June Moon Cruise to Rockport June 3 - 14, 2006


Saturday June 3, 2006  Harborwalk

There are Five Cruises departing for Rockport this week. Ours is the New Places Cruise. With two night stopovers at Caney Creek, Palacious, Army Hole, and Rockport.
We are carrying 2 bicycles and a dock cart for excursions ashore. (The other Cruises are The Fast Cruise, The Marina Only Cruise, the UnNamed Cruise, and the Very Fast Cruise. They may have separate reports)

Remedy leaves about 10:30 for Harborwalk. The tide is very low and gave us a lot of trouble getting into the Marker 1 fuel dock.
With all that trouble and a 45 minute delay and it only took 10 gallons to fill up.  We motor sail all the way. We arrive around 3 pm.

Harborwalk  is the finest facility I have visited on the Gulf Coast, and the price at $1 a foot is a very good deal.
Floating docks sit about 6 inches higher than others so your fenders easily adjust, and it isn't such a long way down to the platform from your boat.
They have a convenience store where we bought a six pack and sat outside on the veranda to enjoy two Miller Lights and take in the view.

Ed and Hope Reh got a later start on Promise and arrived around 6 PM carrying two Kayaks, two Bicycles, their dog Molly, and a new Siamese kitten, Cocoa.

Dinner aboard Remedy was Marion's exquisite Coq au Vin served with Hope's "Free Because Day Old" bread which she found at the convenience store.
Dinner rating **** $ ++ (thats four * out of five stars , one $ means cheap on the five $$$$$ scale ++ means there was plenty for Leftovers).

Bill and Kim Lewis with son Christopher get an even later start and arrive around 930. Their boat, Second Blessing has a cruising speed of about 20 kts.

Sunday June 4  Sargent Beach


Remedy departs at 7:30 for Sargent. Being the only Sailboat in our group we need a head start.  The Power boats fill up and leave about 3 hours later.
The day is beautiful, weather not too hot... the light breeze fills our sails but we still need the engine to reach the 6.1 kts planned speed.
We passed through Freeport around noon. There was no delay at the Brazos. The other two boats caught up with us on the stretch before the Caney Creek swing bridge.
promise

Promise
 2bl

Second Blessing


Docked


The dock is about .4 nm past the Caney Creek swing bridge. It was built as a part of the Sargent Beach protection project and used to move heavy equipment and materials ashore of from barges..

It is an industrial strength facility with very large cleats spaced 50 feet apart along  the bulkhead.

The water is about five feet deep.

After two passes Remedy was able to get the bow tied to a mooring cleat but the boat ended up at a 30 degree angle because we could not plow into the bulkhead with the stern.

The power boats made it with little or no clearance.

It was about 3 PM. 

We all headed for the Beach.
granite

 Beach erosion is severe at this part of the Coast.  The Intra coastal Waterway is only a few Hundred yards from the Gulf all along the five mile length of Sargent beach.

The one mile stretch where  the Caney Creek once dumped into the Gulf  is where the Corps of Engineers placed the Bulkheads we were visiting.

Parallel to the beach a Granite barrier was sunk into the marsh above the vegetation line.  It provides a Last ditch defense against the erosion by the Gulf.

See Picture on the left

marsh grass

 The picture above shows  a  small patch of Marsh Grass which has survived the wash out of the beach. There is very little sand on the beach.  In fact the bottom is very lumpy clay for the first 10 yards into the water. 

mcmh
" The Black Cliffs of Texas "
 hmbc
Looking for Glass on the Beach
Black Clay
While it looks like a Rocky Shore
It is really Sun Baked Black Gumbo Marsh bottom
 red
Red Clay is below the Black Gumbo


We used our bikes to ride to Dinner at Pier 57.  I had fish and shrimp basket.   Rating  ** $$ --  (note -- means went away hungry)
After dinner we biked over the swing bridge to the  K rusty Pelican bar. It had a big crowd would perhaps been a better choice for dinner.

Monday June 5 Palacious


Got underway at 6:30 ... Power boats caught up after the Colorado river... We can hear the radio traffic of the Last Trade's Fast Cruise; they were at Matagorda the second night and just a few miles ahead.  Second Blessing joins them and heads for Army Hole.  Promise goes on ahead to Serendipity Resort in Palacious.

Air is light and on the nose until we turn toward Halfmoon Reef shoal marker.. I was determined to do some sailing without the engine..  She went below ...
I attempt to sail wing on wing to Palacious.  The air is Light... I even put up the whisker pole.. Just can't get it right.

" How fast are we going?"  asks Marion, then later "How long till we get there? "

We are only doing 2 Kts and our ETA is 4 hours...  I finally admit it after an hour of very slow and therefore hot sailing.

We did make it in to Serendipity RV Park and Marina by about 3 PM.  Ed and Hope were awaiting us and helped us dock.
They have a very pleasant swimming pool at Serendipity plus an Laundry and Bath house. We cooled off with a swim and cold beers.
All of us stayed in the sun too long.   We had heard that Outriggers was closed on Monday, but the Palacious Mexican Restaurant was open.
One of the locals gave us the low down on several places in town.

 "They have great Mexican at PMR... but they don't serve margaritas" he said. "For the best margaritas on a Monday night you go to Coco Loco."

Marion spoke up, "I don't want to go to PMR... They told us Palacious Mexican Restaurant was the best, Let's go there tonight."

Ed Reh said something like,"Marion, the PMR is really quite good too."

"But PMR sounds like a disease," I said, "In fact I had PMR back in 1990 and the doctor put me on Steroids."
 
Finally Marion caught on and we all had a great laugh.

pmr
  After our swim we went back to the boats and got out the Bicycles.

 I had to clean the filter on the refrigerator, because it was getting balky starting up.

 We had cocktails before setting out to tour the town.  We never found the Coco Loco Place and headed for The Palacious Mexican Restaurant aka PMR.

 The place was full but there was no wait for a table.. They serve Beer and wine and Outstanding Mexican food.

I highly recommend the Camarones a la Plancha..  Its a Mountain of shrimp covered with a Monterrey Jack melt containing just the right amount of jallepenos. comes with Guacamole, Pico di gallo, Rice and Beans..

Marion and Hope both had the Poblano Pepper stuffed with Shrimp and wrapped in a very thin omlette and covered with a delicate cream sauce. Plus the usual Guacamole, Pico di Gallo and Black beans.

There was so much food that we took all the leftovers for the next day.
Don't miss the PMR when you are in Palacious.  Rating ****$$+++


Get Low power at end of the dock . My volt meter reading problem... 3 volts per tick.

Tuesday June 5 Palacious


Relaxing day at Serendipity. Read "Home at Last" for a while.  Cleaned out the shower sump. Took advantage of the Floating dock to scrub the starboard rail.

For Lunch we had leftovers from PMR.  Went to the local  supermarket on the Bike with the Dock Cart in tow.  Bought a Case of Miller light, 3 gallons of Drinking water and two bags of Ice.  Total Weight 54 Lbs. Really wanted to test the cart and tow hitch... Did you Know that a Case of beer contains 2.25 gallons?  Did you Know that 2.25 gallons weighs 20 Lbs?

Before Supper we had cocktails aboard Remedy and then did a Bike tour of Palacious:
yh

Restored Home in Palacious

 cade

Historic Cade- Jones  Home on the Bay 1906
f3

What they are Catching.. Gaff top Catfish...

f2

His first Fish
f1

Three Big ones



Luther Hotel

Famous Luther Hotel 1905

Dinner at Outriggers Fried Shrimp, Fried Catfish, stuffed jallapenos, Hush puppies.French fried sweet potatoes, Margaritas, Beer.
This is a Great place to eat Seafood... Lots of atmosphere
 Rating ****$$$++

Wed June 7 Army Hole


Pumped Out and left at 9 am.  Absolutely a great day to sail to Army hole. 

Found a way across Matagorda bay and left way points along our Shortcut route.. Matagorda bay is plenty deep for sailing. You do need to be careful approaching Port O Conner at the Ship channel intersection with the ICW.

We arrived at Army Hole around 3 PM, There was a sail boat from Florida occupying the center of the bulkhead: we asked them to move back a few feet to make room for us ahead of them. Soon after juggling the boats, Promise arrived and we located them behind the Florida Boat on the Concrete wall.

I was eager to explore so I took my bike and rode to the Beach on the Gulf of Mexico side about 3 Miles away. I came back eaten by mosquitoes.. The Boat was Cooled down by  the time I returned.  Ed and Hope were secure aboard Promise and had zipped up their Enclosures.

That evening we had Dinner aboard Promise. Marion"s Leftover Co tau Vin was previously rated... A side of Pasta, plenty of White wine and a fresh salad from Hope completed our Feast.

After Dinner we fled to out boat.. AC and genset.. At 11 PM the Gentleman from Florida came knocking and complained about the exhaust from our genset. It was making his wife nauseous. I turned it off with Full intention of resuming around 5 AM. We use the Fan and Stayed Buttoned up against the mosquitoes. We both has a Restless night. At 5 AM we installed screens on selected ports.  We were cool enough that we did not use the AC.

Thursday June 8 Rockport a day early

At about 7:00 AM Ed Reh came by and said they had such a bad Time with the Mosquitoes that they were going to Leave for Rockport.
That was Fine with us because the Mosquitoes made all outdoor activity impossible.  At 7:04 Remedy  cast off and was under way. We got such a head start on them that they did not catch us until we had gone almost ten miles.
Ed Hope Marion and Ed
Sailing to Rockport was delightful. The air was light so we needed the Engine to maintain speed at 6 Kts. When we arrived at Rockport Promise was well established in the Slip behind the Rockport Yacht Club. We took our usual slip on the docks where the other TMCA boats would be berthed.


That evening we celebrated our 15th anniversary with Dinner out at Latitude 28° 02'  Restaurant & Art Gallery.  Ed and Hope Reh helped us celebrate.

Marion and I split an appetizer: Lump Crab Meat sauted in lemon butter with capers and served with toast triangles.

We also split the Fish Oscar entree: Broiled Black Drum with asparagus spear and etoufee sauce.

It was just right..   ****$$+  

The restaurant is really and elegant Art Gallery that serves excellent food and wine.
One of our Favorite places in Rockport. And walking distance from the Harbor.


Visit their web site Latitude 28° 02'

Friday  June 9  Party at Rockport Yacht Club

Excitement began to build around noon. We did our Shopping at the HEB and now the Bar was Open at RYC. The Fleet was arriving by land and by sea for the Party before the Party. 

The first wave of Land Yachters hit Remedy before Cocktails had been formally announced.

p1

Hank Knippa, Marion, Sue Knippa, James Taylor, Al and Laurie Cusick , Ed
 
mariposa

Robert Reeves and George Danner
p2
 Lorie, Al , Sue and Hank
 p3
Marion James  and Robert Reeves

Then Tragedy struck.. Hope Reh, after returning from a shopping trip on her bicycle, took a bad fall on the steps leading down to their boat. At the time it looked like a bad sprained ankle. The first course was pain killers, ice and keep it elevated. Well if you can't go to the party then the party would have to come to you.  That evening we ate aboard Promise and  saved up for the real party the next day.  Ed and Hope decided to rent a car, return to Clear Lake the next day with the dog and cat, and seek medical attention. Hope was still in pain and would not be able to travel back by boat.  Surgery was required to fix a cracked ankle, she is still on the mend as this is being written two weeks later.

Saturday  June 10  Big Shrimp Boil at Rockport Yacht Club


leaders  Doc Mulloy and Luke Sterling of TMCA and Felix Keeley and Jude Powell of RYC were the organizers of this Grand Event.

  There would be TMCA Cruisers from the down Coast Cruise, TMCA Land Yachters who had driven down especially for the event, Plus a Group of Rockport Yacht Club Members who like Shrimp and Partying.

        Big Shrimp

feast


  The Shrimp were Huge and Very well prepared. We had Corn on the Cob, Boiled Potatos,
Salads galore, Desserts. For a special treat Luke Sterling made a Shrimp Etoufee chowder that
needs special recognition.

After dinner Jude Powell entertained the crowd with her Stand Up Comedy routine.

These will not be repeated .

    jokes
everybody
       The TMCA Crowd
Doc Mulloy Wrote:

OK Troops
 I just got an E-Mail from the Rockport Yacht Club Commodore Jude
Powell saying how much they enjoyed the TMCA group this past weekend. To quote
Jude The Rockport Yacht Club experienced the best ever weekend at the bar
with Thursday's Meeting, Friday's Happy Hour and your group all day Saturday.
The funds will go a long way in paying down our building debt.

I knew we had some big time Professional drinkers.
The shrimp was the best we have ever seen. In addition to Jude, Felix and
the rest of the Rockport Yacht Club we had the following Boats

S/V Remedy with Ed and Marion Herndon
M/V Promise with Ed and Hope Reh
M/V Arundel with James Taylor and friends
M/V Mariposa with George Danner, Sage and Robert Reeves
S/V Morning Star with Barb and Barry Dupuy

Land Yachters
Commodore John Allison and Admiral Hun Peggy
Luke and Linda Sterling
Wayne and Monica Mulloy
Al and Laurie Cusik
Richard and Joanne Collins
Lee and Patrice Mixon
Tom and Sandy Campbell
Norm and Georgie Roe
Hank and Sue Knippa
Mike and Gloria Rooney

A special thanks to all that pitched in and helped especially Marion
Herndon,George Danner, Mike Rooney, Lee Mixon, Felix Keeley ( Commissioner of
Navigation District), Luke Sterling (Chief Chef) especially the Shrimp Eau touffe,
along with Linda and the host of other that helped with this very special
weekend.

If anyone had any more fun than I did doing this I want to meet them. If
I have left anyone out and I am sure I probably did let me know.
Good Show TMCAers.

Happy Trails
Wayne G (Shifty) Mulloy

ml

 Helpers Marion and Linda

kites

Sage Flying Kites

Special Thanks to Richard Collins and Barry Dupuy for Photos included in this report.








s.m

Sage Danner and Marion
greatblue

us



 Sunday June 11 Port O'Connor

Traveled with Arundel, Promise,  and Morning Star  to Port OC.
Sailing was good but Engine was used to keep planned speed.
All dined together on Remedy ... Pretty much Elegant Pot Luck with Fine wine.

Monday June 12 Caney Creek

The two power boats  headed on without us. Just Morning Star and Remedy head for the Beach at Sargent.
s0
Remedy arrives early and establishes a place on the dock. We plan to spend the night.

First we head to the beach for some Body surfing . The water was Fine .
comb
 Barb and Barry        Marion and Ed
s3
Dining al Fresco
 s1
s2
Remedy is Power supplier to Morning Star
s4
Next Morning sunrise at Sargent Beach

Tuesday June 13 Harborwalk

Long Day sailing to Harborwalk.. Arrive at about  3 debating whether to stop or Go On Home... We were glad we stayed because there was a terrible Thunderstorm on Galveston Bay that would have hit us had we gone home.   Instead we Battened down and had a fine Italian diner in air conditioned comfort.  Rating ****$$

Wednesday June 14  Home

homeward

   We were treated with some of the Best sailing on East bay... It was exillerating see left.

...and Relaxing see below.

h2

What a wonderful 12 days ...  Arrived home tired and took two days to recover.