Blowing In The Wind

November 21 - 30, 2013

 

Happy Thanksgiving a few days late! We hope all of you had a wonderful day and we are most thankful for you all and our opportunity for this great adventure.

We have been hanging out in a place called Port Aransas for the past week. It is on Mustang Island next to Padre Island.

The wind has been blowing pretty much nonstop so our fishing adventures haven’t been very successful since the water is rough and churned. Apparently the fish are clean living fish. We did happen upon a few people taking advantage of the wind one day to fly kites. This one caught our eye!

A Unique Kite

 

Even though the wind has been pretty much nonstop and rain off and on, it does make for some beautiful sunrises. Izzy also enjoys the morning when we first go out after getting up as she tries to find these little critters that make these sand mounds everywhere.

Come On I Know You're In There

The Day Awakens

 

The harbor is a busy one with a lot of tug boats bringing in different tankers. When you look outside our window you see at least four or five out in the water at a time.

Hard at Work

The Birds Race

 

We did take a stab at fishing across the bay and to get there you take a short ferry ride. Izzy enjoys this to some degree since she can sit and look out the window at the water. She just doesn’t understand why she can’t go swimming, but we did reward her on the other side.

The Ride Across

 

She loves to help us fish as well as look for fish on her own. Remember in other posts I mentioned she likes to lick the fish when we catch them, well she isn’t too particular as she tasted the bait too!

Yap that's bait

Izzy Fishing

 

I am fortunate to be married to Steve since he has fish blood running through his veins and knows all the right things to do in getting the poles ready for us to cast. Too bad I just can’t seem to catch the fish as easily!

Getting Ready

Izzy Helping

The View from our Fishing Spot

 

We had a nice Thanksgiving dinner and then did a little tour of some properties on the water. This house caught our eye most likely due to the dolphin statue out front. Too bad it isn’t for sale, but in looking at others we would have to win the lottery in order to buy one in this spot anyway. The vacant lots are a bit more reasonable if you are a millionaire that is!

Tranquil

Wonder if this empty lot is for sale

Not for sale, oh darn

 

As the evening was coming we headed down to the park and marina area to do some fishing. This was a first for us to be fishing on Thanksgiving. This pelican must have thought we were really good at catching fish since it decided to land and hang out right next to me. I guess it didn’t know me very well since I hadn’t caught anything yet!

Hoping for thanksgiving dinner

As you can tell by how Steve is dressed it is a bit chilly and windy still but that didn’t deter us. It also didn’t deter about a dozen dolphins from hanging around and playing. This one was playing in the wave of this ship coming into the harbor. I bet he ignored his parents when they told him not swim out in front of moving ships! Since we were out at sunset on Thanksgiving, we were blessed with a gorgeous one!

Having fun

I'm not cold

Beauty in the sky

 

We will be staying here until Thursday December 5^th to take advantage of warmer sunny weather and just maybe catch some fish that are bigger than my hand!!

Tuna Casserole Anyone?

November 16 - 20, 2013

 

Well, I didn’t get this done before we pulled up the stabilizers so I will bring you up to date on our adventure.

If you recall from the last post, Steve was off on a tuna fishing adventure. He made it back safe and sound and did have some fish, it just wasn’t yellowfin tuna. The ocean was really rough such that a couple of deck hands were sick. Luckily Steve is half fish and didn’t lean over the rail except to pull up fish but did have to adjust a bit fishing since the boat was doing the twist!!

He brought back some snapper, grouper, and small tuna. One of the other fishermen on the trip that was successful in catching a yellowtail tuna gave him two nice tuna steaks. Oh yeah, I hate tuna casserole but the steaks were delicious.

Sam and Vera - regular customers on the charter

The Sleeping Area

Snapper anyone?

 

Tuna and much more

The Yellowfins

 

I think Steve slept like a rock Sunday night and took it easy on Monday. Sleeping on the boat didn’t really happen.

Before he did go on the marathon fishing trip we took a day and did a bike ride around the historic district of Galveston and came upon this house. This is The Bishop's House and was built in 1886-1893 by US Congressman Colonel Walter Gresham. It was bought by the Catholic Diocese in 1923 and named.

The Bishop's House

The Colors

A Flower Pot with Detail

The Upper Level

The View from the Bishop's House

 

From the historic part of town we headed to the seawall to enjoy a nice ride along the water and head back to rescue Izzy from inside the trailer.

We left Tuesday November 19^th and headed to Corpus Christi. We spent a couple of nights in Corpus along the bay. Izzy had fun wading in the water and watching the birds. This heron wasn’t too worried about Izzy so I was able to get a couple of pictures.

Taking a Walk

Getting ready for take-off

Think there must be a fish somewhere

Our View This Morning

 

We explored Padre Island and Mustang Island and decided we would go ahead and move to Mustang Island for at least a week. The fishing is within a short bicycle ride or walk, Izzy can start training for her marathon as Steve can run her on the beach here using the motorcycle. I think she will have a blast since she gets to do two of her favorite things in one spot!

We’ll update you at the end of this part of our adventure and if I don’t post anything before Thanksgiving we wish you all a wonderful holiday. We are thankful for this opportunity and all of you! J

Houston We Have A Problem

November 4-13, 2013

 

Not really but I always wanted to say that and since we drove through Houston to get to Galveston I could! Well we actually did have a problem in New Orleans with our air conditioner but I digress.

Houston from the road

 

We left New Orleans and headed to the Texas Gulf. We stopped at Lake Charles Louisiana for a few days to check out that area and wait out a short rain storm. The Lake is nice and the town has an historic district. We left Lake Charles on November 7^th to head to Galveston.

Besides wanting to see Texas and the Gulf Coast fishing was calling so we selected an RV park where we can walk to the ocean. Oh yeah guess who doesn’t mind walking there either. You’re right it’s Izzy.

Sunrise from our Trailer

Colors out our window

Beach Anyone?

Taller than me

Enjoying the Sun

At the park

 

 

We spent a few nights in San Leon first and enjoyed a round of golf at their executive course. We did some sightseeing from that location which is how we found our current landing.

A Ship in the Distance

Color on the water

 

Since we want to do some surf fishing Steve was on a mission to seek out the local fisher dudes and get the scoop. He found a few so ventured out of the truck to ask one of them what they were using and what they were catching.

A Local Fisherman

Tell me the secret location or else!

Waiting for the mad fisherman to return

 

This meant we needed some more tackle and of course we had to get some live bait. It’s a good thing Izzy didn’t see us get them since she loves to lick live fish.

So far our fishing endeavor has led to some small success in catching some really small red fish. Oh well Izzy had fun trying to find them when Steve put them back in the water.

Keeping watch

Owns the beach

Hurry up and throw it

 

 

Priceless

The helper

Where did the fish go?

 

She also enjoyed swimming after a piece of driftwood I found so she could be entertained while we were fishing.  The birds were actively feeding and didn’t seem to mind Izzy hanging around.

There's got to be some food around here

I need a drink

 

Steve headed out the next morning when it was still dark to see about catching some flounder. He went to the spot where he spoke with the local from the other day. Izzy and I spent the morning enjoying the beach with a long walk and when we returned there was master fisher dude Steve cleaning a flounder. Yummy we get to try a new recipe.

Walking along the harbor we found this ship that has been restored and will be ready to sail again in March. The ship’s name is Elissa and was used for years as a trade vessel. While we were wandering around we came upon a fishing charter office. I bet you can’t guess what I am going write next? Anyway Steve will be heading out early Saturday morning for a 36 hour fishing trip with the hopes of landing a really, really, really big tuna.  He will probably catch other species too. I’ll see if he caught a catnap or not when I pick him up Sunday evening.

The Elissa

The Boat That Leads to the Tuna!

We decided to go check out one of the two golf courses in Galveston. I was able to take a few pictures while Steve inquired about playing. We haven’t played it yet since the wind has been blowing about 20-30 mph and today is pretty chilly for here (50). If the course was set up where you only hit with the wind I could hit as well as a pro. Wishful thinking on my part!

The View at the Golf Course

Gorgeous

Lavender

 



From here we will head to Corpus Christie but before we pull up the stabilizers I’ll let you all know how successful the mad fisher dude is on the tuna trip!