Port Aransas - Thursday, April 2nd, 2015 and Friday, April 3rd, 2015

Thursday morning Josh woke up with a sore throat and not feeling very good. I made him some eggs and bacon but that did not help much.  He said if we go out that he wanted to stop at the store for some cough drops.  

I had ice cream on my mind and it would not go away!  Thanks to Ross because after our dinner the night before, Ross said something about stopping at DQ for ice cream.  We were too full and it was a little chilly so we did not go.  You know how it is when you have something on your mind and it won't go away until you have it.  

I said to Josh "lets go to DQ for a shake then we can ride to the store".  He said a shake may feel good on his throat.  I contacted EJ and asked if Ross was up and to not let him eat too much because we are going for ice cream.   Around 11:00 AM we were off on our bikes to DQ and we all ordered larges shakes / malts.  It was way too much!  We went to the only grocery store on the island and as we were heading back we stopped by the Farley boat shop.  The Farley boat shop is a local place where people can come to build wooden boats and there are volunteer experts with wooden boat construction knowledge who help them.  Nothing is for sale here.

This Peacock is made from all the paint brushes used on one boat.  I told them that they should name each Peacock with each boat name.

 

After we got back to the boat everyone but me took a nap. I read a book.  Around 4:30 after everyone woke up, we gathered on our boat for munchies.

If you ever wanted to know what the difference between a 36 foot boat and a 49 foot boat, this is it!

Ross taking Howie out for his run!

Dolphins running with the bow of a tanker

I lathered up with Vicks and settled in to watch our shows hoping Josh would feel better in the morning.  Josh does not like Vicks, but it makes him feel better if I use it.  It also helped me with my stuffy nose.

It worked!  Josh woke up Friday morning feeling a lot better.  We were going to take our dinghies down today and play around but it was overcast and EJ said the sun was not coming out until 2 PM.  Dinghy ride would be cold and wet!  So it was a bike day!  We headed out on our bikes for lunch at Moby Dick's restaurant and on to "the pink place", the eclectic store named Gratitudes (a local, long time favorite of ours), then down to the beach, over to the Farley Boatworks museum for souvenir T-shirts before heading back to the boats.

Heading to Port Aransas - Wednesday, April 1st, 2015 - Costa Grande Port O'Conner to Port Aransas

After looking at the weather (wind) situation, it seemed like today was our best bet.  The wind prediction was to get higher every day so we headed out at first light, 7:00 AM, with everything tied down, expecting high winds and our boat to rock n' roll.  What a surprise when we heard a tow telling another tow that the San Antonio Bay was like the enclosed part of the ICW!  We had a great, smooth crossing.  One bay down!  Let's hope that the Rockport area is the same.

The Rockport area is usually lumpy and they were calling for the winds to pick up as the day went on.  It did pick up a little, but not what they predicted.  The weather gods were being nice to us with the wind situation but we did get a little rain.  Not a bad crossing, just a little lumpy, waves coming at us on the forward side and a light drizzle.  Teak was not real happy, she didn't seem to feel too well with the jerking of the waves.  She would not eat or drink until after we docked and were all settled in.

Safely tied up at Port Aransas City Marina!  It seems that we are exhausted after getting into ports.  It must be the sea breeze, not that we are getting older!  After resting, we decided to get out our bikes and head out for a place to have dinner.  Fins won this time! I had blackened tuna tacos and they were great!!!!!

Look what Port Aransas has!  We saw one of these boats in Destin, FL. when we anchored a couple of years ago.  I guess all the tourist spots have them.  As they were leaving the marina, they shot off their cannon and as they came in they acted like pirates.

Heading to Port Aransas - Tuesday, March 31th, 2015 - Matagorda to Costa Grande Port O'Conner

The plan was to head out early, 7:00 AM, to get across Matagorda Bay before the wind picked up.  Well, it was a good plan but we got tied up at the lock for about an hour waiting for three tows to come through.

 

As you can see, the last tow took his good ole' time.  Must have been a newbie!

Finally, it was our turn.  Through the lock we go!

Heading out into Matagorda Bay

Ross provided me with this picture of EJ steering with Howie laying or her shoulder.  Do you think Teak would ride like this?  Not a chance...

 All tied up at Costa Grande.

Time to get the grill going and enjoy a nice meal together.

Heading to Port Aransas - Monday, March 30th, 2015 - Matagorda

The wind was predicted to be more than we would like for a comfortable ride across Matagorda Bay so we decided to hang out for another day.  I forgot to mention in my earlier post that the mosquitos here are really big and hang out in the grassy areas.  Poor Teak and Howie! They are having a difficult time finding a spot because of the mosquitos and stickerburrs.  

What shall we do today?  It was too windy to take down our dinghies so we decided to get our bikes out and take a ride into town.

The town of Matagorda is small!  We rode by a couple of gift shops, a liquor store, grocery store with attached post office and gas station.  It did not take us long so we stopped at the gift shops that were open before peddling back to the marina.

After biking around we decided to have a late lunch/early dinner at the marina restaurant.  We discussed our game plan for the next day and Ross and EJ offered to host our bikes for the trip to Port A so we did not have to pack them back up.  Their boat is a lot bigger than ours so our two folding bikes didn't take up much room.

Heading to Port Aransas - Sunday, March 29th, 2015 - Freeport to Matagorda

The Freeport Marina office opened at 8 AM so we settled our bill, picked up some ice and started getting ready for our trip to Matagorda.

Last Trade lock pictures provided by Ross and EJ Heard.

M/V Beachcomber coming up beside Last Trade for picture taking!

After traveling to Florida and back and having traveled this part of the Texas ICW many times, it saddens us to see that our ICW is not being maintained like other states.  We are very surprised that the tow operators are not complaining.  Texas has more tow traffic than any other state we have seen and our waterways should be maintained better.  So much of the area is silting in and if you do not travel it constantly and without the tow operators advice, major damage could be done to your boat. 

We seem to pass the same tow boats every time we take a trip.  This tow boat (Martin Navigator) will always be in our memory because several years ago she had a very incompetant captain that I do not think is an operator any more.  Every time we see this boat we laugh! and now the operator is knowledgeable, friendly and experienced!!!!!

As we entered the Matagorda Marina, Last Trade headed to the fuel dock before docking for the night.  M/V Beachcomber waited and fueled up after us.  Once we were all settled, the harbormaster informed us that we may be staying another night because the wind was supposed to be strong for our Matagorda Bay crossing tomorrow.  No problem!  We are not in a rush.....

The restaurant was open so we had a nice dinner before retiring for the evening.