Since I can still lurk on the Paddlewise list, but not post to it for the past several months, I am testing out the filters to see if this note will be allowed to post. I've been silent not from lack of paddling activity, but from lack of being able to post, so here goes with my most recent sea kayak trip around Pelican Island, near Galveston, Texas: Sunday morning June 21st (and Father's Day at that), five intrepid Houston Canoe Club kayakers met at the shell beach of Texas A&M University at Galveston campus to do a circumnavigation: paddling 10.6 miles of 360 degree circle to see what there was to see. We had a nice high tide going for us, and several days of wind pushing the Gulf of Mexico waters inland on the southerly breezes. This trip has a little of everything that makes up Galveston Bay - the Bay waters itself, commercial shipping, birds, dolphins, fishing, and on this day, sparkling blue water. Meteorological stats record an air temperature between 83 and 89 degrees (at Pier 21); water temperature of 93 degrees (Pier 21); and a slightly falling high tide from about 6 a.m. to predicted low at approximately 10 p.m. Ken Anderson in his spiffy brand new sea kayak, Kelly Motter, Joe Coker, Coleen Connelly and I were on the water by 9:15; and off by 3. The pace was steady but fairly relaxed and we took two breaks to stretch our legs. We all agreed this was the coolest place to be and none of us felt heat-stressed. I enjoyed being IN the water at our break spots. All of us paddled sea kayaks - of both sit-on-top, and sit-in varieties and they were definitely the right craft for wind, waves, chop, and the open waterways. >From the shell beach we paddled west, then north from the 51st Street causeway. That put the refineries of Texas City on the horizon, and the Pelican Island Cut of the Intracoastal Waterway as our northern limit. We got out of our boats at the cut and noticed the recent rejuvenation of the earthen dikes there to form catchment basins for the dredge spoil sure to come: Ike did major rearrangement not only of land features, but water features too and a lot of dredging will be ongoing to get waterways usable for deeper draft vessels. As you can see from the photos (and a more complete album is at: http://outdoors.webshots.com/slideshow/573280595aoyzAr) the sky and the water were blue, and just enough of occasional overcast to make it quite pleasant on the water. I've missed another pelican nesting season, and the north end of the island that can be covered with nests was practically bare; in fact the birds seem to have migrated to the southern side of the cut for their beach duty at least this time of year. There was no vehicle traffic on the Texas City dike, thanks to rearrangement of the roadway by Hurricane Ike. The Houston Ship Channel was certainly active along the east side of Pelican Island and the congestion at the mouth of the Galveston Channel provided plenty of chop and bounce for all of us. All five of us came armed with cameras, an occasional dicey challenge for me in my tippy boat with a non-waterproof camera. I'm hoping my co-paddlers may be sharing more of their photos, we certainly seemed to be well-chronicled. We can report the old concrete ship is still visible just off of the HSC near Seawolf Park. The Galveston channel too had lots of activity. The docks for Shell Oil Company and G&H Shipping on Pelican Island looked none the worse for the Ike experience. That area has always been the scariest for me with those big boats coming in and out of their harbor, and active dredging going on closeby. We had a second rest stop just around the corner from Seawolf Park and could watch activity all around us. We had dolphins come by twice while we were in the Galveston channel. Ken may have some photographic evidence - I've never had much luck with the dolphins and was plenty busy staying upright and watching for boat traffic so I didn't try. Coleen has specially requested a close-up viewing of the tallship Elissa, so we crossed the channel to see her resplendent in new paint and outfitting at her dock. We had requests for some Eskimo roll demonstrations from the tour boat operator but decided we'd be a lot better off not departing from the upright position. We returned to the shell beach by 3 p.m. and agreed we'll have to do it again. This is the most pleasant trip around the island I can remember - and I've never had a bad one. We'll do this again some day and next time, y'all ought to come join us! Natalie Wiest Galveston, Texas *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). 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