[Paddlewise] Trip Report: Jones Bay by Sea Kayak

Trip Report:  Jones Bay/Galveston Bay near Galveston, Texas

Sunday morning, November 18, 2001, eight of us showed up at Louis' bait
shop/boat ramp in Hitchcock at 9 a.m. to launch into Highland Bayou and head
on out to West Galveston Bay and Jones Bay by sea kayak.  Rafael Mier Maza
from Mexico joined us with brand new boats he is manufacturing.  One is
Marilyn Kircus' new craft and you can tell when you see it as it is labelled
"Handcrafted in Mexico for Marilyn Kircus".  The other boat is a tandem of
the model "Tabasco", so of course it has to be a hot boat.

Weather conditions were near perfect, a slight breeze and temperatures in
the 70s under hazy skies.  We headed southwest down the bayou and then
almost due west along the north shores of Galveston/Jones Bay.  Coastal
marshes and marsh grasses were all along the shore, hardly a tree in sight.
A few personal water craft buzzed by and some motorboats with fishermen, or
sightseers, and duck hunters.  Plenty of room in the channel for all of us
and the density of motorized craft decreased significantly as we hugged the
shallower waters along the shore.  We saw quite a lot of fish activity and
birds of many kinds.  Our winter wading bird population was well in evidence
including black legged stilts, willets, and those sand
pipers/dowitchers/sanderlings that us amateurs have so much trouble telling
apart.  I was delighted to see the first loons of the season, a winter treat
for me who associates these birds with canoeing trips in Canada.  A
merganser duck showed off her just-caught fish, still wriggling in her bill.

We paddled about four miles to the artificial cut made for a large diversion
canal close to Basford Bayou.  High piles of clay soil dredged for the canal
made an appealing rest stop and a good vantage point to see miles in all
directions on the flat coastal plain.  The Galveston causeway is to the
west;  farther south, the pyramids of Moody Gardens;  Tiki Island, North and
South Deer Islands.  East are the refineries of Texas City, and West as far
as the eye can see, Galveston Bay with the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW)on its
northern edge.

Dredge spoils and oyster reefs made an interesting challenge for our
crossing, with our objective the south side of the island separated from the
mainland it had joined before the ICW was a part of the bay system. A ship
wreck was an intriguing mystery that marked our approach to the ICW
crossing.  We didn't have to wait long to figure out where the real ICW cut
was - a quadruple barge was bearing down on as as we were lining up for the
crossing.  Their movement appears deceptively slow, only when they are quite
close do you realize you couldn't paddle fast enough to outrun them, if you
were foolish enough to even think about trying.  The eastern tip of this
first island made a nice lunch spot and a nice vantage point also for
considering that next time out here we would really like to take more time
and go for the Green's Lake cut that is on the other end of the island, a
mile or more farther on.

It appears this area has good potential for weekend camping trips.  They
could be out and back trips, or continuing on to a Chocolate Bayou takeout,
or an open water crossing to Galveston Island State Park.  Total distance
would be in the 20-30 mile range - obviously more study needed before
attempting.  There were only two houses along this stretch of shoreline once
we left Highland Bayou behind.

Our entertainment for the leg back was paddling with a good-sized
rattlesnake at least 200 yards offshore.  None of us had ever seen a rattler
swimming before, and I must say it swam very well, high on top of the water
with its diamondback very exposed and the rattles showing from time to time.
We were close enough to see it sticking out its tongue to test the air - and
we stayed far enough back to be out of striking range.  To my surprise,
instead of heading for shore after 1/4 mile or so of kayak accompaniment, it
headed out into the open waters of the bay.  Must have had a friend or
otherwise on Tiki Island, or maybe out swimming for the heck of it.  Ya
never know.

It was an absolutely gorgeous day out on the water, wish you could have been
there too, or maybe you'll be there next week?

Happy paddling.

Natalie Wiest
HCC Paddler


***************************************************************************
PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed
here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire
responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author.
Submissions:     PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net
Subscriptions:   PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net
Website:         http://www.paddlewise.net/
***************************************************************************