Weekend Walk About...

Lately, I've been lacking much energy. I can't seem to get in the grove of even my morning walking ritual. I don't know what it is, but I don't like it one bit. It's almost as if I have to force myself to get motivated. Saturday morning was the last time I got out and did any walking. The day began overcast but cleared out eventually. Naturally, I went to the islands to see the sea. I stopped at my two usual wildlife refuges, but didn't stick around very long. Being the weekend, there were too many people for my comfort zone during the virus pandemic. And half if not more, had no face masks. I then drove to the ship channel behind the village and walked along the channel road to the pavilion at Charlie's Pasture. The park gate was closed for vehicle traffic since the county/state is now [finally] beginning to repair the channel's broken sea wall that was highly damaged from Hurricane Harvey, three years ago! You know how those delays work, what with FEMA and state protocols. The lake behind the pavilion in the pasture grounds USED to be fresh water, but because of the break in the seawall, it has been mixed with salt water from the channel...not good for most  birds. Maybe it will improve in the bird populations after the damage is repaired. Who knows. Anyway, after walking, I parked the car along the channel wall, and returning, I waited for a very large oil tanker to make its way from the port in Ingleside, Texas to where I stood...hoping to see dolphins. There were no dolphins, but an almost tragedy occurred!! Follow the photos and you'll read why...

As I mentioned, it was Saturday. That meant a lot of fishermen and channel spectators were present. I parked the car across from the oil platforms that are back to shore for storage and/or repairs before being utilized out to sea again at a future date. Now, back to the ship, the Nordic Star from George Town -Grand Cayman Islands, approaching us along the seawall. One fellow was listening to Willie Nelson as he fished. His furry companion, a very small, cute, perhaps Shih Tzu mixed breed, doggie was by his camper chair lounging in the sun. The dog moved to the lower edge of the wall and was content to be a distance from its master and enjoying the warm morning sun. The Nordic Star slowly approached nearby. The stern wake [ship's front] was quite minimal. The bow wake [back side] was also quiet. But, think again. While sailing through the channel, the ship's wake forms huge waves crashing into the wall once past the area...and the dog? Yep, you guessed it...one of the waves came into shore and broke high above the wall. And the current of the wave traversing along the wall moves quickly!! I started yelling "The dog!"  "The dog"!  And pointing to the waves coming in. Luckily, the two women who were standing by, watching the ship, ran to the pooch, scooped it up, and rescued the dog from being washed out into the channel; or drowned on shore, just in the nick of time. The fisherman was running as quickly as he could to save his furbaby!! It was an almost tragic scene; but all was well in the end. Scary.   This photo I share of the wave, is long AFTER the ship had traveled down the channel; it takes a while to calm the waters again...you can just imagine how high, strong, and lethal the waves were as the ship was much more parallel to the dog that was lying in the sun earlier, oblivious to the danger it was in.


More photos that day: