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.

 

Lydia Ann Channel to Matagorda Island

Lydia Ann Channel to Matagorda Island

The Lydia Ann Channel is on the south west end of Aransas Bay as it spills into Corpus Christi Bay.  You have to understand that the Texas GICW is composed of numerous bays all connected together by the GICW.  One bay spills into another.  As we are eastbound (relatively), we have now travelled through Aransas Bay, San Antonio Bay and Espirito Santo Bay (there are other unnamed smaller ones, too).  We are now in a position to enter one of the larger bays, Matagorda Bay.

Sunrise over the Lydia Ann Channel

The anchorage in the Lydia Ann is one of the most interesting I have ever stayed in.  It was rock solid calm; this notwithstanding a ripping current that came from the north east until around 1400 and then shifted 180 degrees.  The wind was on our beam, but it did not move the boat from its lie to the current.  Very interesting.  I have never experienced that before.  It worked.  When I tell you the boat did not rock at all, I am totally not kidding.  The only movement was associated with wakes from passing boats, and given the bar tight tension on the anchor chain due to the current and the effect of the current, the boat would only move slightly.  We have rocked and rolled a lot more due to wakes at otherwise serene places like Pelicans or Yellow Banks on Santa Cruz Island.  Wow.  Harkening back to my favorite anchorages at Santa Cruz Island was really weird.  I miss those places, but believe they are simple in comparison to what we are doing.  But, that is truly only a function of the fact that everything we are doing every day is completely and utterly new.  You can read all the cruising guides you want, and study charts, and satellite photographs, but you will only be slightly prepared.

One of the things I think I have mentioned is how shallow (comparatively) the water is and how that takes some serious getting used to.  Over the couple of decades or more that I have been anchoring at islands in the SB Channel, I would never have considered venturing into waters merely 7-8 feet deep.  Here, it is normal.  You just have to get used to it.

We had a good time playing in the Lydia Ann.  When we got there, we just sort of hung around on the boat.  I guess you could say that we were relaxing and sort of just getting away from it all.  There was nothing we needed.  The current was ripping so hard that I was frankly concerned about putting the dinghy in the water as I was not sure my little 6 hp outboard motor would push the dink with us in it against the current.  So we relaxed and planned to go to Corpus Christi the next morning.

Later that day, however, as you have probably surmised by now, we did not go to Corpus Christi.  We had driven through the town a couple times getting Brenda to and from the airport and felt that it was a bigger city than we really wanted to be involved with.  There were only a couple attractions that looked of interest.  We can get back there on the way home if we want.  So, we decided to shove off.  That afternoon, however, we did put the dink in the water and ventured over to Port Aransas.

We were in Port A a week or so earlier as we drove around by car, walked on the beach and had a cocktail in one of their waterfront restaurants.  You may recall the photographs of the gleaming sport fishers and all the outfitters and bait shops.  Port A is a pretty cool place, but it is a retirement island, primarily.  There are lots and lots of places for hair and nails, and, again, it is the home of Corpus Christi’s sport fishing fleet.  Actually, much of South Texas is all about sport fishing.  You will see literally hundreds of small boats with really big outboard engines plying the inside waterways and bays at all hours of the day and night.  Ventura and Channel Islands Harbors are nothing like these.  Here, 95% of the boats get used, while there, the same proportion of boats sit and rot. 

We have seen a number of those flats boats, you know, the ones with an airplane propeller on the back.  These things sure get up and boogie.  They make a hell of a lot of noise, too.  You see these things go by with a couple good ole boys dressed in full camouflage with tree branches and piles of brush stacked aboard.  They are going….wait for it……wait for it……yes, they are going duck hunting!  These camo-clad dudes with coolers full of beer and rifles, piles of decoys, and lots of shells are running the ICW in search of the fixin’s for peking duck.  You don’t see that in the “Nard” every day, and god forbid, someone might consider an outdoor sporting activity in Santa Barbara!  No, freedom takes on a new meaning when you get down to the Gulf.  And yet, folks never stop being respectful; even the really fat guy with the wife beater t-shirt, his lower lip over stuffed with Skoal, stained teeth, camo shorts, dirty white socks, a mullet, and a camo baseball cap with a hook stuck in the bill (yes, just like Larry The Cable Guy – only its real), is very polite and very easy to talk to (not so easy to listen to, however).   It’s simply indescribable, but it’s real.  All those funny stereotypes that Jeff Foxworthy makes millions imitating live and breathe on the Gulf Coast of Texas. 

While we were out in the dinghy, we buzzed over to the lighthouse to get a closer look.  There is a small cut in the bank we motored through (way to small for Abreojos) and tied to the dock.  There was a sign lying in the dirt.  I turned it over and it said no visitors.  So I put it back in the dirt and we proceeded up the boardwalk to the lighthouse.  There did not seem to be anyone around.  We just looked about and wandered, but Brenda found an open door at the base of the lighthouse.  Unable to resist a climb to the top of a 65 foot lighthouse, we went in and up…..and up, and up, and up.  The inside had what might be considered a relatively modern circular staircase seemingly adequately bolted to the brick structure and to the pole that ran up the center.  There were a couple of windows on the way up.  Obviously, the view got better and better as we went further up.  There were also these interesting looking meter-like thingies tacked to the walls of the interior of the brick lighthouse where there were cracks in the bricks.  I could only surmise that these things would let someone know if the cracks were getting bigger.  A good thing, too.  Once at the top, we took some photos and a video which I will post.  I think the video is not terribly clear because the windows were dirty and all you can hear is my heavy breathing from the climb.  Oh well.  We’ll give it a try.

It was one hell of a sunset……AGAIN.  We watched a movie or two and turned in early.  Monday would be an interesting day.

The lovely Butterfly.

The big dog.

This is what happens when you drink too many Smirnoff's in the afternoon on the bench in front of Woody's in Port Aransas

Here's a look at Port Aransas.  Notice the bots in this photo are hanging over the water.  Great way to reduce the cost of bottom paint and bottom cleaning services.

A closer look at the lighthouse at Lydia Ann.

Sorry I don't think this program will allow me to rotate a photo.

Taken from the foot of the Lydia Ann lighthouse.

There's Abreojos out in the distance (yeah, the little white spot in the photo)

And finally, the sunset.  Another perfect end to another perfect day.

Bye for now.

Rockport to Lydia Anne Channel Anchorage

Rockport to Lydia Anne Channel - 5 November 2010

As usual, I was up before the sun.  It’s not that I couldn’t sleep.  I was just very excited to be leaving.  We had a great time in Rockport, but for all the time we spent there, we just had to get going.  At around 0830, we fired up the engine.  We had to first get off the concrete quay we had been tied to for a week and then get fuel.  Fuel was, unfortunately, not available at House of Boats, so we had to go around the corner to Coves Marina.  Coves Marina, as opposed to where we were in Coves Harbor, is on the other side of the parking lot.  For us, however, we had to go out into the GICW for about 50 feet and then into a narrow inlet.  It was interesting.  For the first 500 yards of our trip, we had barely 6 feet of water under the boat.  Our draft, fully loaded is close to 4.5’, so we were definitely churning up mud. 

The folks at Cove Marina are very nice.  This is one hell of a place.  They have two really large warehouse-like structures in which they dry-stack hundreds of boats, 5 decks high.  There are two giant fork lifts used to move boats up to 36 feet from the racks into the water.  They have valet service.  A boat owner can call as little as an hour in advance, two hours on weekends, and have their boat launched, fueled, and their coolers filled with ice and their favorite beverages so that when they arrive, their boat is sitting there at the dock, ready to go.  They have a small marine supply store, fuel dock, ice house, and bait.  They have a pump out for MSD’s, and fish cleaning stations all right there on the premises.  It’s one of the most complete boating facilities I have ever seen.  There were three chaps there to help us get our fuel (around 130 gallons, and empty the holding tank.  They were very helpful. 

By the time we got off the dock, the wind had picked up to around 15 knots.  We easily got off the dock and then slowly made our way out of the marina and into the GICW.  We had decided we would shake this cruise down with a short jaunt over to a place called the Lydia Anne Channel to anchor for the night. The anchorage is about 12 nm from Rockport and 17 nm from Corpus Christi.  I continue to get my directions messed up.  There are no mountains to reference, and the coastline here is not oriented like I am used to.  Corpus Christi is actually south west of Rockport, but you have to take a highway that says :North”  to get there by car.  In any event, to get there by water, you have to go southwest.  However, to get there via the Alternate GICW, you first have to go south east for about two miles, before you make the turn to the south west. 

The charts are quite good.  The markers are all essentially where they should be.  Around here, it you stick like glue to a chart plotter, you will run aground.  You have to take notice of the positions of the marks and stay in between them.  Sometimes, when between the reds and greens, there is 16 feet of water, where just 10 yards to either side of the marks, the water is shallow enough to see birds standing in the water.  Ok.  So, the rule is, stay between the marks, and you are in the channel.  I suppose in other places less traveled, there are places where shoaling occurs within the marks and bumping bottom is a possibility.  At least here, the marks are good.  A lot of commercial traffic travels through here, so it is important that they get through.  I have yet to see a dredge working, but I would imagine that if a 650’ barge hits bottom, a dredge will clear that out pretty quick.

So the trip to Lydia Anne was quite uneventful.  I will say, however, that I think it will become my practice to clean the front windows every day before we leave.  With the sun and the white caps, it was not always easy to see the marks.  This is where a chartplotter really comes in handy because you can see approximately where the mark should be.  Then, voila, there it is. It was also useful to have to pairs of eyes on the water.  The current going into Lydia Anne was also quite remarkable.  Noticeable was the fact that, as soon as we got behind Mud Island, the seas laid down completely.  However, our speed rocketed up.  For the trip towards Lydia Anne, I was running at about 6.5 knots at 1200 RPM.  This was about right, or at least what I would expect.  I pushed the RPMs up to around 1400, however, because we had a quartering sea and it was easier to drive at a slightly higher speed.  Again, once we got behind Mud Island, things changed.  A ripping current was present.  I backed the RPM’s down to 1200 and was making 9 knots!  Hell, I’ll save the fuel at that rate.  Getting into the Lydia Anne Channel was much easier than advertised.  With the seas laid down, the marks were easy to see.  We identified the lighthouse to starboard and then the white marks identifying a shallow ship wreck and then the area where we going to anchor.  We maneuvered in close to shore, but not too close, making sure we were well out of the channel, and dropped the hook in 14 feet of water, nose into the current.  At that point, the current and wind were coming from the same direction.  Later in the day, however, the current did a 180.  The boat laid to the current, completely disregarding the direction and speed of the wind.  Very cool.  Never seen that before. 

The water is absolutely flat here.  It is also full of dolphin.  They are grey creatures, unlike the variety of colorful dolphin we are used to seeing at home.  I think they are true bottle nose.  They behave more like sea lions than dolphin.  At home in the Santa Barbara and San Pedro Channels, dolphin would not come near an anchored boat.  Here, they bask around and around, in groups of 3-5.  You can hear them breathing and splashing. 

We had some wakes from passing boats, but nothing really to speak of.  The sunset was very nice and we barbecued steaks, had mashed potatoes and green beans for dinner with wine and Lone Star beer - my new favorite. 

Today, we will go to Corpus Christi.  This is the big city in South Texas, and is at the back of Corpus Christi Bay, approximately 17 nm from here.  This should be interesting.  I’ll tell you more about that later.  Right now, I’m going to sit here and enjoy another South Texas sunrise over the Gulf of Mexico.  It’s warm out already.  I think it’s going to be a hot one.

Leaving the Coves Marina in our wake.

Dolphin at play under the bow as we were leaving Coves Marina in Rockport, Texas.

Tug pushers on the GICW.

The new AIS I installed is working wonderfully.  I can not only see the ship coming on the radar, but I can see them coming around bends on the chartplotter.  With one click, I know their name, their length, beam, draft, tonnage, destination, course over ground, speed over ground, as well as the closest point of approach and the time to the closest point of approach given the current state of affairs.  This is really helpful in an approaching or crossing situation as I can call the ship directly by name and reference their location.  Then a discussion may be had concerning the best way to handle the crossing.

 


The Lydia Anne Lighthouse at sunset from our anchorage spot.

A perfect end to a perfect day.

Thank You Rockport, and Goodbye - We're Gone!

The boat is ready to go and so are we.  It has been a lot of hard work in challenging weather conditions - very hot, very cold, very windy, etc.  But it's done and everything seems to work just fine.  Brenda has returned from her sojourn to Detroit, the oil and filters are all changed, the transmission fluid is fresh, the water tanks are full.  I installed our new AIS yesterday which really kicks up the chartplotter a serious notch.  So, tomorrow we are headed for an anchorage in a place called the Lydia Ann Channel, right across from the Lydia Ann Lighthouse which has an interesting history I will write more about soon.

These are our dear friends, Jeff and Anne

While in Rockport, we had some great times.  We met some really great people.  Rockport is certainly a jewel that few will really ever discovery unless they are really into fishing or boating on the Gulf.  The House of Boats has been wonderful.  I want to thank John, Anne, Jeff, Chris, Randy, Sean and all their co-workers for the wonderful job they did getting us off the truck and into the water.  These guys are real professionals and could not have been for friendly, courteous, and helpful.  They always have a wave and a smile for this California dude who, for reasons they really did not understand, was hanging around in the yard over the past several days.

In conclusion, thanks Rockport.  We may never pass this way again, but you will always have a special place in our hearts.

Where's Waldo?

  

Brenda and I had the privilege of meeting Diane, the CEO of the Rockport-Fulton Chamber of Commerce.  They have done a terrific job of putting these two communities on the map.  They provide visitors with a wealth of information from real estate to the Maritine Museam and the local Acquarium and everything in between.

Remember the video of that oil rig leaving The Cove Harbor?  Well, there it goes.

This is the causeway onto the ferry to visit Port Aransas.

This is the beach on Port Aransas. It is like packed powder.  The water was very warm.  The beach is a shell collector's dream.

It's not easy to miss the kind of fishing they like to do in Port A and in nearby Corpus Christi.

 

They do a lot of big game fishing on the Gulf.

These two ships passed literally right in front of where we were sitting.  There were dolphin playing in the bow wave.  We'll try to get closer photos.

This is the ferry that carries cars across to the island known as Port Aransas.

We've had a terrific time here in Rockport and the surrounding area and we will miss it and the people we met.