Still in South Texas with water, birds and fish

We took the ferry to Port Aransas to spend a day at the Gulf of Mexico. We started at the beach next to the south jetty at the entrance to the port. The area was feeling the effect of a hurricane out in the gulf so the waves were quite high. We walked out on the jetty as far as we could go and watched this fishing boat coming in. We also gave CC a chance to run on the beach, and away she went! (There are no "beaches" on the bays close to where we are staying, mostly bulkheads and small "beaches" of crushed shells.)

As it got closer we realized that it had nets in the water and was still fishing into the harbor.

We went to lunch and then visited a County park that was just about on the Gulf beach. Lots of picnic tables right on the sand. Not sure what keeps them from being washed away except the tidal range is less than a foot but because of the lack of slope to the beach at low tide there is a lot of beach showing.

The county was putting in this burm to protect the RV park on the other side from the swell that was predicted to come in because of the hurricane. Then the sand would be put in a pile for the next time opening up the beach for driving and camping.

After spending most of the day in town and on the beach we saw the results of the surge. It came up over and destroyed an asphalt parking area that had just been put in. There it is under the water and the sand.

We spent another day at Aransas Pass checking out the local port. Very small town but every place you go there is a place to fish. Not sure we would venture out on this dock but the birds like it.

On the way back home we checked out a marine area that had lots of places to bring your boat out of the water and work on it. Dick got inside this storage shed to take a few pictures on the premise he was looking for a place to dry-store his boat. This was only one side of the building and there were three more rows like this.

We decided to depart the park where we were staying early and moved to Goose Island State Park, only about 7 miles away but as you can see we have a beautiful view out our window and a nice cool breeze blowing in off the bay. (Dick is exaggerating here--the wind is moist from the humidity and not-so-cool.)

Got up this morning to 75 deg. and 90% humidity and no wind, but by the time we came home from church a nice breeze came up and the humidity dropped a little.

This was our neighbor fishing at sunset next to us. Dick took him over a copy of this picture in the morning and he was just thrilled.

The next morning Dick caught this lad fishing before the rest of the family got up and active.

We took C C for a walk down to the boat launch and found several people cleaning their fish from a productive day. It was interesting to see most of the cleaning was done with electric knifes and they worked great for filleting.

Quite a few pelicans were waiting in the water and on the dock for the left-overs.

And they continued to fly in to see what was going on.

Or just waiting on the dock for their share.

And those in the water had to fight to get a share. The water boiled with large fish taking the big pieces.

Dick is sad that we are pulling out in the morning and starting our journey to Arizona. If we rush we should be there to share Christmas with his brother. And if we take it slow and easy we should be there by Christmas. We think we will take it slow and easy with a week or two stop in San Antonio.

To be continued...