I really enjoyed Peter O's trip report; and sad to hear the Pacific northwest US has hardly had a glimpse of spring. It's been gorgeous down here, if not a little windy, and several trips have been had. I got to do the ring around Pelican Island twice in the past several weeks; once by kayak, once by tour boat for an entirely different perspective. Of course, the kayak was a lot better. I discovered that Pelican Island is indeed growing. Most of this little island is dredge spoil and in fact dikes and dredges were in place corralling the muck and pouring it in. The poor laughing gulls have been pretty much displaced by the activity; and the brown pelicans even more so. However, it appeared the gulls had made up for it by covering the earthen works as they rested and went fishing for supper; ditto for a considerable number of double-crested cormorants. Commercial activity through the Intracoastal Waterway was fairly intense; and the leg shared with the Houston Ship Channel the same. Plenty of wind, waves, and current for everyone; a nice bouncy ride in the kayaks. The concrete ship wreck of the Selma not only attracts lots of fish for the anglers, it's also home to a pair of oystercatchers (birds) and they very nicely came out to show themselves as we cruised by. The dolphins put in an appearance too, always exciting to have them come up around you. I just attended a seminar by our Texas A&M University at Galveston students yesterday to know they have identified over 375 individual dolphins; with at least four of them spotted also 20 years ago. The Galveston Channel had multiple offshore drilling rigs in for repairs; and two cruise ships tied up at the dock. For a relatively short 10 mile paddle, there's something for everyone along this route. Joe and Dave paddled with me on our kayaking expedition; you can check out Joe's photos if you'd like from the Houston Canoe Club website (www.houstoncanoeclub.org<http://www.houstoncanoeclub.org>); click on "Photos", then "Joe's Pics - Pelican Island 4-3-11" for that trip or you'll see several others from Pelican Island on other trips. From the Web site you'll see how much paddling is constantly going on here in southeast Texas. Natalie Wiest Galveston TX *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
On Thu, Apr 28, 2011 at 7:01 AM, Natalie Wiest <wiestn_at_tamug.edu> wrote: > I really enjoyed Peter O's trip report; and sad to hear the Pacific > northwest > US has hardly had a glimpse of spring. It's been gorgeous down here.... > Natalie I envy you your geographical location; at least at this time of the year... and only for paddling. I've been through the Houston Ship Canal many times but was always too busy to look at anything but channel marks and the radar. I think I missed out. Thanks for sharing a bit of your (warmer) world. It may hit 55-deg F here today, there is new snow in the mountains (seriously deep new snow) but my iphone's weather app predicts temps in the 60s and sunny (at least here on the east side of the Cascades) for the weekend. Craig Jungers Moses Lake, WA www.nwkayaking.net & www.bigboxbikes.com *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
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