That first picture is obviously after we had boarded the boat. We had to be at the dock at 7:45 a.m., and of course we were early. With the recent time change, it was still very dark as we crossed the bridge to the island that morning.
We boarded our fishing vessel with the rest of our hardy crew. We had purchased our one-day Texas fishing license the day before, and Betty was glad that people born before 1931 don't have to have a license. There are a few advantages to being old.
Since we are fishing in the bay, our boat captain steered us under the bridge that is the only connection South Padre Island has with the mainland. A couple weeks after the tragedy of 9-11, this bridge was hit by an errant barge that was off course.
The barge struck the support beams, causing the cars crossing the bridge to plunge into the bay. For the days following this tragic accident, the only way for people to get to and from South Padre Island was via boats like the one we were riding on today. The local grocery store owner paid for that make-shift ferry system until other suitable boats could arrive.
Our first fishing stop was right beside that long bridge. We got a few instructions, and then we were free to start feeding the fish using the shrimp on our hooks.
It was a nice temperature, and a good day to be out on the water!
We weren't very successful at our first stop. In fact, the only catch was this eel, who twisted himself around the fishing line and made a tangled mess. Our group would catch several more eel this morning.
After moving to a better location, we started seeing more fish on the lines. It's a pretty sweet deal when the fishing charter provides the poles and the bait, and they even take them off the line for you. Denisa just caught a catfish, and the captain demonstrated how their serrated fins can easily cut through an aluminum can. Now she's really glad that he is handling that fish!
It wasn't long before Denisa caught another fish, and this one is a whopper!
Actually, he was too little to eat the shrimp bait, and she accidentally caught him on his side with her hook. She is a pretty pitiful fisherwoman! You can see how tiny this pin fish is when you compare it with the size of the fishing weight on her line.
We had moved to our third location, when the fish really started biting. Denisa looks a little concerned as she brings her third fish out of the water. What is it?
It's a puffer fish! Once again, she's very glad that an experienced hand is taking that fish off the line. This puffer is pretty calm, as he hasn't inflated into his normal puffee self when he is traumatized.
We touched those hard spikes that line the fish's body. Now we can understand why a larger fish will spit out a puffer when he inflates and drives those spikes into a predator's mouth. Their other line of defense is the arsenic-laced substance inside that would kill us if we tried to eat this guy. So Denisa has caught her third fish, and none of them were edible.
So many kinds of sea life! It reminded us that we can wander into God's wonders in the sea, as well as on the land. Unlike Denisa, other passengers on our boat were catching edible, good-tasting fish. The captain brought around this whiting to show what we are supposed to be catching!
Finally, just fifteen minutes before the end of our four-hour bay fishing adventure, Mark caught a whiting. The fish wasn't big enough to feed the three of us, so we sent him home with another passenger.
Even if we didn't take home any fish, it was a fun day to be on the water. From the boat we got good views of the brave souls flying above the water under the parasail.
The fog continued to tease us with ghostly views of the high-rises on the island that were peeking out of the clouds.
We got off our fishing boat around noon, and we found that Padre Island has rolled out the blue carpet to welcome the spring break crowd to their beaches. That made for an easy walk over the sand dunes to get to the Gulf.
The afternoon winds have picked up, and the red flag warning was out for swimmers in the Gulf.
Between the fog and the waves, it wasn't a great day to be at the beach. We didn't stay long because after all that hands-on experience with fish, we were ready to eat some sea food.
We headed to Pirate's Landing for lunch. At the beginning of the season at the Winter Texan Expo, Betty had won a $25 gift certificate here and we were ready to cash it in!
But first we had to take some pictures of the handsome pirate outside.
That pirate deserves a close-up!
Just a few steps from Pirate's Landing is the Port Isabel Lighthouse. Since Denisa loves lighthouses, she wasn't going to leave until she got a picture. . .
or maybe two pictures. At the end of the day, we didn't come home with our ice chest full of fish, but we did come home with a tummy full of fish. We enjoyed seeing a little sea life on the end of our fishing line, even if we couldn't eat it. We feel like we got to see some of God's wonders up close in a different way today.
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