missed phonecalls saying he was about to get on the ship? What was going through his head that he felt the need to point out this to reporters?