beaches – Page 3 – The MoHo and Other Traveling Tales

01-07 to 01-09-2014 From Emerald to Forgotten

Current:Manatee Springs State Park, Sunny with predicted high temp 70 F

The Emerald Coast of Northwestern Florida has many wonders. The sand is probably the whitest I have seen anywhere and the emerald to turquoise colored waters rival anything I have seen in the Caribbean. It also has high rises, and traffic, and requires some skill to manage with a dog. The cool (can you say cold?) temperatures were not a surprise. Southern Florida is warm in winter. I spent enough time in Ocala to know that winter frosty days are not unusual in Northern Florida. And the “dry season” isn’t always that dry.

Still, unless you want to barrel through the state on interstates, the Emerald Coast through Pensacola, Destin, and toward Panama City is the best way to get to another secret of Florida, The Forgotten Coast. We decided to skip 30A and stayed a bit north to travel highway 98 toward Panama City.

A great resource for dog owners is a website called BringFido.com, with listings of dog friendly resources all around the country. In a state famous for No Dog beaches, with that trusty little website I found a surprise. With the exception of St Joe Peninsula State Park (our destination) most of the beaches in Gulf County are dog friendly! Amazing!

The warm sunshine was glorious when we parked the rig at the Pier at Panama City Beach, in a huge empty parking lot next to Margueritaville. There is a small area west of the pier for a few hundred feet that is not only dog friendly, but no leash required. Abby got a dose of playing in the water and we got another dose of pure white sand, this time accompanied by bright sun and balmy breezes. Almost warm enough to take off the jackets!

Still in the morning hours when we arrived, the touristy town with beach shopping and bright colors was fairly quiet, traffic was minimal, and people were scattered. Looking around, I could only imagine what this place might be like just a little bit later in the season. Spring Break is approaching in another couple of weeks and I don’t think I would want to be here then.

After our relaxed respite on the beach, we continued east along the coast toward Panama City, a town that seemed a bit worn for wear. Best find for us was a rig friendly car wash, where we managed to get the salt and sand washed off the MoHo and the Tracker before heading for another salty, sandy beach camp.

Early afternoon arrival at St Joseph Peninsula State Park was perfect. When making all the crazy reservations I worked on last summer, I decided to skip this park, but last week thought better of it and added two nights using ReserveAmerica. Most of the Florida State Parks that I have reserved seem to use this system. On arrival, we were glad to have a reservation since even in early afternoon the park was nearly full.

Ahhh….now this is why I wanted to come to Florida. No high rises, no traffic, slow roads and quiet beaches, bays filled with birds and calm water. Sunshine. Sunrises and Sunsets on the beach.

Our first afternoon and evening were simple, with walks on the boardwalk and through the campgrounds with Abby, and beach walks for me. No dogs on the beaches here, but there are several trails around that do allow dogs on leashes.

Saturday morning we decided the weather was perfect for a bay kayak, and drove around to explore the peninsula a bit before deciding where to launch. The campgrounds are about half way down the long, narrow curve of Cape San Blas, with the northern end of the cape protected as a wildlife preserve. With a simple free pass obtained at the entry station, we were allowed to drive into the reserve. Thinking that the road (showing up on google maps) went all the way to the end, we were surprised to discover that the road was gated, and it was a 6.5 mile walk to the northern tip of the reserve.

Instead, we parked at the beach access parking lot, and with cool temperatures, clouds, and shade, decided to let Abby wait in the car while we walked across the dunes to see the beach. At 12 years old, Abby seems to finally get the idea that we will return, and we didn’t see any evidence of frantic dog after our 45 minute walk. Even a short walk on the beach with the two of us was nice, since sometimes in places like this we need to take turns. I tend to be more the beach walker and Mo will walk Abby on the roads and trails around the campground.

Mid-afternoon, the sun was out in full force and we decided to launch from the Bay Picnic area. What appeared to be a muddy launching beach turned out to be firm sand with no drop off and a few inches of water. It was probably the easiest launch ever for us!

Kayaking the bay was perfect, with glassy water much of the time, and now and then a slight breeze bringing up a few gorgeous ripples reflecting on the sandy bottom. After a mile or so, we passed the rental cabins in the preserve, and the sand dunes and scrub forest were empty of anything but birds and an occasional hiker. (Judy, this photo is for you! Abby rides in front of Mo and her life jacket is orange, so that is why you may not see her in the photos all the time, but she is there.)

The water was never more than a few feet deep, and several times we saw huge conch shells. At first, thinking it was a great find, I tried to pick the heavy shell up with my paddle. Even with two of us trying to get to the shell, we couldn’t get it up. A bit later, I found another one and managed to pick it up, only to discover a very disgruntled black critter inside. We saw several more, and figured out that it wasn’t worth trying to get one because they were probably all inhabited.

Cape San Blas curves back around St Joseph Bay to the north and east, with the tip of the cape very close to the mainland. We wanted a simple kayak, not a marathon, so we spent about two hours on the water and traveled only halfway toward the end of the cape before turning back.

After supper, I decided to take another walk over the boardwalk to the beach to catch the sunset. I think about half the campground population was out there, many of them with a drink in their hands and their beach chairs, ready to toast the sunset. The previous night had been beautiful as well, but with some clouds and cool winds there hadn’t been nearly as many people.

The night skies were dark and brilliant with stars after the quarter moon went down. There were cardinals and mockingbirds everywhere, egrets and herons in the pond behind our site, pelicans and stilts on the beach, and even a bald eagle just east of the campground. This is the Florida I wanted, the Florida I imagined when I said to Mo, “Let’s spend a winter in Florida!”. I think the sunny day kayaking on St Joseph Bay may have won her over.

There are many many photos in my google photo albums, and in the interest of bandwidth I have only put a few of them here. If you have the time, check them out here

02-06-2014 Cold Rainy Day in Destin

Current temperature 36 F Partly clear and the high to day up to a balmy 53!

I guess 53F is a lot better than 43F which was the high temperature here yesterday. With rain. No sun, not a speck of sunshine. We are leaving today and heading east toward St Joe Peninsula State Park….I think we need to follow the rain. Weatherunderground says that by Sunday the rainy weather will have passed this part of the Emerald Coast with sunshine predicted in Destin and clouds and rain for points farther east.

I guess this is the most frustrating part of traveling with reservations, we just don’t have a lot of flexibility to follow the weather. The whole plan would fall like a stack of dominoes if we decided to try to go somewhere warm and sunny right now. The other problem, of course, is that there isn’t much warm and sunny in this half of the country and we would have to go a couple of thousand miles west. And by the time we got there, Winter Storm Orion might be doing some damage as well even out west.

Right now, Oregon is experiencing some severe winter weather on the west side of the mountains, and I am quite happy to be down here, relatively warm, not shoveling snow and slipping on icy roads. I will not complain one bit more about the cold weather here in Florida. I also know that if I could just get a little bit father south the predictions are for highs in the 80’s at Marathon Key. I need a Star Trek transporter to get us there before some weird weather thing turns it all cold again.

With Florida beaches off limits to dogs, we took Abby to the Four Paws doggy day care for our day on the beach. I would say that was a fairly loosely run business, but we saw where Abby was to spend the day, and it seemed clean enough. There was no outdoor space, but the owner said he walked the dogs every two hours or so. The hours are a bit limited and we had to return by 4PM to pick her up.

On a side note, I would highly recommend reading ALL the reviews for boarding facilities. A kennel recommended by the desk staff at the campground had some rather scary reviews. The kennel owner is threatening to sue the reviewers for slander, but a local vet confirmed that a small dog died from injuries sustained at the facility by a larger dog. If there are terrible reviews and then a bunch of glowing reviews with a later date, pay attention, those later reviews are probably fake.

We started our dog free morning with pastries and coffee at “The Donut Hole”, recommended by several bloggers and a recent commenter on our blog. Thanks, that was a good choice. The coffee was strong, the pastries superb, and the restaurant gave us a place to prepare for venturing out into the cold rain.

I wanted most of all to see Grayton Beach State Park, and had no problem paying the $5. entry fee to explore the campground, check out the dune lakes, and the famous white sands of the beach. Even with the gloomy skies, the pastel turquoise colors of the water and the pure white sands were wonderful.

We walked as long as we could manage in the cold. Even with a yellow flag out, for moderate conditions, the breezes made the 43 degree temperatures bone chilling. Still, I had to put my feet in that crystalline water. The Gulf was doing that gentle Gulf thing that I love, with soft, little waves…can I even call them waves?….lapping the shore and the dark clouds reflecting in the still water. I kept imagining how incredible it would feel to have my kayak out there on the wilderness of silky turquoise water and gray sky in all directions.

From Grayton Beach, there are some tall Florida condominiums visible in the distance, but nothing invasive. The State Park itself is definitely a place to camp for us, with several sites with paths leading directly to the dune lake and plenty of privacy. The newer part of the campground has 50 amp hookups and larger sites, but they are unprotected and open. We liked the older part better, nice thing about having a 30 amp, 26 foot rig.

After freezing at the beach, we jumped back in the Tracker turning the heat on full blast to try to dry out my jeans. Even with the cuffs rolled up I managed to get all wet. Continuing east on 30A, we traveled the short mile and a half from the park to the little storybook town of Seaside, Florida. Years ago, watching the movie “The Truman Show”, I fell in love with this town, as did many other people. Looking it up, I learned it was a planned community, one of the first that used the new Urban Design concept of creating a living space that was pedestrian friendly, with common areas, concentrated housing of varying sizes and types, and the ability to work and play and live all without having to use a car.

I don’t think many people who work in Seaside actually live there, since many of the houses now go for millions. It was still very cold, and by the time we got to Seaside it was also raining. The lovely town square was in the midst of major reconstruction and not quite lovely at this time. One of the local food wagon vendors told us they had trouble with drainage and the square was being redesigned to handle runoff more efficiently. He said it would be gorgeous again by March.

I had Mo take the obligatory photo of me at the tiny post office and then we walked the square a bit.

A store with proclaimed cottage style was rather elegant. I kept picturing all that fancy elegant cottage stuff in our real cottage back in Oregon. Maybe not, but it was luscious to look at, with linen woven slipcovers, big bowls of coffee beans on distressed wood tables, and beautiful linen napkins at $20. a piece. Let’s see…dinner for six and $120. for napkins? I love luxury and good quality, but this was even more than I would do.

The famous Modica Market was a nice stop, with tall shelves of everything imaginable that required library style ladders to stock. Again, even with a small bin of organic produce, this wasn’t exactly your weekly grocery shopping spot. The Seaside Transit Authority tent was worth a double take, however, with bicycles instead of busses as the city transportation system.

Still raining, I convinced Mo to walk at least a couple of blocks through the residential areas, with their white picket fences and porches bigger than my house. Just a short way down the block, we found a public pathway, a truly amazing little treat, that led between back yards, much like an alley, but not for cars. The path led to the main road where we got back in the car, grateful again for warmth.

It seems that March is the beginning of “the season” in Seaside, and many of the charming little boutiques on the beach side of the town square were still closed. Lucky for me, Pickles was open, and I managed an order of fried pickles…something I never tried before but sounded like fun. They were. I can see that Seaside could be a great place to visit on a warm sunny day on a bicycle. With a great bike trail between the town and the state park to the west, the perfect combination of quiet kayaking, beautiful beach, and cute busy town accessible by bike is pretty darn inviting. But not today in the cold rain.

Traveling back 20 miles or so to Destin, we found a WalMart…a tiny version of most WalMarts, hoping for some shelf liner, some propane, and some TUMS. Eating out so much isn’t that good for my tummy. I needed to be armed for the last dog free adventure of the day, hot Irish coffee at McGuire’s Irish Pub back in Destin. I have seen photos of this place on so many blogs recently, and read about how great it is for so long that I decided it was worth a try.

We weren’t disappointed, and Mo finally got fish and chips the way she has been wanting it for a month now. None of that greasy, thick doughy breading, but a nice light crispy coating on flaky light fish. I tried the rueben egg roll appetizers and they were great! McGuire’s is also a small craft brewery, and when I asked if any of their beer was bottled, the head brewmaster came over to our table to have a long conversation about crafted beer. I gave the rest of my Irish coffee to Mo and ordered a Millennial. Excellent beer, not too hoppy, but rich and creamy. In Florida, they do sell growlers of tap beer, but a growler is a gallon! Hard to fit that in a motorhome fridge, so I passed. It would take me a long time to drink a gallon of beer!

It is very nearly impossible to get a photo of the interior of McGuire’s, since the place is mainly lit with dim red lights. The walls and ceiling are covered with dollar bills, all signed and named by folks who have visited. They call it the million dollar ceiling. I remember a ceiling like this along Interstate 90 west of Missoula, Montana somewhere near St Regis, but for the life of me can’t remember the name of the place. Then there was the great little trailer coffee shop on the dirt road track the the Denali Highway in Alaska…covered in dollar bills with pies that were $36 each. That dollar bill ceiling thing isn’t all that uncommon.

When we picked up Abby, she seemed happy and unstressed, so I assume her day was OK. Ours was OK as well, in spite of the rain and cold, and as I fell asleep last night I kept remembering the color of the water, not how cold my hands and feet were while walking on the beach.

01-30-2014 Day 5 Roatan

Currently we are camped at NAS/JRB, Belle Chasse, LA Temperature: 47 F, and foggy

This is fifth in a series of posts about our NCL cruise on the Norwegian Jewel to the Western Mediterranean. Read about our first day at sea here, about an evening onboard here, Cozumel here, and Belize here. Also, keep in mind that the link to the left for my photos on google will take you to many more images of our cruise and the ports we visited

Thursday morning the sunrise was somewhat muted by the rainclouds and fog hanging low in the sky around the island of Roatan. Until recently, I had never heard of Roatan, and when we booked this cruise I had to look it up. I read a bit about the island, the port, and then was delighted when friend Jeanne sent a quick email with pictures of, you guessed it, Roatan.

Jeanne and her sweetie Alan decided to escape the Vermont winter cold for a week on the north side of the island at a lovely boutique hotel. Photos were attached, and emails exchanged.

Jeanne told us which beaches to avoid and gave us the name of their driver, Alex. A few more emails were exchanged, and by the time we docked in Coxen Hole, on the south side of the island, arrangements had been finalized with Alex. If anyone is reading this blog and wants information about a personal driver for time in Roatan, drop an email to me and I’ll send his email address and phone number. Alex was a sweetheart and I highly recommend his services.

Once again, the timing was near perfect. With a rainy day ahead of us, we were really happy that we hadn’t booked any kind of excursion, trapped in a crowded bus with weather too rough for any kind of snorkeling.

As we approached the port along the southern side of Roatan, I was surprised to see jungle covered hills rising above the port. The approach was quite lovely.My first impression of the port at Coxen Hole was much better than the previous day in Belize. (See that post here). There was plenty of room for busses and taxi’s and the exit area was open and spacious.

As we emerged from the only open gate, Alex was waiting for us with a big sign with my name on it. His car is a nice newer model Toyota SUV with comfy seats and we were his only passengers. We originally negotiated for a simple ride out to the beach and then a later afternoon pick-up, but with the rainy day, we discussed shifting to a mini tour of the island. Alec is quite popular it seems, and his English was more than adequate for our day. For $50 US for both of us, Alex took us to a few sights on the south side of the island, before dropping us off at Sandy Beach on the north side.

Negotiating the narrow, winding roads, Alex drove slowly enough that we could enjoy the views and conversation. We stopped at a few historical sites, but in the rain everything seemed less than spectacular. Once at the top of highest hill on the island, the view opened up and through the light rain that was starting we could see the ship in the harbor below. The road only opens when ships are in port. At this view site are several covered stalls where local people were selling their wares. We took some photos, and explored the items for sale, finding some very well priced goodies to purchase. (Can’t believe I never got a photo of Alex!)

Even in the rain, the jungles were lush and beautiful and the ride to the next site was enjoyable. At the butterfly/flower garden we spent $10. each to enjoy a walking tour of the grounds by Joshua, a 13 year old boy who was very knowledgeable and well spoken. It was a bit of a touristy trappy kind of place, but Joshua made it fun and interesting.

Alex then took us to a more commercial area that was some sort of “official” tourist souvenir site, and we wandered around looking at lovely items for sale, with prices up to three times as much as similar items seen at the stalls on the hilltop. I was really glad that Alex took us to the hilltop first! After perusing the shop, we settled in for an espresso and hot chocolate while we waited for the rain to abate a bit. The sudden runoff was thick and brown and flowing in torrents down the rough roads.

Among the most interesting items made on the mainland in Honduras were carved chests, doors and tables, all worked by hand in Honduran mahogany. Raw mahogany is no longer exported from the country, but crafted items made from the tropical wood are allowed. According to our guide, people plant mahogany trees to attempt to replace the old growth mahogany from the rain forests.

Before lunchtime, we made our way to Sandy Beach and the Blue Bahia Grill, where the open air restaurant was nearly empty. With an agreement to pick us up at 2, Alex left us to have lunch, wander the beach, and possibly go for a snorkel. By then the rain was coming down in torrents, so we were especially happy to have a nice place to relax and enjoy the view through the plastic curtains that kept us dry.

Jeanne had warned us that West Bay and many of the larger beaches are thick with cruisers, and Alec agreed that we might enjoy the little Sandy Bay area. There were no shops, but there was our restaurant, and the attached hotel that was evidently a popular diver’s hotel, with a dive company in the courtyard.

Lunch was fantastic, where I tried the smoked beef brisket sandwich Jeanne recommended and Mo had a BLT that was huge and delicious. The rain let up a bit and we decided to walk the beach, sadly carrying along our useless snorkel gear. The water was just too rough to attempt any kind of swimming or snorkeling, even if it stopped raining. Not a snorkel day.

Just down the beach from the restaurant was the hotel where Jeanne and Alan were staying a few days prior. We walked up from the beach to check it out, and there wasn’t a soul in sight.

The owners were nowhere to be found, but all the doors were wide open, with the front desk computer open and running, jewelry sitting on a side table for sale, the restaurant closed but cash registers all exposed, and unoccupied rooms open for viewing.

The small infinity pool was gorgeous, and we sat in the lobby enjoying the view for awhile before we found a brochure to read about the hotel. Prices were notably absent, but the descriptions of the amenities were glowing, and from what we could see, were not the least bit exaggerated. Might be more than we would ever spend, but it surely would be a great place for a luxury vacation on Roatan.

Wandering back to the beach, the rain started in earnest and we asked our waitress at the Grill if we could wait inside for our driver. She said, “Sure!” and we settled into a table to watch the rain, share some conversation with her, and wait for Alec. Showing up just 15 minutes late, Alec was all apologies for a delayed flight for his previous passengers, and trundled us back to the ship in plenty of time for us to relax a bit before sailing.

The cruise port area is pleasant enough, but there was nothing for sale there to compare with our perfect previous purchases, so within a few minutes we went back to the ship and our waiting comfy stateroom with a view of the island. The port side was a good choice for this particular cruise, where we had good views of both Cozumel, Roatan, and Costa Maya, morning sunrises for most of the cruise, and sunset on our last day returning northward.

A light supper salad sustained us for our evening meal since we knew that the late evening entertainment included a Chocolate Buffet. We ambled up to the Garden Café a few minutes early and were surprised to find a huge line of folks waiting for the doors to open. It was a perfect example of why people often say they can’t imagine going on a cruise. There were soooo many people!!! And all jammed up and lots of noise and all that chocolate.

The buffet was just OK, with a few ice sculptures, a little bit of chocolate carving here and there, and did I mention the people? I tried a couple of desserts, but they were also just ok, and Mo settled for a cup of good coffee while we watched all the activity around us.

There was more entertainment throughout the evening, but we passed on all of it and went back to the quiet and peace of our stateroom. Even with my ability to temporarily ignore crowd phobia, I was ready to get back home and away from all the raucous stuff.

1-17 and 1-19 2014 Padre Island National Seashore and kayaks in the water

We only gave ourselves a single day to explore Padre Island National Seashore. I am sure folks who love this place dearly are appalled that we didn’t take the time to settle in to the rhythm of the waves, and to really enjoy the longest stretch of undeveloped barrier island in the world.

Padre Island is truly a national treasure, one I had heard very little of until recently when I found bloggers talking about their time volunteering on the island. North Padre Island is a bit different. Technically it is a neighborhood of Corpus Christi, with many upscale seasonal homes on the intracoastal waterway, surf shops, and all that go with that beach resort kind of atmosphere.

Unlike what I read about South Padre Island, North Padre Island seems to be a bit more laid back, not quite so crowded, maybe not quite as popular with the spring break crowd. Very few high rises were to be seen. Just a few miles south, however, is the entrance to the national seashore. The entrance is still a few miles from the visitor center at Malaquite Beach, and the broad expanse of the barrier island seems a bit featureless until time is taken to look at it a bit more closely. Camping is allowed both in two main campgrounds that are accessible by road, and along the entire 65 mile length of the shore with a park permit. There is an additional campground at Yarborough Pass at milepost 15 ( through the dunes) that is on Laguna Madre, inland from the beach, and is accessible by 4 wheel drive or by boat.

We decided to drive to Bird Island and discovered one of the campgrounds, with several rigs settled in along the silty beach bordering Laguna Madre. It was here that I first saw this very weird bird that I later discovered was the national bird of Mexico, a crested caracara. There were white pelicans settling in on an exposed bar in the lagoon, and the wind was blowing hard. Perfect for windsailing, which seems to be a popular pastime at this site.

Continuing down the road toward the visitor center, we found a short interpretive trail with a nice path that led through the grasslands. The ecology of a barrier island is complex: simplified it consists of the beach, the dunes, the grasslands, the wetlands, and the lagoon separating the island from the mainland. The grasslands are full of all sorts of plants and wildlife, and we saw the lovely vermillion butterfly.The weather was cool and windy for our walk, and the sun was brilliant.

Dog friendly beaches and trails were another great surprise about the seashore. We were happy to have Abby with us all day on the trails and on the beach, although even with pavement, there were many stickers on the trail that Mo had to pull from Abby’s paws. Again, the national seashore is almost 70 miles of coastal frontage with no roads providing access. The only access is in your vehicle, right on the beach.

The first 5 miles don’t require a 4 wheel drive, but it is recommended after that distance, due to drifting dunes that build up along the route. The warning sign at the 5 mile marker regarding illegal activity and smugglers was a bit sobering.

We drove about 10 miles, most of the time we were the only ones on the beach, and it was very windy and cool enough that we were grateful for the protection of the car. This landscape is a place where immersion would take commitment. It would be wonderful to take the MoHo as far as we could manage and just sit there and watch the water and the view change with the shifting light. Instead, it was an exploratory trip and we decided that we will definitely return to explore it in depth.

Shoreline trash is a big enough subject that it is directly addressed in the park brochure. Seems as though most of the trash is blown in from the Gulf and there are both public and private programs to try to clean it up. It would be a never ending project. An entire day could be devoted to picking up all sorts of flotsam and jetsam that must be dumped from ships or who knows where. It was a shocking, actually. More trash than I have ever seen on a beach anywhere. In an nearly pristine wilderness. Trash bags are provided at the access roads to help with the garbage pickup. Made me really sad, and yet overwhelmed enough that I didn’t fill a garbage bag and try to take it back. Sorry Erin. I did manage to pick up a lot of trash at the NAS beach.

Unlike the complex, ever changing coastline of the Pacific, this gulf shore feels infinite…going on and on what seems like forever, with very little change. The subtle differences would have to be experienced at a slower pace. As nesting grounds for the endangered Kemp’s-ridley turtles, there would be nests to watch for as early as April, but with the chill winds, we saw no sign of turtles.

The story of the Kemp’s-ridley turtle is fascinating. Nearly extinct, they were losing their nesting sites to development, so biologists put Padre Island sand in their incubators to help them imprint, released them after tagging them from the shore, and recently tagged turtles have been returning and nesting in what was not an original nesting site for them. Although five different species of sea turtles nest on the island, we saw no nests and no turtles. Still too early in the season, I am sure.

In spite of the chill wind, seeing that expansive shoreline was fascinating, especially for me as a westerner with a Pacific ocean mindset. I loved it. Loved that I could just walk and walk and walk if I had the opportunity. I would imagine we will return to this place again and continue our explorations.

We waited for several days for the winds to lessen enough to launch our kayaks, and on our last day in Corpus Christi were rewarded with a calm not so chilly morning. There was a bit of fog to accompany us as we drove once again across the bay toward Mustang Island and turned north toward Aransas Pass.

We read about the Mustang Island Paddling Trail, where there are several launch sites, and official markers for the trail. Being inexperienced in this area, it seemed like a good idea to try a marked route.

The trails are on the bay side of Mustang Island, in brackish water that has a very silty, muddy bottom, dotted with islands and inlets. If you have ever tried to navigate in a completely flat landscape filled with water, you can imagine how challenging it was to figure out where we were. I didn’t have the official GPS with me, just a good printed map of the trails, and the google earth imagery.

Sure am glad I also had the phone GPS. In spite of my reasonably good navigation skills, I had no clue where we were on the map without turning on the phone and trying to figure out where that blue dot was! It was fun, not too windy, and there were enough birds around to keep things interesting. I was quite delighted to finally find the route marker number 11, and then number 10. We had completely missed the rest of them.

It isn’t a difficult place to keep track of where you need to go, it just is a bit tricky avoiding lagoons that might dead end into mud without an outlet. We probably paddled a short five miles or so, in water that wasn’t the least bit exciting and very very shallow in many places. Still, it was good to get out in the kayaks for a morning at least and experience a bit of Texas water.

As mentioned in the previous post, we topped off our morning kayak with our fabulous afternoon with Erin and Mui. It was a great way to spend our last day in this area that was brand new to us until now. I especially enjoyed trying to photograph all the birds. As they say, the best equipment in the world still needs the photographer. In spite of Deanna’s great lens, I have a long way to go before I get those shots of their eyes in perfect focus. I’ll keep trying.

Next: Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge and a visit with Judy

1-14 to 1-19-2014 Coastal Corpus Christi

We discovered almost as soon as we parked in the NAS at Corpus Christi, that our short time here would only be enough to barely get a taste of all this area has to offer. Especially in winter, the south Texas coast draws many snowbirds from all over the country ready to experience the delights of a warm seacoast location for an extended stay.

For years, Mo had read about the draw to the South Texas Coast for retirees and wanted to see the area. Port Isabel, South Padre Island, and Brownsville destinations were originally on the list of places for us to go on this trip. Initially we actually planned to drive south for a long day trip to explore from our NAS location, but discovered that the trip to South Padre Island required a 400 mile round trip inland and back out to the southern end of the island which is no longer connected in any way to the northern end.

Visiting the National Seashore was much higher on our list than checking out giant high rise condos on South Padre Island, and it didn’t take many internet searches for us to make that decision. Instead, we stayed fairly close to our campground, taking each day to explore a different part of greater Corpus Christi.

The NAS is at point A on the google map, and other sites often required a bit of backtracking. We actually got pretty good at figuring out how to get in and out of the base and onto the network of one way roads that parallel the main freeway that crosses from Corpus Christi Bay to Padre Island.

On our first full day here, we decided to just try to get our bearings, do some driving, and attempt to understand a part of the world that was completely new to us. Driving….west? east?? (this place is still a directional challenge for me) oh yes…It was east and then north….we crossed the Laguna Madre, a large brackish water lagoon that extends the full length of Padre Island, the longest natural barrier island in the world, and lies between the island and the mainland.

These barrier islands are incredibly important on coastlines that are susceptible to hurricanes, stopping the major surge of water before it inundates the mainland with its full force. Mustang Island is north of Padre Island, an additional island in the chain of many such barrier islands. Mustang Island is home to a state park, some official paddling trails on the bay side, and a long, level open beach for strolling. The beach is also for driving, a new concept to me except for a moment in Daytona Beach.

Here the beach drive makes sense. The Gulf water is the mother of all, and tire tracks along the beach are obliterated with each movement of the water. There are access roads from the main island highway that enter the beach between the dunes at several intervals. 4 wheel drive isn’t required, but there are warnings about getting stuck in the sand, and we did see a few stuck cars.

What was surprising, though, was how open and empty the beach seemed, even with the option of driving. Cars and people were few and far between, punctuated rarely by a motorhome, and pickups with huge fishing poles mounted on their bumpers. I think fishing is the big draw in this part of this area. I had no idea what a sheepshead was but daughter Deborah caught one on this very beach. That is one scary looking ugly fish! those teeth!!

We drove the beach slowly, enjoying the gentle surf and birds, and then continued into Port Aransas to find the free ferry that crosses the bay in just a few minutes to Aransas Pass. It is amazing how efficiently the workers manage the load, and when we left town on Monday morning, they managed our motorhome and toad with as much ease as they had managed our previous trips with just the baby car.

I had heard from Erin that there were “whoopers” just outside Goose Island State Park, and armed with well written directions, we drove north through Fulton Beach, across the bridge and out beyond the state park to try to find the birds. At the time, I kept getting comments saying, “don’t miss the whoopers!”, so I figured I had better make the effort. After we found the pair, resting in a small draw on a large field of private land, I did some searching and discovered that I had a very fuzzy image of 2 of only 457 birds that are known to exist. Well. Alright then!. Being on private land, we were not able to walk close, and my lens just couldn’t quite get there. But with the rarity of these birds, I feel pretty lucky to have any photo at all.

We were just a short distance from the famous “Big Tree”, a live oak that is more than 1,000 years old. Folks have spent a huge amount of time and energy taking care of this tree. I can imagine Sherry trying to hug it, but she couldn’t get close enough with the protective fences. The stories of the hurricanes and development that this beautiful old tree has survived are uncountable.

Ambling back through Fulton Beach, we found a moderately recommended restaurant on the water for lunch. Alice Faye’s had not a sign of “fish and chips” on the menu, the main reason Mo and I were searching for a restaurant. Coastal locations set the mouth to watering for some real fish and chips. Instead, once again, we found lots of shrimp and oysters, and the catch of the day, fried or naked, was pollack, and was a bit pricey for a spontaneous lunch. Instead, I had some shrimp which was OK and Mo had a French dip which was actually pretty fantastic.

We were home early enough in the afternoon on that day that I could take full advantage of the free washers and dryers at the campground to once again freshen up all the rugs and blankets and anything else that might have a trace of kitty hair on it. Loved that most of all about that campground, I can tell you!

On another day we opted to go downtown to check out the city of Corpus Christi. There are some quirkie things about this city that are a bit hard to figure out. Some areas are truly gorgeous, and the seawall and beautiful kiosks provide wonderful photo ops with all the reflections.

The Art Museum and Science Museum are at the end of the Ocean Drive, and the area seems a bit deserted, especially on a Saturday.

It is worth seeking out the beautiful Watergarden falls on the grounds of the museum. The approach to the waterfall is a rippling stream with stone square blocks that create a small rapid. The sound is gentle and lovely. There is nothing quite like the roar of the falls down the steps within the circle of the cascading water. It is as wild and loud as many waterfalls I have experienced. The artist understood sound as a work of art as well as vision.

In that same area were large expanses that appeared to be devastated by a hurricane and nothing had been rebuilt. Felt a bit strange. The large bridge in the photo above is the Harbor Bridge that crosses Corpus Christi Bay northeast to Portland, Texas.

Looking up the history, the only really big hurricane was in 1919 and the areas we were seeing were all warehouse districts at that time. In the same vicinity is Heritage Park, a delightful project of 9 beautiful huge homes, relocated from various parts of the city to this little neighborhood. The craziest thing we saw was the old Nueces County Courthouse, built in 1914, with some pretty amazing historical moments in its past. Abandoned in 1977, the huge and beautiful building sits empty and rotting behind a chain link fence right near the downtown part of the city.

Best part of the day for us was a visit to the Railroad Seafood Station and Brewery downtown on Chaparral. The atmosphere was typical brewery, once an old warehouse, with lots of open industrial stuff on the ceiling, dark colors and wooden tables and booths. I tried one of their current brews, a blond something that was pretty hoppy, but just as our wonderful waiter told me, after three sips it was perfect. The menu was fabulous, but of course, no fish and chips. Mo opted instead for some kind of specialty onion rings, with a bit of sweetness and homemade tartar sauce with very finely chopped veggies.

I opted for the the specialty coconut shrimp and the two sides of veggies and potatoes I chose with a homemade sweet chili sauce were what Sean, our waiter, called the Holy Trinity of food in that restaurant. He wasn’t exaggerating. Those little red potatoes were buttery smooth, with edges crisped and roasted with perfectly caramelized onions. The fresh veggies were tender crisp and only lightly seasoned with herbs and lemon. The home made chili sauce was the perfect hotness for the best coconut shrimp ever to pass my lips. Remember, I ate coconut shrimp a few years ago in Key West!. I ended the meal with Sean’s own homemade key lime pie. Sean and I exchanged email addresses and he wants me to write to him when I get to Key West to let him know if their pie is any better than his.

Yes, it was perfect. Soft yellow as key lime should be, with a crust thin enough that it didn’t overpower the pie, and without that fake cheesecake taste and texture you now get in some key lime pie recipes from various locations. Yes, it was a meal to remember, and it was a good thing I didn’t completely wear out my swooning abilities because our meal with Erin and Mui was the very next day!

If you click on my google photos link on the left side of the blog, there are a ton of photos there if you are interested.

Next up: Padre Island National Seashore and a morning kayak at Shamrock Cove