Saturday, 12/3
Lazy morning, since it was going to be our last. The sun crawled and edged its way out of the dense fog and by mid-morning, it was a gorgeous day. But in the afternoon a few rain showers were popping up here and there in the distance. None on us, though.
A Snowy Egret and a Willet roamed along the shore, amusing us greatly. And a rather large, lone dolphin cruised up the bay.
There was a little breeze and the mosquitos weren't nearly as bad. We went back to Aransas and had a great wildlife and bird viewing adventure. Alligators--big ones! and one huge monster, resting on the bank of a pond with his eyes mostly open. He gave me the creeps. Frogs, turtles,
in the distance...could it be?
Javelina! Cool!
Or was it? We sure thought so, and the signage indicates it could have been. It sure didn't look like the wild hogs I saw out in West Texas.
Also Roseate Spoonbill, Great Heron, Great Blue Heron, Little Blue Heron, White Ibis, Cormorant (species TBD), Phoebe, Kestrel, Red-tailed Hawk, Northern Harrier (on the road going home)
We walked up to the tower and didn't see too awful much. No whoopers that day. But down on a lower tower I saw and absolutely gorgeous Little Blue Heron and a lot of Ibis. All white, I think. I hope--I'd hate to think I passed up a chance to identify a white-faced ibis--oh no, never mind. They're not white.
So on back to the house, a long dog walk, and supper. There were a lot of people in the park for the weekend--pretty much every site full. But it was still pretty quiet and pleasant. The sun sank into large clouds, but after an hour or so the sky was clear. I'm 99 percent sure that big, bright, orangish-looking planet not too far from Orion was Mars. It's close to earth right now and easy to see, they say.
There was a fireworks display out at the oceanfront in Rockport--Ed sat out and watched it for a while, while I took a shower. We concluded the fireworks were about 1-1/2 miles away.
Supper was gumbo that had been frozen and re-thawed several times, so it was time to finish up. I had leftover fish Ed cooked a few days earlier.
And bed. Lovely camping trip so far. No, we are not "by" the ocean, but we are "at" the ocean. We're camped right beside a huge bay along the intercoastal waterway. The water is not deep where we are--we've seen fisherman wading only up to their knees several yards out--but a little ways farther it's deep enough for fishing boats and dolphins, which we've seen several times. It's very pleasant (or would be, weather permitting) to sit outside beside the motorhome and gaze out over water. It was glassy calm in the morning, but by evening was stirring a little.
I like the ocean best, but this is awful good.
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