Feb 4-7

Ingredients = Dry camping, salt air and nature at the Padre Island National Seashore

Thursday morning we were up early to drive over to Padre Island to spend a couple of nights by the beach. It was only about 15 miles from Corpus Christi. The campground is called Malaquite and it is within the Padre Island National Seashore – a national park. You cannot reserve a site, so it’s on a first come basis. I won’t bore you on this aspect, but they could use some changes and enforcement.

Facts on Padre Island (from their brochure)

• The park of 203 square miles protects the longest stretch of undeveloped barrier island in the world
• 4 nations have owned it – Spain, Mexico, Republic of Texas and United States
• Some of the oldest shipwrecks in the US dating back to 1554 have been found here
• Cattle ranching occurred on Padre Island from 1804 to 1970
• The Laguna Madre (water mass between the island and the mainland) is one of 6 hypersaline lagoons in the world (salt content is 1.5 to 3 times higher than the Gulf of Mexico)

After stocking up on groceries, we arrived and where finally settled at our site by around 11.The weather was supposed to be improving, but it remained overcast for the day with temps around 60 deg. We went out for a short walk on the beach after lunch but it was breezy. It gave Jazz a chance to run and stretch her legs which she enjoyed. We had to keep her out of the dune grass as it was full of small very prickly burrs that I think hurt us more taking them out than it did her. With so few campers, no trains, highways, etc., it was very quiet out there with the exception of the birds and the sound of the surf which was nice.

We were able to sit out a bit, but eventually retreated in doors for a few games of Scrabble. As we were dry camping, we didn’t have a constant power supply, wi-fi or cell service so our entertainment at night was watching some Breaking Bad episodes on the laptop.

Friday morning’s weather was a bit more promising, but still not what they had forecast. This didn’t hold us back though for a long walk on the beach layered up with our windshells. We were out for 2 hours walking south and found a few “beach” campers along the way. We saw lots of seashore birds, my favourite being a Great Blue Heron on the way back. (see pic)

Arriving back to the camp and with the weekend weather warming up, more people had started to arrive and continued through the afternoon and evening. The afternoon was still cool and damp so we were back in the RV playing some games. Chicken and vegetable stir fry for dinner with more Breaking Bad episodes after dinner. Another early evening!

Saturday morning we were up by 7 and the sunrise was working hard to warm us. Jazz and I (with coffee) went down to beach and just sat watching the gentle waves and enjoying the morning weather which was definitely warming prior to us leaving. A Great Blue Heron flew behind me and above by about 25’ so I watched it’s graceful flight. Back to watching the surf, suddenly I spotted a lone dolphin (fin to the right) in shallow water only about 75’ out. I watched it for another 10 minutes as it went back and forth almost right in front of me. I could have stayed there for the day! Time was ticking as we had a 10 am appointment with some 4 legged animals on the beach down the road as we leave the island.

At 9:30am we stopped at Horses on the Beach for an hour of the same at 10. The ranch had about 30 horses but that morning there was only 5 of us plus two guides. It was a nice 1 hour walk on the beach, no galloping! Shortly after 11 we were back in the RV changing into T-shirts and shorts for our 220 mile drive east towards Galveston.

We hear there is more white stuff expected at home today, so stay warm.

From the perch…….