Matagorda Island

The Road to Matagorda

Monday morning (at least I think it was Monday), came and we unhooked and left Lydia Ann and headed east, instead of west.  As I said previously, we decided not to go to Corpus Christi.  Rather, we decided we had been going backwards long enough and decided to start this Loop thing.  We had it in mind that we would go to this place called Matagorda State Park.  The cruising guides have it listed as a remote, out of the way spot with no power, water, or services of any kind.  It is a little off the beaten path, too.  At the top of Matagorda Bay, just west of Port O’Connor, you turn right just short of GICW Mile Marker 480, and proceed south across Espirito Santo Bay.  This is where things got real weird.  We went from 13 feet of water in the ditch to less than 6 as soon as we made the turn.  I almost turned back, but Brenda, in her inimitable optimistic fashion, encouraged me to go forward.  So we did and we never saw less than 6 feet again.  WE NEVER SAW MORE THAN 7 FEET, EITHER!  That was a little nerve wracking.  The floor of the pilot house was littered with my finger nails as we drove for the next hour with Brenda reading me the numbers on the sounder, “6’5”, 6’2”, 5’9”,ok back to 7’1, 7’7, back to 6’4….ok holding between 6’4” and 6’6”.  In hindsight, it was really funny.  Again, something to get used to.  Basically, I could stand on the bottom of the channel, and clean the waterline of the boat.  But we got here and it’s all good.

The currents have been fantastic, too.  I normally gage my speed based on my rpms.  At home, for example, under normal circumstances, running at 1600 rpms I can expect to be making 8.0 knots.  Ergo, after a lot of travel experience, I know I am burning approximately 2.3-2.4 gallons of fuel per hour.  There have been several instances here where I pick up a current and am making 9 knots at only 1100 RPMs.  This means I am using a lot less fuel (how much less I do not currently know, but I’m sure I am getting more bang for my buck, fuel-wise, that is. )

Getting here was 50 miles + of never boring cruising.  It was absolutely beautiful.  We crossed through the Aransas Natural Preserve.  There were all kinds of birds.  The route was very well marked, well, except for a couple places where charted marks are missing and where charted marks clearly are not where they are supposed to be.  There was one spot where the red was right up against the green.  Normally, one proceeds between the reds and greens, but not this time.  I was faced with a choice.  Go outside the green, or go outside the red.  I reckoned pretty quickly that the red was the one way out of place, so I went to the left of the red….holding my breath the whole time.  No problem.  We passed many large tugs with loads, and had absolutely flat water the whole way.  One might think boring is good.  I generally do.  In this case, it was boring but not boring.  I have always thought that driving a boat for 8 hours a day on water like this would be a wonderful way to make a living.  I plan to continue enjoying this for a long time.

A large flock of white pelicans.

As I said, this is bird lover’s paradise.  We passed one flock of white Pelicans that was really cool. We do not see white Pelicans on the left coast.   We passed another flock of pink birds.  I think they were Oyster Catchers.  The wild life was very beautiful.  We passed through a little town with no name about 15 miles west of Port O’Connor.  It reminded me of photographs I have seen of little fishing villages in South East Asia, all built on stilts with a bunch of old wooden boats of many colors.  There were men tending to nets and other fishing equipment.  South Texas is a big shrimp area and we passed many shrimp boats as well.

As you can see, the waterways are sometimes very narrow.

I got to tell you, I love my AIS.  I would never ever consider doing this trip without out it.  What is AIS you ask?  Well, I’ll tell you.  I’ll keep it simple and non-technical.  AIS (Automatic Identification System) is the name of a system that makes it possible for vessels to identify other vessels and to monitor their movements.  The reason the system was implemented was to enable mariners to obtain more information about other vessels in their vicinity than what radar is able to provide.  AIS provides a good deal of information about these other vessels including their name, call sign, IMO and MMSI numbers, their length, beam, speed, course and heading, as well as their destination.  Three primary types of data are transmitted.  The first type of information, is referred to as static data, which includes the vessel’s name, flag, and size.  The second type of information transmitted is referred to as dynamic data and contains information that is automatically updated from the vessel’s sensors, such as their GPS, giving you their heading and speed, as well as other navigational data.  The third type of data is voyage related data which includes their navigational status, such as “underway” or “moored”, and destination.  We found, however, that some of the vessels we encountered had not updated their dynamic data, and some did not even have their vessel name programmed in.  The type of AIS we have, does not transmit data about us, but it allows us to receive information transmitted from those more sophisticated units required on all commercial vessels over a certain length or tonnage. 

AIS operates on essentially 2 VHF frequencies.  As such, it comes with a splitter so that our VHF antenna supplies signal to both our VHF radio and the AIS unit.  It also comes hardwired with the ability to transfer this signal data to our laptop computer/dedicated electronic chartplotter.  Thus, the vessels in our vicinity (within a range of usually 25-30 miles) appear as icons on the chartplotter.  Next, the software we use (SeaClear) receives the AIS signal and transforms that data into an information box in which the transponding vessel’s data may be displayed.  For example, as we were cruising eastbound in the GICW, we would note that there is a vessel with a transponder coming our way. An icon would appear on the screen. I could then move the mouse over the icon and click on it and a box would open up on the computer screen.  In this box, I had all the information about the approaching vessel.  I could then contact the other vessel and come to agreement on the passing/crossing situation.  Here is how a typical conversation might sound:

Us:  “Cajun Provider, Cajun Provider, Cajun Provider, this is the motor vessel Abreojos.  I’m the white power vessel, eastbound, coming in your direction at the 450.”

Cajun Provider: “See you on the one whistle.”

Us: “Roger, Captain, confirming, see you on the one.  Thank you, good day.”

Thus, our two vessels would pass port to port (or left side to left side), each maintaining position on the relative right side of the channel). 

Now, this is possible even without AIS.  For instance, we were listening to another boat (AB) a couple miles ahead of us talking to a commercial vessel (CV).  The conversation sounded something like this:

AB:  “Calling the westbound tug entering Aransas Bay at the 505, this is the white power boat on your bow.”

CV: “This is Miss Julie, go ahead.”

AB: “One whistle?”

CV: “See you on the one.”

And that would be that.  But, I have to tell you that, if I’m driving a 75’ tug pushing a 450’ 6-pack, I think I would appreciate it if someone used the name of my boat so that I knew that white power boat was talking to me.  It just takes some of the guess work out of it.  So, in my humble opinion, the AIS thus far has proved an indispensible piece of equipment for the Great Loop.

There is a lot of interesting language used over the VHF radio that takes some getting used to.  You just have to drive for 6 or 7 hours to get the hang of it.  Some of it I had read about and studied.  Some of the same information sounds completely different, however, when it is in actual use, and even more completely different when there is a Cajun accent or a thick southern drawl behind it.  For instance, a “6-pack”, refers to 6 flat barges tied together, 2X2.  Another expression we heard was, “I’m pushin’ a heavy twin load all strung out”.  This refers to two fully loaded barges being pushed one in front of the other.   “See you on the one”, means two approaching vessels will pass port to port.  This is an abbreviated form of referring to sound signals supposedly used to signal the intended movement of vessels.  One whistle or horn responded to by the approaching vessel in the same way means the boats would pass port to port.  “See you on the two” refers to a situation where the two approaching vessels would pass each other starboard to starboard (or right to right). 

Either way, as I said, AIS makes it possible for two boats to have a meaningful conversation a lot easier than it would be without.  In many instances, a commercial vessel will get on the radio and announce it’s position and intended path as well as it’s cargo as it is leaving whatever harbor it is in.  With AIS, I can quickly scan the list of AIS transponders the unit is connecting to and find that vessel and know immediately where he is and whether or not he poses any situation I need to be aware of.  What a great tool!  What is most impressive is that the AIS can see a vessel coming around a corner, long before the radar.  This is especially important, as you can well imagine, if there is a tight bend approaching and from one side is coming little ole me, and from the other side is coming a heavy loaded six-pack, all strung out.  This barge is going to be over 700 feet long, nearly 50 feet wide, and moving at 5-6 knots through a turn that could barely accommodate a Fiat!   I need to know this so I can communicate with the skipper and ask him how he wants me to proceed.  The skipper must certainly appreciate getting a call on the radio in advance of the turn so he knows where I am and doesn’t have to worry about a little plastic boat appearing out of nowhere right in his path in a really tight situation.  Simply stated, I would be crushed to smithereens and he would call his insurer.  It’s better to avoid the situation altogether. I love AIS.

So, we made it to Matagorda State Park and pulled up against the pier.  There is no charge to stay here.  There are in fact no services whatsoever, and all trash has to be taken out.  There are birds galore here.  There is a barbeque ground adjacent to the pier.  There are covered spots (wood frame with corrugated tin roofs) on which sit some really large buzzards.  We were tired when we got here, so but for a short walk around the immediate area, we didn’t do much.  We’ll be here for the day, so we’ll explore and tell you more about it later.  It looks like some weather is coming, so we are going to head into Port Lavaca on Wednesday.

These are "CDD's" - Critter Deterrent Devices.

As I am writing this, there are three brown pelicans sitting on the posts of this ramshackle breakwater right behind the boat.  They can see fish below them and need only drop into the water below them (about 3-4 feet) and come up with a fish.  Nice and easy work, if you can get it (as opposed to a breakneck dive from some ridiculous altitude into water shallow enough to stand in). 

Talk to you later. 

Se we had a very productive day.  After Brenda woke up and spent an hour or so rejuvenating by way of a pot of coffee, we made screens for our small back cabin windows.  They came out very nice.  We have to pick up some more snaps, however, which we will try to do when we get to Port Lavaca, our next stop.  This is a small town rated as the second most convenient cruiser stop after Rockport.  We should be able to find what we need there.  We are also going there to hopefully pick up Brenda’s contact lenses that are supposedly being shipped there by the people (idiots) at the eye doctor.  There is a very good probability they will screw it up.  The eye doctor there is very strange and his assistant is painfully stupid.  So, who knows.  We are not going to wait around for too long however.  I would like to be in Galveston by the end of the week.  Again, it’s important to keep moving east.

Abreojos sitting quietly at her stopping place on Matagorda Island.

We had a great day on Matagorda Island.  We were the only ones on the whole island.  The folks who were working on a building here took off early in the day leaving us the harbor and the island to ourselves.  Beautiful is simply not an adequate descriptive to describe this place.  It is wilderness wild on the Gulf of Mexico.  We pulled our bikes off the front of the boat and took off down the rough trail.  It leads across an abandoned WWII air field.  The runways are still visible as are the taxi and plane storage areas, but the grass and cactus has pushed its way up through the concrete.  In a couple years, there will probably be no evidence that it ever existed.

I want to know what kind of paint that is that seems to have lasted 50 years.

  Then back onto the trail.

Those are all Buzzards sitting on the tin roofs.

The trail looks like two strips made by tires over the years.  As I think I said, this used to be a State/National Park but has been abandoned.  Anyone can go here, however if you want.  You can even make arrangements with the Texas Wildlife and Park Service for tours.  However, we just did it ourselves.

We rode down the trail about three miles to an old lighthouse. 

 It is still being maintained as there was a placard there that stated the lighthouse was dedicated as a national historical landmark back in the mid 90’s.  It’s a rather tall, steel affair painted navy gray.  I do not believe it is operational but it is shown on the nautical charts.  Interestingly, swarming around the top of the lighthouse was a cloud of hornets or wasps.  That was a little unnerving.  So, we kept our distance and just looked.  Then, we rode back along the same trail to a “y” and took the other arm down to the beach. 

This beach is on the Gulf.  The breeze was definitely up and the surf rolling in continuously.  The sand was like fine white powder and was littered with shells. 

We combed the beach for several hours and had a delightful time shell collecting and just kicking back.  Our plan was to make it back to the boat before sunset, and we did.  It’s a good thing to.  I failed to mention to you the sign we saw on the trail just past the airfield.  It says, “Caution, Alligators exist on this island.” 

F’ing lovely!  Now you tell me.  I was ok with the idea of rattlesnakes, goats, water moccasins, white tail deer, and even raccoons, buzzards, and feral boar.  BUT ALLIGATORS?!!  I told Brenda that if she saw one to let me know……I need a new wallet.  Another pleasant evening at home and then we’ll be off in the morning to Port Lavaca.

Bye for now.