Flamingo Fandango

The Annual Pink Flamingo migration arrived early at the Corpus Botanical Gardens. However, the staff at the Botanical Gardens was ready for them. The pink flamingo Costume Ball was set into motion and boy did those flamingos dress up.
We left before the awards ceremony, so we don't know the winner.

Safe in Rockport, TX Marina

Leaving Matagorda Bay where we anchored out by the old airport, we saw on the news that a tropical low was developing over the Yucatan. Our friends, Steve and Carol had suggested the anchorage by the old airport in Matagorda Bay as ideal and they were right. We dingyed around, watched shrimpers and had the whole place to ourselves. Water is a lot clearer than we are used to in Galveston Bay. The picture above is our quiet anchorage in Matagorda Bay.

Our next stop was Port Lavaca for one night. Once again, we had a howling wind and a rough docking. I had to bang the bow of "Lindsey" into the finger pier to stop her. Again, less than $10,000.00 worth of damage. The cruising guide described Port Lavaca as a quaint little fishing village with a lot to do and see. Wrong. Two things were good, one,ice was available for 75 cents a 5 gallon bucket from the bait stand and the other was.....leaving. The harbormaster didn't charge us for our first night. He said "we need something to get people up here".

The news had the tropical storm getting stronger so we decided to find a more secure place to ride out the storm. The weather forecasters knew it was going to hit the southern end of Texas but didn't know where. We headed for Rockport Municipal Marina. This is a very nice place to stay. They have a good breakwater to protect the marina. The showers and laundry are new. The locals are great. We must have had 6 different offers to take us to the store. Burt (a liveaboard) took us to the HEB where we reprovisioned. We had enough stock for several weeks on the boat. The tropical storm was named Hurricane Alex and was projected to hit Texas around Brownsville. We are staying put. That afternoon, June 29, the wind picked up and the waves were breaking over the seawall. We moved "Lindsey" to the center of our slip and double tied her. We were ready. The wind blew and the rains came. We were safe in Rockport. The Marina charged us $30.00 a night with water and electricity. We highly recommend this place for our cruising friends.

Cruising to Corpus Christi

After cruising from Seabrook, Tx 3 weeks ago, we have dodged 1 and half hurricanes. First was Hurricane Alex, that hit south of Brownsville and then what never became Bonnie. We were crossing Corpus Christi Bay, totally unaware that Bonnie was easing ashore. We had 4 and 5 foot seas along with 45 mph winds. We had to carry on because there is no parking lot to pull in when the weather turns bad. The harbormaster assigned us slip G5. The wind blew "Lindsey" into G7. We called the harbormaster and she said that since the weather was so bad, G7 was fine. The Corpus Municipal Marina is at the heart of downtown. Notice the 50 story building off the port side of "Lindsey".
There are trolleys that go right by the marina and for 75 cents, you can travel the city. The Texas State Aquarium and the USS Lexington are a short ride away. The marina charges 90 cent per foot. If you stay a week the price drops to, in our case, about $20.00 per night. The showers and laundry are new and nice but a short walk away.
There are three restaurants right at the marina. There is a Laundrys Seafood, Joe's Crab Shack and Harrison's Landing. We favor Harrison for their egg sandwiches.