There were no entries on our “to do” list so we went exploring along the Intracoastal Waterway, Aransas Pass and across the Texas ferry at Port Aransas. Most of the drive from Fulton to Aransas Pass is through open coastal marsh although there are some residential sections. The homes on the sand hills and atop pile foundations are quite nice. The houses in the low spots are pretty dingy, maybe because this coastline gets hit by hurricanes and storm surges that only leave the fancy houses standing.
At Aransas Pass we turned southwest across a bay and marshy area sprinkled with oil drilling equipment, including two enormous ocean drilling platforms. They appear to be the largest pieces of equipment I have ever seen. A standard 82-ton American crane with a long boom was parked next to one of the platforms and it looked like a toy.
Adjacent to where the platforms were parked, we boarded the free ferry across one of the passages from the Intracoastal Waterway to the Gulf of Mexico and disembarked into the town of Port Aransas. The weather was kind of crummy with light rain so we took an exploratory drive around the Port Aransas area without too much getting out of the truck. There are quite a few really nice homes but most of the places seems occupied by substantial beach houses, most of them at least 10′ off the ground supported by numerous wood columns. I guess residents only store what they can afford to lose on the first floor because the ocean does make periodic unwanted incursions into this area during hurricanes and storms. Those with houses built on grade swim.
Despite the rain, plenty of sea birds were present for our enjoyment and we spotted what appeared to be groups of bottle-nosed dolphins cruising around the ferry slips and nearby saltwater lagoons. Many Texans were out fishing and we saw some that were having good luck when working along the weirs adjacent to the ocean passage.
We finally grew bored with exploring the streets around Port Aransas so we re-boarded the ferry and headed back for the Bay View RV park in Fulton. I’m glad I dumped the stinky tanks yesterday because otherwise I would have been sitting out in the rain doing it today. We will depart from the Rockport area tomorrow. The scenery is good here, particularly the live oak forests. The wildlife we saw around here was amazing in its diversity. The seafood is pretty good, too. The park is okay for the price but their sewer systems and wi-fi are shaky.
We got a few pictures along the way and you can see ’em if you click here