Sightseeing on the Gulf Coast
Got up early today to do some sightseeing.
We started off taking the ferry (free!) over to Port Aransas.
It was a very short ride, less than 5 minutes.
Once we got off the ferry we spotted a "Public Beach" sign, so we headed there first.
We parked our car on the beach (a first!) and then promptly kicked off our flip-flops to walk down to the water.
Ahhh...what nice soft sand...feels so good under your feet.
What a nice clean beach!
and once we reached the water, we could have kept going...if only we had our swim suits! So instead of swimming, we walked up and down the beach searching for 'treasure'.
We found a nice variety of seashells and a few things we couldn't identify - some blue inflated balloon looking items, as well as clusters of bubbles, some of which we found in a bluish colored seashell.
We also found more items on the north side of the pier where a lot more things wash up. We picked up clusters of pink barnacles and we saw what looked like a lot of yellow wires. We took a picture of our finds and then left all except for the cluster of barnacles.
We left Port Aransas beach and headed south going over Mustang Island and onto Padre Island National Seashore. Thanks to our National Parks Pass, we didn't have to pay the $10 entry fee.
Our first stop in the park was "Bird Island Basin". Good place where we could boondock, just pull the coach in and face out to the bay. The water here is calm and quite shallow until you reach the drop off. We walked out about 200 yards with the water never getting any higher than our knees. This "basin" has a nearly constant breeze and is one of the nation's top windsurfing areas. We walked back to the shore and then headed over to check out "Malaqiute Beach" campground. It had more sites (with water and dump station), but they were smaller and we would prefer the "Basin's" campground.
We then headed to the park's visitor center. There, we discussed our prior beach findings with the ranger on duty.
We learned that the 'blue balloons' were Portuguese man-of war!
The bluish seashells was a common purple snail, one of the man-of-war's few predators and the yellow 'wires' were actually a type of coral. Who knew we'd find such things on a beach?
After our Q&A session in teh visitor center, we walked out onto Malaquite Beach. However, the sand was so hot by this time that we couldn't stand to walk barefoot. So we put our flip-flops back on, walked down to the water for a temperature check (84 degrees!) and then headed back to the car and made our way back home.
Bridge across to Corpus Christi.
Once we were back in Aransas Pass, we passed the campground and went to Hamptons Landing restaurant for a late lunch. We shared a basket of fried flounder, shrimp, oysters and fries. Very good, fresh food.
What a nice day!
We started off taking the ferry (free!) over to Port Aransas.
It was a very short ride, less than 5 minutes.
Once we got off the ferry we spotted a "Public Beach" sign, so we headed there first.
We parked our car on the beach (a first!) and then promptly kicked off our flip-flops to walk down to the water.
Ahhh...what nice soft sand...feels so good under your feet.
What a nice clean beach!
and once we reached the water, we could have kept going...if only we had our swim suits! So instead of swimming, we walked up and down the beach searching for 'treasure'.
We found a nice variety of seashells and a few things we couldn't identify - some blue inflated balloon looking items, as well as clusters of bubbles, some of which we found in a bluish colored seashell.
We also found more items on the north side of the pier where a lot more things wash up. We picked up clusters of pink barnacles and we saw what looked like a lot of yellow wires. We took a picture of our finds and then left all except for the cluster of barnacles.
We left Port Aransas beach and headed south going over Mustang Island and onto Padre Island National Seashore. Thanks to our National Parks Pass, we didn't have to pay the $10 entry fee.
Our first stop in the park was "Bird Island Basin". Good place where we could boondock, just pull the coach in and face out to the bay. The water here is calm and quite shallow until you reach the drop off. We walked out about 200 yards with the water never getting any higher than our knees. This "basin" has a nearly constant breeze and is one of the nation's top windsurfing areas. We walked back to the shore and then headed over to check out "Malaqiute Beach" campground. It had more sites (with water and dump station), but they were smaller and we would prefer the "Basin's" campground.
We then headed to the park's visitor center. There, we discussed our prior beach findings with the ranger on duty.
We learned that the 'blue balloons' were Portuguese man-of war!
The bluish seashells was a common purple snail, one of the man-of-war's few predators and the yellow 'wires' were actually a type of coral. Who knew we'd find such things on a beach?
After our Q&A session in teh visitor center, we walked out onto Malaquite Beach. However, the sand was so hot by this time that we couldn't stand to walk barefoot. So we put our flip-flops back on, walked down to the water for a temperature check (84 degrees!) and then headed back to the car and made our way back home.
Bridge across to Corpus Christi.
Once we were back in Aransas Pass, we passed the campground and went to Hamptons Landing restaurant for a late lunch. We shared a basket of fried flounder, shrimp, oysters and fries. Very good, fresh food.
What a nice day!
posted by Bobby and Shelly Evans @ 9:44 PM
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1 Comments:
You really know how to journal a day's adventure! We have family in Hutto, TX and are planning a vacation along the gulf next summer with our boys. Thanks to your pictures, I have a better idea of things to do and look for while there.
Beach Girl in Indiana.........
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