Trip to the Coast
Seaweed
This weekend is Memorial Day. The weather is beautiful. Public schools are finishing up the year. The oil spill is spreading out in the Gulf of Mexico despite attempts to contain it. My mom is here on vacation. Why am I listing these seemingly random facts? Because they were all reasons why my family needed a day trip to Galveston in the middle of the week.
We spent a gloriously beautiful day together on the west end of Galveston Island. Driving through the island there are reminders everywhere of Hurricane Ike, but it was nice to see the progress that has been made.
Looking out over the relatively calm sea, it was hard to imagine a beast of a storm charging toward shore about 18 months ago. A flashing sign on the street corner reminding everyone that hurricane season starts in a few weeks left me with sober thoughts. I had avoided the island since Ike struck until this week.
To my relief, the beaches looked good. The beach we chose was past the seawall on 8 Mile Road. The only thing I found undesirable about this beach was the mounding strip of seaweed that had rolled onto shore. You had to walk over the dried, dead plants. Fortunately most of the seaweed was on shore and not floating out in the water.
Hermit Crab
My children enjoyed their day of sea and sun. Jake collected a bag full of shells. He also found a hermit crab which he showed everyone. They observed and played with it so much that I finally insisted that he leave it alone. We also saw at least three sting rays feeding in the shallow waters of the shoreline. I had never seen a sting ray in the wild before.
The sting rays stayed away from the people. They were only feeding on a deserted part of the beach. Although I have to admit that I kept my eyes peeled for them where we spent most of our time. My two smallest boys were playing with their big dump trucks and shovels in the same shallow waters just 500 yards away.
Sting ray Near Shore
We saw brown pelicans which once were endangered. We liked watching fish jumping out of the water and the seagulls and pelicans trying to catch dinner.
The older children and I spent the majority of our time past the first set of waves. They were breaking pretty fiercely close to shore. You had to work to get past them. But once you swam past the last big breaking wave, the sea grew relatively calm. You could swim and/or float while you rose and fell with the sea. Beyond us was still another sand bar where the waves were breaking on their way to shore.
My family needed a fun day together. We work all the time. We live together, work together, and learn together every day. It was nice to drop everything and devote an entire day to having fun together. A trip to the coast was just what we needed. Have a great Memorial Day!!
Hey,
Have yall ever tried the beach at the state park that is on the island? Just yesterday a friend mentioned it to me. She said that the area was quiter, had permanent bathrooms and the beach/sand area was larger so you were not affected by the tide as much. Just wondering you opinion, if any. Thanks
No, we have not tried that beach. In fact, I was not aware that Galveston Island had a state park. Thanks for letting me know about it, though. We just might check it out next time.
Lara
We stayed at the state park this last weekend. If you camp there, be sure to get a beach side site, not a bay side. The mosquitoes were so thick on the bay side you would get swarmed every time you stepped out of the tent. They told us there would be mosquitoes but I never imagined them to be THAT bad. I’ve been a camper for years and am not afraid of a few mosquitoes but that was unbearable there. I’ll never stay bay side again!
We had beach side one night and it was sooooo much better. Beach wasn’t too crowded, even on Memorial weekend. In fact, we decided to move to the more crowded day use area to feel more safe swimming because we saw several stingray along the shallows of the less crowded area.
Lots of seaweed, but that wasn’t a big deal to us. There were also blue crabs in the water. We caught one in a net and got a couple people pinched on the feet, assuming it was the crabs. There were clear Jelly fish in the water (the kind that don’t sting). They look like blobs of clear jello, but when observed in water in a see through tank we could see they had tentacles and a body…kinda like a ghost of a jellyfish! There were many fish jumping all the time not far off the coast and people fishing were catching some. We were told they were likely Mullets.
All in all we had a good time. Galveston is not my first choice of beaches, but it is the closest to KS. I’ll probably return to the state park someday, but only on the beach side.
Sounds like a lovely day- I’d love to visit the Gulf someday. I’ve never seen sting rays in the wild before either- what a treat! My family did get to pet a bunch of sting rays (with stingers removed) at a recent trip to the Aquarium of the Pacific recently which was pretty cool. I blogged about it here:
http://pamelajorrick.blogspot.com/2010/05/aquarium-of-pacific.html
Galveston is not my first choice either, but you cannot beat a 2 1/2 hour drive to the beach. I am glad you had a good time on the island, too. Good advice about the bay side.
Thanks,
Lara
Lara,
The State Park is wonderful. If we don’t go over to Boliver (haven’t been there since the hurricane) then we go to the state park. Glad you guys had a wonderful trip.
Allyson
I grew up South of Houston and went to Surfside or Qunitana Beach all of the time. As a young adult I had the fortune of living at Surside for about a year. There’s nothing quite like being on the beach at sunrise or sunset. It was such a large part of growing up and is one of the main things I miss about living outside of Texas. We spent so much time crabbing, fishing, and swimming in the Gulf. It was wonderful.
Beverly,
Thank you so much for sharing. Part of my family grew up in Corpus Christi. As a child, I have great and vivid memories of visiting them and going to Padre Island. There is something magical about the beach, waves, and sunshine.
Lara