High Island, TX - Part 2

Three days later and we’re still at High Island, TX. No more migratory birds have come in (that we’ve seen) and all the other birders have flown the coop! Over the last few days we’ve taken a couple of day trips and re-visited some old places that we’d been to several years ago.

On Tuesday we went to Galveston Island - the nearest (and best) way to get there from here is down the Bolivar Peninsula about 25 miles to Galveston Bay and take the ferry across. The ferries run 24 hours a day (only one late at night) and is about a 15-20 minute ride across the bay.

Loading the ferry

 

Packed in like sardines 

 

Upper deck 

 

Another ferry like ours on the return trip 

 

On the ferry ride over there’s always seagulls looking for handouts and plenty of tankers that the ferry has to dodge!

Laughing Gulls

 

 

Huge Tanker

 

Galveston Island was hit hard by Hurricane Ike back in September of 2008, but most of the damage has been fixed or replaced. We saw a lot of expensive new construction! Some of the subdivisions have canals running all through them and every home in them has water access.

One place that was not restored was the Galveston Island State Park campground. We had stayed there several times in years past and was really shocked at how it looks today. There are 3 camping sections on the beach and each one of them used to have over 50 campsites - now there are only 11 in each section. The lady at the office told us they were closed for 6 months and went from 155 campsites down to 33 with no real plans to restore them all later!

Most everything along the famous seawall in Galveston Island has been repaired or replaced and it pretty well looks like it did before. The seawall runs along the beach for a little over 5 miles.

The beach at Galveston Island - lots of seaweed!

 

Along the seawall 

 

I tried to talk LaVerne into going for a ride, but she wouldn't!! 

After touring Galveston Island and riding up & down the beach, we took the ferry back across the bay and headed back to camp. There’s still some evidence of Hurricane Ike!

The new construction is booming however -- some pretty fancy, most very colorful, then some not so fancy, but innovative for sure!!

 

 

 

 

Late Tuesday afternoon we went to Smith Oaks Bird Sanctuary here in High Island and visited the rookery on Heron Island - hundreds of Great Egrets, Roseatte Spoonbills, Snowy Egrets, and Double-crested Cormorants. This is nesting season and it’s hard to imagine raising a family in all the hub-bub and close proximity!!

 

Roseatte Spoonbills nesting 

 

Great Egrets nesting 

 

A Snowy Egret 

 

Yesterday (Wednesday) we took another day trip to Sea Rim State Park on the coast below Port Arthur, TX. It is only 20 miles or so up the coast from here, but Hwy 87 from High Island headed north got washed away many years ago and the Texas DOT has not seen fit to re-establish it. So, the only way to get there is to go back north to Winnie, then take Hwy 73 east to Port Arthur, and then south on Hwy 87 back to the community of Sabine Pass and Sea Rim -- about a 75 mile (one way) trip. It was an interesting trip, but not many birds - mostly just the ubiquitous grackles and Red-winged Blackbirds! Did happen to see a Loggerhead Shrike! Also, the Sea Rim campground was closed - they were re-paving the whole thing.

Loggerhead Shrike

 

The trip through the section of Port Arthur we had to travel is eye-opening! Hwy 87 goes right thru the middle of the big refineries - it’s a little scary with all the overhead pipes, etc!

There’s also lots of other huge rigs -- the best we could tell, the ones shown here are used to lift big ships for dry-dock repairs.

 

And lest we forget, this is still Texas and home of the Longhorns - right out here among all the oil refineries!!

 

 

Today (Thursday) was domestic day -- LaVerne made use of the RV park laundry facilities and I washed the motorhome. It was cloudy all morning and a good day for the chores. Mid afternoon we had light rain, but decided to drive over to Anahuac NWR for one last drive around the loop. Didn't see much.

Tomorrow is moving day again -- we've been here a week and have enjoyed it, but it's time to move on. We're headed to an Army Corps of Engineers campground on Sam Rayburn Reservoir near Pineland, TX for the weekend and then on northward. We have decided to head up into Missouri.