Texas Coast
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The Texas Coast boast 624 miles of ocean front property along the Gulf of Mexico.  Brownsville sits at the southern most point and the coast stretches northeast around to Galveston.  The most popular vacation spots are Corpus Christi, Galveston, and South Padre Island.    There is one little down side, the Mississippi River spills into the Gulf of Mexico north of the Texas Coast from New Orleans.  The Gulf Stream carries the sediment from this mighty river past the port towns of Texas.  This is why the Texas coastal waters usually appear brownish near shore.  Move a little into the open ocean and the water  becomes a clear blue, typical of the Caribbean or other tropical ocean.

Here are some pictures from the Texas Coast.  Move your mouse pointer over a  thumb nail picture for a short description:

South Padre Island from several thousand feet. Hmmm, How did I get this photo? Joe Richards knows the answer!    You know you've reached the coast when you see a "Wach for Pelicans" sign.    The U.S.S. Lexington resides in Corpus Christi Bay. The "Lady Lex" is one of the most decorated carriers in the Navy's history. In World War II, the ship was reported sunt four times, but always returned to fight. This gave Tokyo Rose the inspiration to name the ship the Blue Ghost.

The Columbus Fleet visited Corpus Christi in mid 1990.  On display were true representations of the Nina, Pinta, and the Santa Maria.  After seeing these ships with my own eyes, I developed new respect for early ocean explorers - these ships are tiny!  I can't imagine crossing the Atlantic in one of these vessels let alone sailing into the unknown.  Remember, at that time in history, some people believed Columbus might sail off the edge of the Earth, after all, the Earth was flat.

Columbus FleetColumbus FleetColumbus FleetThis was the Captan's quarters in the aft of the ship. This would be the largest and most well appointed state room on the vessel.

This next group of photos centers around some of the excellent fishing and SCUBA diving the Texas Coast offers.  The string of fish I'm holding came from the Laguna Madre, the body of water between Padre Island and the Texas mainland.  The other three are from a SCUBA trip 50 miles off the coast of Port Aransas.  Yes, that's an oil rig in the second picture - Texas produces over a 1/3 of the country's petroleum and 3/4 of its' natural gas.  

Oil Rigs are what you dive on in the Gulf for fun.  This one is in 220 feet of water.  The superstructure of the rig attracts all sorts of animals that make the rig their home.  This sets up a food chain that eventually leads to the attraction of large pelagic fish like the 35 pound red snapper that my dive partner speared.  

The Snapper, now that's a story - we're at 120 feet and he spots the snapper 15 feet below us.  He dives after it and pops it with his spear gun.  It yanks him down toward the ocean floor with amazing speed and power.  In my head I'm thinking that oxygen becomes toxic at around 200 or so feet, and on top of that I'm running short on no decompression bottom time according to my dive computer - it will be time to surface soon - where's my buddy.

By now this guy has to be close to 200 feet and I'm waiting for is body to start to twitch in response to the toxic affect of oxygen at this depth, but there's no way I'm going after him.  I would have dropped the gun after the fish  started toward pulling me toward the bottom but Rambo wasn't going to give up.  

Eventually (and miraculously), he stops his descent and starts toward the surface with his prize in tow.  Now all we have to worry about are nearby sharks that might be attracted to a twitching and bleeding 35 pound snapper.  We make it back onto the boat safely and so far no signs of decompression sickness from Rambo - Amazing.  I glance over at his computer and it's flashing a max depth reached of 185 feet.  I guess he had a few feet to spare - well, the picture was worth it don't you think?

Fish from the Laguna Madre - South Padre Island    A real Gulf Coast Continental Shelf Oil Rig which doubles as a dive site and home to lots of marine animals.    This is the Oil Rig Superstructure. It's covered with marine life which attracts larger animals like this grouper.    The famous fish with its' proud owner.

 

 

 
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