Let's take a morning cruise down the ship channel to the Port of Brownsville. A lovely morning: blue sky, sunshine, light breeze, and temps already into the 70s at 9:00. I like that plan.
Our out canals, onto the ICW, and through the turning basin - the water is looking gorgeous...
We passed a shrimper coming in on our way out...
Then, a change of plans: there is a large tanker moving slowly in the ship channel... and look to the left: dolphins! New plan!
Well, we could watch dolphins for a while, let the tanker get further down the channel, then head that way... or: just watch some dolphins. You might think that would get old. It doesn't. We pointed the boat east in the ship channel to check on some dolphins in the distance. More pretty water...
And more dolphins...
That is the causeway in the background above. And, that bit of flats: it is housing some "winter Texans"...
The white pelicans - they migrate here during the winter months. Pretty, but they don't dive like our local brown pelicans. Larger than the locals, too.
We could see more dolphins coming up behind us...
Some vocalizations, too! Nope, it never gets old...
Look just to the left of the front seat in this image - see the fin?
We ran with them for a while - no other boats around. Delightful!
Then, time to formulate a new plan: how 'bout once around and through the swingbridge? A unanimous vote.
The dolphins didn't vote, but they continued to follow along...
Heading north, towards the causeway, you can see the lighthouse in Port Isabel...
And dolphins...
We timed it to get to the swingbridge right on the hour; didn't have to call them on the radio, there were 4 small fishing boats circling by the bridge, waiting to get through...
We weren't ready to go home just yet, so took a little tour of what used to be the shrimp basin in PI...
That rusting hulk on the photo above is Relentless. We reminisced about photographing it over a decade ago for the photo art we used to do. Not much left of it these days.
I think this dock may need a bit of sprucing up before it gets used again...
Some guys working on an old shrimper...
That is a raft tied to the side of it, while the guy works on the hull. I'm sure that is an OSHA approved situation.
Coming out of the basin, we saw a fishing boat tied to a fishing boat...
That small flat boat tied to the aft quarter of the sport fisher is what most people use here to fish in the bay. Although, we do occasionally see people fishing from pontoon boats, as well. This guy is well-equipped for fishing in the bay and out in the Gulf with these two boats.
Time to head in.
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