Followers

Monday, May 23, 2011

Portuguese Man O'War's, Texas State Aquarium and Magnolia Beach


This morning we got up and tried to drive to shell beach along Padre Island's coast hoping to find some shells and see some Sea Turtles as they are starting to lay their eggs along the shore.
The park flies turtle signs on days when turtle have
been spotted on the beach. Little turtle rovers patrol the beach
too to make sure the turtles are kept safe as they lay their eggs.

A camper on the beach...you can camp for free here if you want...
but a little too close for comfort for me.

We didn't have any luck with either seeing turtles or making it to shell beach. We stopped for a moment to ponder the road conditions as the road was looking more like sand dunes then a road as it hasn't been traveled much lately. We decided that driving to shell beach was not worth the risk of getting stuck. Being stuck this far away with no one on the beach to rescue us this time meant a hefty towing bill which we didn't need, nor did we want the headache. As we tried to turn around...you guessed it, we were already stuck. With some strange streak of luck we managed to get ourselves out and headed off the beach as fast as we could!

Back to the campsite and our own beach for a bit before leaving.







The girls were having a great time until we found a Portuguese Man O'War. To find out more about Man O'Wars click HERE


Then we found a second smaller one and it was time to leave. Finding 2 washed up on the shore within about a 12 foot space was enough for me to say...out of the water girls!

So we packed up and headed to the Texas State Aquarium. Before going in we called Ford in Port Lacava and made an appointment for the morning to see what we can do about the fuel problem.

They are accredited by the Association for Zoo's and Aquariums so our membership we bought at the Living Desert Zoo and Gardens got us in for half price admission and by doing so we got our money back for the extra $30 the membership cost us. Now for future Zoo's and Aqauriums, we will just see the savings!










These jellies were glow in the dark
We spent a lot of time watching the dolphins.









A rare sisterly moment :)


As we were waiting for the dolphin show to begin we spotted some porpoises out in the harbour.




And then it was time for the dolphin show










Enjoying time at the touch pools with the Sting Rays


 The aquarium is bulding a new water park but it doesn't open until next weekend :(
 We head out to a Beach about 12 miles SE of Port Lavaca. Finally we found a beach that was clean, where we will be staying for a few days of gorgeous FREE beach camping.





A beautiful FREE camping beach site...the water is warm, the sand and shells are plenty and the neighbours are few and far between.

Tonights sunset at Magnolia Beach

2 comments:

Sue and Doug said...

Magnolia Beach looks fabulous!!..how do you know how far to stay back from the incoming tide???..I know that may sound like a silly question but just curious???

Unknown said...

The tide here only comes in or out a few inches. A sure sign is to look for the surf line. Unusally noted by the line of seaweed but here there is an actual wall of shells that gets pushed up with each tide. Some tides are tricky like at Padre Island. safe rule is to see where others are parking and keep a similar distance.