Return from Harvest Moon Oct. 24-30
, 2004
Key Allegro
Saturday in Port A we rented a car
so Marion could return to
Houston on Sunday, to play tennis in the final match of the season on
Monday, and pick up Beauregard to have him with us on our return trip.
On Monday she won her match, and drove back to meet me at Key Allegro
Marina.
Meanwhile on
Sunday after she left Port A, Luke Sterling and I sailed
to Rockport and found our way to Key Allegro Marina. My old friend, and
former Mitre Colleague, Jim Spitzer and his wife, Judy, had rented a
house there for the month of October. I would visit with them while I
awaited Marion's return on Monday. Jim and Judy met us at the fuel
dock. After getting some Diesel at a cut rate price, I signed up for a
slip for two nights, and said farewell to Luke. Linda would pick him up
for their drive back to Texas City.
Lydia Ann Lighthouse on the way to Rockport |
I had invited Jim and Judy
to go
for an afternoon sail but Judy
declined due to a knee problem she did not want to aggravate. Jim
and I went alone. The wind was South at 12 Kts; just right for a broad
reach across Aransas Bay. There was one other sailboat out there and I
headed in his direction. Shortly after that decision, we ran
softly aground about a half mile out in the Bay. I was embarrassed by
this lapse in navigation, but we easily backed up and cleared the shoal
before once again pursuing the sailboat ahead of us. Sailing is a
friendly sort of sport, if there is another boat out there, you
automatically have an undeclared race. "Let's see if we can catch that
little sloop." By now he was at least a mile ahead but we were closing
the gap. Just about the time we caught up, the boat turned to head back
to Rockport. We continued on across the Bay for another half hour
before we started back. |
Back in port Jim assisted with the
lines and we secured the boat for
the next two nights. I picked up a change of clothing so I could spend
the night at their place. That evening we went to my favorite Seafood
restaurant Crab N. They have a delicious shrimp bisque with just the
right seasoning. For entree I had the sautéed catfish fillets with crab and shrimp butter cream sauce. That
topping is a house specialty. The black beans and corn is a tasty side
dish; I recommend it. Judy raved over the Crab Cakes with the crab and
shrimp butter cream sauce. Rating ****$$$
The
next morning I suggested a canal cruise in Key Allegro to check out the
real estate from the water side. Jim has a 17 Mako fishing boat with center console
and a 90 HP outboard. He is a fisherman so he carries a combination
Fish Finder / Depth sounder. He recently added a Garmin GPS Color
Chartplotter. Judy joined us on this relaxing cruise. The
canals vary in depth from 4 to 7 feet. The deeper ones are closer to
the Bay and a few homes have large sailboats behind them. Homes run
from $250K to over a million. There are a few desirable undeveloped
lots on the market. We finished the tour in time for me to go back to
the boat and wait for Marion's arrival. She arrived right on time.
While Marion got Beauregard settled on the boat and rested from the
long trip, I returned the Rental car to Enterprise in Aransas Pass. The
agent gave me a ride back to the marina.
That
evening we got caught up on six years of news, (or is it
history?). Jim and Judy's four kids, like our six, are spread all over
the world. Both families have sons who have settled abroad, Eric in
Moscow where he recently married a Russian lady, and Philip in
Stavanger where he is raising a family. Other cities in the
diaspora are Austin(2), Houston(2), Folsom, Seattle, Iowa City, New
York City. We had dinner at Charlotte Plummers in Fulton then back to
their house for Judy's Key Lime Pie. I had brought a bottle of
Venezuelan Rum that we had won in the Harvest Moon Regatta, and Jim
broke out a bottle of Russian Vodka from their latest trip to
Moscow for Eric's wedding. We traded boasts that these two
liquors were so good you would not suffer a hangover the next morning.
Then we did a good job of testing that hypotheses. The next
morning while we were under way I called Jim and confirmed the test
results. None of us had any ill effects. We both promised to be more
regular in our contacts.
San Antonio Bay
Our
trip to Army Hole at Matagorda
Island State Park took most of Tuesday. Just out of Rockport we were
grazed by a Northbound thunderstorm. It managed to scare us into
reducing sail as the wind rose to over 25 Kts. Remedy handled
the situation well, and we only ended up with a few raindrops. We were
blessed with strong southerly winds and clear skies the rest of the day.
"Eastbound Sailboat approaching San
Antonio Bay this is Westbound Tow
at mile 500 . We have a problem and need you to hold back." came the
captain of St.
Rita.
"This is Remedy,
We are Eastbound approaching San Antonio Bay." I replied.
"I'm the westbound tow about two
miles away in San Antonio Bay. I have
three barges strung out and I am crossways in the channel. You can not
pass until I get straightened out." he explained.
"This is Remedy,
we are the first of two sailboats headed your way, We will hold back
and pass the word on to the boat behind us." I replied.
"I
will call when it's safe for you to come." he explained. "This wind
blew my nose onto the north side and I will need to pull her off into
the channel. I will need all of the channel."
In the lee of ICW Levee the wind was over 20. It must
have been gusting to 30 out on the Bay. The chart shows 4 to 6 foot
water depths on both sides of the ICW in San Antonio Bay. St. Rita was
pushing a string of three barges the first of which was half empty. He
was stuck on the spoil area north of the channel.
We furled the jib, reduced the
main to 50 % and put on the engine. Then we turned around and headed
back toward Rockport. After about a half
a mile we circled back. Salsa II was
the other sailboat, a 40 foot Freedom Ketch out of Texas City. We did a
Pas d' Deaux with them for about a half hour as we waited clearance to
pass.
"You Sailboats can come on now... I
will see you in the one whistle...
You hug them greens and you will be OK. Just don't get past them cause
its skinny water over there." St. Rita came back.
"This is Remedy,
we will be coming by on the One Whistle.... Port to Port captain", I
replied, "Salsa II
did you copy?"
Salsa II came
back, "We will be following right behind you."
St. Rita was
still kind of crosswise and was obviously struggling to keep straight
in the channel as we went past. We waited to pass before we cut the
engine and let out the jib. We raced 9 miles across the bay in little
over an hour. What a thrilling sail.
Army Hole
The
next 10 miles to the Army Hole
cutoff are in the protected ICW. We debated whether to go five
miles across another bay in the high winds. Anchoring out could be
uncomfortable and a few more miles away there was the comfort and
security afforded by St. Christopher's Haven in Port O'Conner. With our
original plan to be at Army Hole, Marion had contacted the Park and
arranged to meet John Stuart the park director at 10 AM the following
morning for a trip to the beach. Perhaps we could take the ferry out
from Port O'Conner and still do that. Again we called the Park and
asked about the ferry service. It was not available until the Friday.
The only way to do Army Hole was to take our boat there.
"If we anchor in close to the
island, we won't have bad waves, and we
can dinghy in all right," I cajoled.
"If you think It's safe, let's do
it," said Marion.
"I am in favor... we have the time,
and its been seven years since we
were last there," I replied. So off we went. The wind was right
in on the nose so we motored all the way to Army Hole. The channel is
well marked and we had 9 feet of water all the way. As we approached
the harbor we could not see the PVC poles that had marked the way seven
years before. In the interim the Harbor had been dredged to 11 feet and
there was some new bulkheading and a small protected cove for the park
work boats to dock. There was no need to anchor out.
Remedy
at Army hole
Trip to the Beach
Wednesday
morning the island was full of activity. A tow and single barge came to
the island bearing a half a dozen trucks of all sizes. There were
several trailers loaded with oil field equipment. The tow pulled up to
the dock and the trucks and their crews rumbled off the barge onto the
harbor side ramp and headed off down the road heading south. We also
noticed that the Bunk house a quarter of a mile away seemed to be
inhabited. And there was a Picnic type canopy erected in the field over
there.
The Texas Parks and Wildlife work
boat arrived around 9:30 with a crew of three. They climbed aboard a
gasoline powered Golf Cart and headed up to the Bunk House. I had kind
of expected them to drop by the boat and say howdy but our appointment
was not until 10. Marion packed a picnic snack for the beach; I got
beers and sodas in a small cooler. We remembered the sun screen and
brought towels and plastic bags to collect shells.
We could see the park director, John Stuart, in the distance start an
ancient pickup truck. He drove it over by the bunk house and sprayed
off the saltwater deposits from the windshield and front of the truck
before he drove over to pick us up. The back of the truck has been
converted to a field trip bus with wooden benches in a U shape along
the front an two sides.
After introductions John asked, "How long do you want to stay at the
beach? I can come back and pick you up whenever you want."
"We want to stay three hours, lets say, come back at 1."
"That will be fine, the fare is $4 for the beach." he said. I had a
ten, and he had the change. "Y'all climb in the back, and we will be
off."
We drove off down a gravel road to the old air base runways, then down
the runways until the road became just a packed dirt single lane.
Grasslands
|
Road to the beach
|
On the truck Ride
|
World War II Runway
|
The Beach
Just before the dunes he stopped the truck and shifted into four
wheel drive for the ride through the dune to the beach.
"Will we see anyone on the beach?" I asked when arrived.
"You just happen to be here in the week we have Park clean up going on.
We have a crew of workers who are here picking up Hazardous Materials
that have washed ashore over the past year. You may see them driving
down the beach. Other than them you will be alone," he explained then
added, "Y'all enjoy the beach."
Marion scoured the edge of the
dunes for large shells and Ed searched the wetted beach for sand
dollars. The surf had a moderate undertow but the water was still
delightful for a cooling dip and body surfing. We had our picnic. We
saw a pair of workers in a pickup truck; once coming up the beach, and
later going back down the beach. Otherwise, we were alone until John
returned to pick us up.
The Lighthouse
On the way back from the beach we
rode in the truck cab with John. We asked about the lighthouse. He
explained that it was about three miles away from the harbor and that
it was too far inland for us to go by our dinghy. He offered to give us
a ride out in the truck, which we gladly accepted. On the way he told
us all about the Island and its history. The Lighthouse at Pass Cavallo
was built in 1852 and is the twin of the Bolivar lighthouse. It was
later moved about a mile inland to its current location. It was
extensively rebuilt a year ago because it was in danger of collapse.
For more about Matagorda state park visit the Texas Parks web site.
When you visit Army Hole call ahead and ask for John Stuart.
He just might give you the royal treatment he afforded us.
That evening we were treated to a lovely sunset followed by the the
Full Lunar Eclipse.
Heading on Home
The next three days were full of sailing.
Thursday, Matagorda, 38 miles under sail except at Colorado locks,
dinner at the harbor side restaurant. Rating **$$
Friday, Bridge Harbor, 41 miles under sail, plus a motor sail excursion
up old river in Freeport. Cocktails on Remedy with Sam
and Charlotte Packenham-Walsh followed by Dinner at Redfish Inn. Rating
***$$$
Saturday, Clear Lake, 57 miles, all under sail except 20 minute barge
delay at Galveston Railroad Bridge. The Sail up Galveston Bay featured
a ten minute Hat Overboard Rescue which was complicated by taking down
a Whisker Pole and Main Boom Gibe Preventer. An exciting but
exhausting way to end an otherwise relaxing cruise home.
