Joan proclaimed today: "Best Day On The Water, this season"...

I have to say, it was a fine day to be out and about: after the early morning fog lifted, it was one of those "Chamber of Commerce" days... blue sky, warm temps (got to 81º here on the coast), and beautifully calm water.  Joan packed us a picnic lunch, and we shoved off...

Before we exited the canal, I asked, "Where do you want to go?"

"As calm as it is, let's go check out the jetties!"

OK, we have a plan.  The goal: just enjoy some time on the water.  And, check out that lovely water as we motored east in the ship channel...

It is not unusual to have some "rollers" at the entrance to the jetties.  Not today.  Gorgeous water, hardly any swells...

A shrimper inbound...

At the end of the jetties, and looking into the Gulf...

Well, look what we have here...

Yep - dolphins!  Today wasn't about dolphin watching, but... we're here, they're here, and the water is beautiful!  We hung out for a while...

Plenty of people fishing from the jetties, but no excursion boats, hardly any other small boats.  We enjoyed our time with the dolphins...

We had them all around the boat, including one that jumped out of the water about 10 feet in front of us (no, I didn't get a photo).

One other boat did come by and give us a close look...

Texas Game Warden.  It was pretty obvious that we weren't fishing, so he quickly moved on.

We spent nearly an hour with them.  Joan was getting hoarse - she likes to call out to them... and I think they respond to that.  Sometimes, it is hard to not be giddy about getting to see this.  When two large excursion boats headed towards us, we decided to move on - back in through the jetties area and north into the Laguna Madre.  One of the excursion boats spent a grand total of about 5 minutes letting their guests see the dolphins, then moved on.  Must have a schedule to keep.

Lots of small fishing boats and other excursion boats in the Laguna...

I suggested we go north, under the causeway, then head around to the Fingers area.  The Fingers is a series of canals in Port Isabel proper.  It was originally dredged and developed to be "The New Venice."  Lots of homes along the canals, a couple businesses.

The entrance to the Fingers was dredged a year or two ago, but the north northeast opening makes it vulnerable to shoaling in when the northers blow in.  Last time we were here by water was on our kayaks, via a short cut under a low clearance bridge.  With this boat, we have to go "out and around" to get to the Fingers; today, we were already on the way there.

Out of the Laguna, into the Fingers...

The city put in some nice docks a few years ago...

The only occupants were the pelicans.  Before the dredging, it was tough to get a boat in here if it drafted more than 2 feet.  These dock could accommodate some decent size boats.  The parking lot area was full of vehicles with small boat trailers.  The ramp here is short, but works great for the flat bottom fishing boats that are more typical here.  Continuing through the jetties...

Some upscale homes and some much less so.  Here's a small RV park and marina...

Another canal...

The shot above is a sad old trimaran that hasn't had any attention in years.

Back out of the Fingers, and heading for home.  Under the "high bridge" (Queen Isabella Causeway)...

We radioed the swing bridge for an opening, heading west.  The sun behind Joan as we head that way...

She is especially fond of the sparkly water.  Back into the canals on Long Island, and almost home...

Once tied to the dock, I put the cover on Cool Change.  The weasels are predicting a windy day tomorrow (25 to 30 mph with higher gusts - could reach 50 mph!).  Quite a change from today.  This may be one of our last boat outings before we head west to see our kid.  We'll be watching for a decent weather window to pull the boat and get the motorhome out.