Port Aransas, Texas to Matagorda, Texas

Total Miles Traveled 1594

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We have really enjoyed our two months stay at Port Aransas, Texas.  A big thanks to our boating friends Josh and Barb for their recommendation.  It’s a laid-back island with a lot going on to entertain the large population of winter Texans. There are several RV parks, condos, and boat slips to accommodate everyone.  Most of the out of state plates we see are from Minnesota, Wisconsin, and the Dakota’s.

We visited the Farley Boat Works, established in 1914 by two brothers who started out building wooden fishing boats for the surrounding communities.  The tradition has carried on to this day by teaching the art of wooden boat building to the public. 

One of the original Farley boats

Members of the community building new wooden boats.

The Port Aransas Garden Club created the Farley boat planters for a beautification project.  The planters are an artistic reproduction of the original Farley boats.  The concrete planters are about 7 feet by 3 feet and weigh about 1800 lbs.  The boats can be purchased for $525 including delivery to anywhere on the island. There must be hundreds of the Farley planters all over town, really cool!

 

We discovered something new to us on the beach, Bollard Buddies!  For the sixth year a Port Aransas resident and volunteers from several states have covered more than 300 yarn handmade creations to cover the vertical posts along a portion of the Port A beach.

A Liquid Natural Gas ship is leaving the ship channel for the Gulf of Mexico in the background.

High on a sand dune overlooking the Gulf of Mexico there is a little white Chapel, the oldest functional church on the island, built in 1937.

Belt Sander Races….Whaaaat?  Belt Sander racing is a longstanding tradition in Port Aransas.  One of the local bars “The Gaff”, is the Birthplace of Texas Belt Sander Racing.  Competitors race their power tools down a wooden track, yes they need a long extension cord.

While picking up a few things at the local grocery, we saw this guy with a really full head of hair.

Marti Gras Port A style……….Anything street legal on wheels is welcome to join the fun.  The most popular form of transportation on the island is by golf cart, and the parade was no exception.  We decided not to enter our scooters.

We visited the Marine Science Institute, which is an extension of the University of Texas.  The facility includes a campus, research center, and exbibits for visitors of all ages to learn about the local marine life and research. 

The winter weather on the coast of south Texas is much different than we’re accustomed to, fog almost daily and 20 plus mph winds about every three or four days.  We were fortunate to have a two day weather window to leave Port Aransas and start our cruise back east on February 27^th.  We traveled 73 miles crossing Aransas Bay, San Antonio Bay, and anchoring on Matagorda Bay behind a barrier island on the Gulf of Mexico.  Matagorda Bay is an enormous body of water covering over 244 thousand acres, so timing the wind is essential for anchoring here.

Aransas Pass Lighthouse

Whooping Cranes are the tallest American bird and is one of only two crane species native to North America.  They average around 5 feet tall and have a wingspan of over 7 feet.  They migrate from Canada to south Texas to breed in coastal marshes and estuaries.

Our plan was to anchor as close to the Colorado River lock system as possible on our first day,  as it is a bottleneck in the intracoastal waterway for heavy barge traffic.  Our anchorage at Matagorda Bay is only 25 miles from the Matagorda City marina, about a mile across the river and through both locks.  The lock chamber doors are normally open unless flooding is an issue, but the current through the locks can be swift during tidal changes, we had that experience when traveling west in December. 

So, our plan was to leave our anchorage around 10 a.m. on February 28^th and arrive at the locks just before high tide during minimal tidal current through the locks.  We awoke to dense fog with about 100 feet visibility, but it finally cleared to about a mile visibility at 11 a.m.  I called the lockmaster 30 min before arriving at the first lock and was informed they had divers in the water working on one of the locks and the locks would not open until 5 p.m.  There were 15 tows eastbound and 13 tows westbound waiting along the waterway for their turn to lock through and sunset was 6:23. Although tows have the priority when locking through, the lockmaster told me to anchor close to the lock and he would put us through first.  The locks were cleared for passage at 5:45 and we were secure at the marina dock at 6:15.

Passing through the West Lock before crossing the river.

Passing through the East Lock

Matagorda Marina