Port Aransas, Texas - some of our favorite things

 Note: We're including some blogs from the month of April that were interrupted when we had to make a speedy trip to Oklahoma to help after Denisa's Mother's house burned. So we are catching up with "old blogs" while we are still helping out in Oklahoma. 

Our last blog covered some of our favorite things in Rockport, Texas, and the ferry ride that connects that area to Port Aransas. Today we continue with our favorite things theme. After the ferry ride, our first stop on the Port Aransas side of the water is Roberts Point Park where we always find fishermen.

It's the best place to see marine life up close when they come out of the water on the end of a fishing line.

We especially enjoyed the water-side park today. The Port Aransas mayor candidates were campaigning in the park, including music and a hamburger cook-out. Even though they knew we weren't local voters, we enjoyed an unexpected free lunch in the park. We would encourage the voters of Port Aransas to consider Gregory Chittum for mayor! He knows how to cook up a good burger and lemonade, and that should be a great qualification for any public servant. With a full belly, we headed to our next favorite spot--the mile-long jetty at Port Aransas.

Getting to walk a mile straight over deeper and deeper ocean waters on this jetty has always given us good views of some of the local wildlife. While we saw some dolphins, the sea turtles stole the show today. They kept popping their heads out of the water, before they dove back under water.

We also got a view of this sea turtle with two large sea shells hitching a ride on his back.

This gull had grabbed a piece of shrimp from a fisherman that wasn't guarding his bait.

Just a few feet from us, the pelicans were catching their fish, rather than stealing them like the gulls. We watched as they scooped large bills filled with water . . .

that also included a fish. We could often see the fish flopping in that bag below the beak. Nice catch!

After a satisfying lunch, the pelicans would often hop up on the jetty to dry out.

We always see dolphins when we walk this long jetty. When we were about half way, we started smelling that something was terribly wrong. We walked quickly by this rotting dolphin carcass, and we noticed that no one was fishing on this section of the jetty.

The further we walked, the bigger were the waves hitting the jetty.

We made it all the way to the end, and got the picture of nothing but water surrounding us.

This mile-long-hike is not easy. It is made from large chunks of granite that are cracked and uneven and can be slippery when wet. We are so far away that we can barely see the beach where our pickup is parked.

Back on the beach, we were entertained by these shore birds with their black flat tops.

It's a weekend, and the beach was busy here in Port Aransas. But one of our favorite things is taking a beach stroll, so we started close to the wooden pier. This long pier was wiped out by the hurricane, so we are glad to see that it has been rebuilt.

We saw a few shells, but the most interesting thing on the beach were these tiny blue jellyfish.

Smaller than a dime, they reminded us of the blue man-of-war jellies we have seen on many beaches in the past. We're not sure if these sting like the man-of-war, because we didn't get close enough to touch it to our skin.

We walked close to a mile down the beach before we turned around to walk back. The huge wooden pier is barely visible in the picture below.

Our next favorite spot to visit is the Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center. It's a great place to watch the local birds, and we could see at least six different types in this picture.

Among the birds that hang out at this little refuge are the roseate spoonbills that seem to be almost commonplace to us now.

There is also a nice selection of handsome ducks that spend the winter here at Port Aransas.

A sign at the entrance of the boardwalk mentions the red-headed ducks that are less common.

That red head has a swipe of blue that makes for a favorite picture.

Denisa can't help but take a picture of the candy-corn-beak birds too.

Even though the bird experts at Goose Island explained that the white pelicans had all flown north, we are guessing this one didn't get the message. It is obvious that these are big birds when we pictured this guy beside the local cormorants.

Even though the birds are plentiful, the reason that most people take this boardwalk is to see the resident alligator. He was sitting just under the observation tower in perfect view when we arrived.

After this alligator spotting, we walked further down the boardwalk, where few people walk. In fact, we walked to the very end of the trail at the Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center.

It was on this deserted part of the trail that Denisa strolled right past this clump of greenery without stopping.

But Mark has a good eye for spotting wildlife. He saw this tiny yellow lizard hanging on to one of those green leaves.

Before we left this refuge, we stopped one more time at the observation tower. The resident alligator had moved, and was heading to a less busy area.

He swam right beneath the boardwalk, and we got a close-up view of his face. Then he went further into the tall grass where he wouldn't be seen.

As we neared the parking area, we stopped for a picture. It is interesting that there is an opportunity to pose with a woman-eating-alligator at this birding center.

We've had a good day, revisiting one of our favorite coastal towns. We had beautiful weather and we feel like we got to wander some of God's wonders today as we explored some of our favorite things in Port Aransas, Texas.