I left before sunrise [As always. Mostly to avoid traffic and rush hour]. By the time I got to the islands, the cloud cover was showing rain showers on the horizon, so I pulled off the island highway onto a beach access road and arrived at the dunes and pulled off on the beach to snap a few photos of the morning sun...
...after taking a couple of photos of the skyline and horizon, I traipsed back to retrieve my lens ball which I tote in the car all the time. I then walked back near the incoming surf and dropped the ball on the sand, hoping to kneel down and get some of the sky's colors in the globe. Well, I almost lost the ball!!! The tide came in and drenched my legs, knees, and half of my shorts I was wearing...soaking my shoes!! I jumped up, and then, watched the water as it washed my ball out to sea with the ebb tide!! LOL. No, I didn't panic. It is heavy enough that I would have been able to wade back in and save the day. But, I was WET now. That meant I had to get out my blanket from the car to use on my seat to get back in and drive to Port A from there. Not a good start for my day trippin'!!! I only got one photo before the whole scenario put the hipper-dipper to my intentions....
It's about 15 miles from the beach where I parked to get the sunrise, and by the time I arrived at Port A, the sky had cleared. No rain! Bummer. Another scorcher in just a few hours' time.
I first stopped at one of this village's birding hotspots and saw dozens of different birds including one species I haven't seen in over two years! [That was exciting....made up for walking around in my damp clothes]. This weekend, I will show photos of the special bird seen [the largest wingspan in North America ---in relation to body size]. Anyway, all in all it was a beautiful, peaceful, tranquil time. I was alone on the boardwalk for quite some time before others arrived. That's another reason I leave so early....Alone time!! Just me, the bird song, the scenery....
...after leaving this spot on the map, I headed out for the 2nd stop. A few white ibis graced the tree branches, a couple of grackles and a lone killdeer. On a floating log in the pond, one turtle. I stopped to get a photo of the turtle then noticed a 2nd turtle trying to board 'ship'. It was comical. The 2nd one made a couple of attempts to no avail, making the 1st turtle hang on as the log rolled and bobbed in the water like a fishing float...Once the 2nd turtle accomplished joining its buddy, the log rolled, capsized and they both disappeared under the murky water! You had to be there to watch it all go down to laugh at it all as it took place....
Once I saw the special bird, I thought maybe they flew to the ship channel...so, I drove over to Charlie's Pasture along the channel. No special bird...they disappeared. But, I saw a brown pelican perched on a hurricane damaged pier...
....off to the jetty and beach I went...
I walked the beach for a while longer, and when the ships came in, I was too far away to get there beside them in time to check for any dolphin activity. The phone rang, it was my son, and the wind was blowing a goodly speed, keeping him from hearing me well enough...I got back in the car, put the phone on bluetooth, and left for Corpus. We talked the entire way, as we both headed home.
