Last night at the beach:
The surf looked a lot like this that evening. We wouldn't learn about Tropical storm Bill until we arrived back to DFW.
We had packed up half of our gear n stacked some up on the beach rd. side of the trailer.
I had also layed our aluminum ladder down on the surf side of the trailer n stuck the shovel in the sand
threw it because the wind had picked up & the tide was on the rise.
High tide was suppose to be at 11pm. We all fell asleep around 9:15. The ladder n shovel alarm
woke me up around 10pm
It was time to move everything to higher sand! By 10:15pm we LOST THE BEACH :-O
Rather than drive through the surges we decided we'd wait it out.
So, I chalk the tires n drove the truck up on some pcs. of plywood I had brought just in case.
Good thing i did. Others were not as lucky.
Driving off the beach (approx 1:AM) we saw lots of folks WITH CAMPERS sunk into the sand that would have to dig themselves out after sunrise.
Snapped this pic on day 2. This is why i don't drive in the water. The surf continued to rise after 11:pm. It surged all the way up to the dunes.
It receeded around midnight
By that time I was just ready to get on the road.
We pulled into the Corpus State Aquarium parking lot around 3:am.
Ah, Time to Zzz zzz zzz zzz!
We woke up and fead the gulls then went in for coffee & potty break. They are expanding this
great place. We saw the construction of the new wing for more attractions.
The kids got to pet the sharks n rays. We saw the see turtles, dolphins, jelly fish, otters & palagics.
The aqaurium is a nice place to take the family. They even have a small water
park for the wee ones & a burger grill.
Little Z with the aqaurium mascot.
Returning down I35 we decided to stop in Austin to the see the bats at Congress Bridge emerge
The best time to see these bats take flight is mid-Summer just before sunset.
We learned that the bats travel to Austin annually from deep into Mexico (about 1K miles) to deliver n raise
their pups. They mainly eat mosquitos, nats & moths by the millions each night.
The emergence will happen earlier each day after late Spring. We saw them really come out in larger
numbers after dark. There are so many (approx 1.5 milliion) you can hear them chirping.
The largest bat emergence is in Braken cave in San Antonio. Those bats number around 20 million.
This Adventure we got to see and or caught Wild domestic dolphins, sea turtles, gulls, pelicans, jelly fish, crabs, small fish we couldnt ID., Skips, Kings, Spanish, Whiting, Hardheads, rays, otters, birds of pray, coyotes, bats, bass, rainforest fish & frogs, other palagics, alligators etc. etc. We have some fish for the freezer now. I was spent when we got back. What a trip. The memories will last a lifetime.
I'm ready to head back down soon...