Yesterday we caught up with the laundry and went into Corpus Christi to have the damaged bicycle fixed. We had a little trouble finding a shop with the correct parts, but finally succeeded, and should be able to pick the machine up in the next day or so.
With the wind and unsettled clouds, the moon was a thing of beauty last night.
For some unknown reason, most of the people in the park took off this morning, so we decided to do the same.
A few minutes later, we found ourselves on a car ferry for the short ride from Aransas Pass to Port Aransas across Redfish Bay. The barrier island is connected to the mainland at the south end, but the only access on the north is via ferry.
The JC Dingwall got us all across in good order.
Where we found a beach town fairly shouting invitations to Spring Breakers! Maybe the weather had something to do with it, but the place was sorta lonely!
A quick run around town got us to what is called the On The Beach road!
This road runs for miles along the coast and is reasonable well packed sand. A lot of preparations have been made for spring break people, with temporary no parking signs strategically placed. Parking and camping are allowed all along the beach, so its a perfect place for a bit of a party, don't you know….
A few hardy souls were tucked in behind sand dunes to escape the worst of the wind.
On our slow15 mile per hour drive down the beach, we saw several of the locals:
The surf was pretty wild today, with no one venturing out in the water.
It was, however, a perfect day to take a parasailing lesson! Not seen in this photo is a fellow with a blue and yellow sail being dragged, kicking and screaming, across the parking lot…..Fortunately, a Ford pickup was placed in just the right spot!
This section of the seventy-mile-long barrier reef (the longest in the world) is called Mustang Island because of the cattle ranching that was done up until the 1970's. We drove south until we crossed a small causeway and arrived at Padre Island, which is separated by another small channel from South Padre Island, where we visited a few days ago.
This National Seashore, with soggy grassland on the mainland side, and roaring surf on the Gulf side is now a protected area for all kinds of migrating birds, but most importantly, it is one of the last known nesting areas for the Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtle. During April, and continuing until September, eggs are deposited in the sand, covered, and left by the "mother", never to be visited by her again. A program is in place to retrieve the eggs, incubate them in perfect conditions, and release the hatchlings back into the sea. Thousands of turtles are released every year.
This program is detailed at the Malaquite Visitor Center, along with an awesome exhibit on the Portuguese Man O'War.
We encountered a number of the creatures on the beach near the Visitor Center.
Curiously, the Portuguese Man O'War is not a single creature, but a colony. A gas filled balloon catches the wind, tentacles poison anchovies and other small fish, and feeding tubes digest the prey!
With a last look at the birds at the Visitor Center, we headed home.
The most straight-forward return trip was through downtown Corpus Christi, so off we went. The main roads through town are in great shape, and well designed. The surface streets really need some help, however! An hour or so later we were back at Southern Oaks, with Sasha demanding to go to the Dogpark! A great drive today!
Still looks a bit windy. Hold on to Sasha, Donna, or she might go the way of the parasailer!!
ReplyDelete