Showered up and ready to head out, I asked Izzy if she wanted to come with us; this is her hiding posture...
That's OK, she may not be up for all the time on our feet we have planned.
Not "over the river and through the woods"; instead, it was over the causeway and through the palms. On to the beach on South Padre Island. This was as crowded as we've seen it since we've been back...
No pushing and shoving, no lines, but we did hear a few squeals of delight from the kids in the water. Walking north... barefoot and in shorts. Another day of upper 70s, but some hazy overcast today. Almost no wind. We have to enjoy it while we can - there is a cold front coming in tomorrow that may keep the high temp down to 70º or so.
We saw a few of these little guys on the beach...
That's a Portuguese Man o' War, a little one, alongside a penny for some size perspective. It was a great day for beach walking. Back to the pavillion at Isla Blanca Park...
Not much in the way of crowds there...
We sat for a while, enjoying the peace and quiet. Off for a pizza lunch, then back to the house. Time to psyche ourselves up for the real crowds we were about to face. Joan prepared soft drinks while I prepped Wild Blue. We shoved off and headed out.
Less than 2 miles from the house, we came upon the crowds...
While we were watching, we had some other visitors above the water...
If you've heard me talk about our neighbors who own a boat building company, this is Bill and Gladys. Bill pointed at some activity on the water and asked, "Are they playing or feeding?"
"Umm, that would be dolphins being frisky," I told him.
"Being what?"
"Dolphins fooling around. Maybe you shouldn't watch this."
They stayed around for a bit and then... "Ohhhhhhh."
We were going to head further, but the dolphin show (not just the foolin' around part), was too good to leave. I shot over 100 images, but you won't have to look at all of them. Here's a few...
They are social - they came right up to the boat...
Joan drove while I did the shooting...
They were close behind us, as well...
A short time later, we were joined by Scarlett; she and her husband run the Sea Life Center and do dolphin and bird watching trips...
They run a 35' pontoon houseboat, and also have a couple smaller pontoons - good platforms for getting up close.
Only another 75 or 80 images to go! Yeah, I'm kidding. The show was so much fun, I just kept shooting...
About that time, Scarlett pointed down the ship channel and said, "That is going to take them away..."
I expected Joan to let the ship pass... I was wrong: she put the throttle forward and set us up for some bow surfing photos...
That ship looks REALLY big up close!
As we turned for home, a small jet boat came up to us...
The driver said to us, "I love your boat - is that a Cape Dory?"
I haven't had to explain that in a while. And then, the "No, it's a C-Dory..." discussion. He told me that they have a 52' Grand Banks.
"Nice boat," I told him.
"Is that boat of yours trailerable?" he asked.
"Yep, it sure is," I told him, and then related a few of the many places we have had Wild Blue.
"Would you be interested in an even up trade? Seriously. The Grand Banks has been freshly repowered. We have it on one of the T-Heads in Corpus right now..."
"You might be surprised to find out that you aren't the first one to offer something similar," I told him.
"I am serious. I LOVE your boat. I can see in the window that you are well-equipped - great chartplotter! How much time have you spent onboard?"
I thought he was going to wet himself when I told him, "We just came back from 6 months on the boat; most of it in the Pacific Northwest, but we stopped at Lake Powell for a week or so on the way back."
We visited for a while longer, and he eventually asked, "I don't want to seem tacky, but can you tell me what those sell for new?" Unlike most folks, he didn't flinch when I told him what they currently go for. He asked about what we tow with, what kind of mileage we get on the water. I think we made another C-Dory fan today. "Seriously - that is a great boat!"
In a different place and situation, he may have had a deal.
We headed for home. Nice afternoon. Used up a grand total of 1.3 gallons of fuel in 2 1/2 hours... probably the majority of that when Joan ran us up to planing speed to catch the bow surfing. A big portion of the dolphin show was in neutral - don't use much gas with that throttle setting. ;-) You don't have to travel big distances to have big fun.
And, you don't have to fight the crowds on Black Friday to have "an experience."
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