One the moon set, the stars came out in all their vast numbers. Towards the northwest they were obliterated by the light pollution from Houston, but overhead they were beautiful. We don’t get to see such an array very often.
Waking up on the beach, hearing the roar of the surf, seeing the sunrise over the Gulf of Mexico, quite a bucket-list experience. Aside from a few fishermen who came early this morning, we were still nearly the only ones there.
We made a leisurely breakfast, eggs, bacon, and perhaps the largest grapefruit I have ever laid eyes on. We picked this grapefruit up yesterday at the grocery store in Bay City. After reading up on this grocery store, Deb now wants to go back and spend a little more time there. Yesterday we just stopped there because it was on the road to Walmart, where we were aiming to get our groceries. Turns out they had everything we needed (and then some), so Walmart was dropped from the agenda. The store, H-E-B, is found only in Texas and is worthy of additional visits by our grocery store connoisseur, Deb.
On our way through the store, we spotted these grapefruits in the produce section and decided to try one out. I’ve never heard of a Melogold grapefruit, but here it was, dinner-plate size, for $1.98. Turns out that was per pound, and this one weighed in at just under two pounds, so it rang up higher than expected.
We had that grapefruit for breakfast. Easily the best grapefruit I have ever tasted. We will be back for more. This juice was definitely worth the squeeze.
We took a long walk on the beach after breakfast. One of the nice things about a day with no agenda is that you can take a long walk on the beach. With the impending cold snap coming, we’re spending as much time outside as possible.
The little dot on the beach just to the right of the entry road is our RV. You can see the marshlands around Matagorda Bay in the distance.
Just a few miles from here is a paddlesport launch point, and access to a water path into Matagorda Bay. We launched the kayaks here, packing a lunch so we didn’t have to return to eat. The water path was only about six inches deep, and became even shallower as it approached the lake. To the point where the kayaks were dragging in the mud. It became like paddling through pudding for a bit there. We finally made it to the bay and beached the kayaks on a sand bar to eat lunch.
Up until this point, we had seen birds flying from a distance, but not much real close. This whole area is a birder’s paradise, one of the best in the nation for number of species viewable in one day. However, from the perspective of a kayak, we couldn’t see over the grass on either side of the water path, so our vision was quite limited. I was becoming disappointed. I packed all this camera equipment into the kayak in hopes of getting some pictures, and, so far, nothing.
We were rewarded on the way back, though. Rounding a bend in the water path, we happened on a large flock of White Pelicans, Roseate Spoonbills, and other birds too numerous to count, who stuck around long enough to get a few pictures and then took off all at once with a riotous flapping of wings. Here the perspective of a kayak was perfect, as it allowed us to get quite close before the birds all took off.
How cool is that!
A kayak may have one perspective, but a drone launched from a kayak has quite another. Hand-launching a drone from a kayak is pretty easy. Getting it back, not so much. I managed to catch it without putting it in the drink, however, so it will live to take pictures another day.
We drove back to Palacios and got on the bikes, intending to make the most of this beautiful day. We biked around Tres Palacios Bay, and down a farm road for several miles and back. Very pleasant bike ride, on roads with almost zero traffic.
After making dinner we took a walk before settling down in the RV. This camp is uniquely situated so that you can view the sunrises and sunsets from the same location, and today we managed to catch the sunset. We’ve seen several amazing sunsets here, each one somewhat different than the other but no less beautiful.
For all these activities we did today, the juice was definitely worth the squeeze.
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