What a gorgeous morning! The weasels are calling for a change by this afternoon, so when Joan said, "Do you want to go out first thing, and we'll clean up and do breakfast when we get back?"
Well, yeah!
I got the boat ready, Joan sliced some fruit for morning snacks...
We shoved off a bit after 8:00. The sun has already been up for an hour. This guy was waiting at the end of our canal...
No plan or destination, we just wanted to be out to enjoy the morning. This blew by us at over 50mph...
Customs and Border Protection, a fast boat. By the time I got the camera turned on and focused, it was already by us. Surprisingly little wake for as fast as it was going. Hard to see in this photo, but there are 4 outboards on the back of that boat... yep, built for speed.
Looking to the east, the light is still low in the sky...
The sun is under the bimini at this hour...
She's a happy girl: has her coffee, barefoot, and enjoying the warmth; and, the sparkly water...
Heading east in the ship channel, we didn't hear this until it was past us. Again...
Ahead: South Padre...
Going the other direction - a US Coast Guard small boat...
I think I saw a fin ahead, in the distance...
Yep. Same area where we saw them feeding yesterday. Clouds at the eastern horizon made for some contrasty light. These guys were fishing from shore...
And getting some dolphin watching...
Dolphins by the ranger markers...
Dolphins by the green buoy...
Yep. Dolphins...
This is a Texas Game Warden boat...
And, dolphins. And, dolphin tails...
Yes, the water looks different depending on which way you are facing, into or with the light. We couldn't tell what government entity this boat is from...
Ah, another Texas Game Warden boat...
It was pretty much the government boats and us out there this morning. I'm guessing they used more fuel just starting up than we used in the last 3 days.* ;-) We came across a couple small fishing boats, and then this fishing/excursion boat...
Fish Tales (the boat above) alternates between fishing trips and dolphin watch trips. For the record, ours are all dolphin watch trips; well, maybe some just-being-out-there trips; but, no fishing. ;-)
We thought we were done dolphin watching, but Joan saw these guys by the commercial docks...
A squadron (pod, scoop - all words that describe a group of pelicans) of pelicans...
What? Oh, I guess we're not done dolphin watching...
This is how dolphins wave good-bye...
And, this...
Heading back towards our canal, we crossed paths with this University of Texas Rio Grande Valley research boat...
They had a group of kids onboard (all in life jackets) - must be a field trip.
This Great Blue Heron gave us a profile on the way back in our canal...
If the weasels are right, we'll get some precip this afternoon, tonight, and tomorrow. We could use the moisture.
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* For those who like to keep track of such things, the boat trips we did in the last three days amounted to about 7 1/2 hours; used a total of 4 gallons of gas.
5 comments:
Nobody @ The Helm?? You must have Auto Pilot..
Love your "Fuel Burn".. Sold our Boat-- I was Burning 25 GPH.. @ 25 Knt's.. More if we had the A/C Running..
The boat is surprisingly stable - it runs straight if you take your hands off the helm. Generally, if I walk away from the helm, Joan will take it. I only stepped up there for a few seconds (after looking ahead) to take the photo.
The fuel burn makes me smile. We frequently run at 5 knots, which generally results in a .5 gph fuel burn. Fuel usage is pretty linear as you push the throttle forward... until you get above about 4500 RPM. Good on-the-water entertainment value!
Just kidding about the Autopilot-- I bet it would be nice to have in your R.V. Though.. Google may be working on that..
I may be an anachronism with all the talk of self-driving cars: I still like to drive. We have had autopilots in previous boats and airplanes - great when covering long distances in benign conditions... or in low or no visibility conditions, when it is even safer have "all eyes" looking out. With this little boat, we are just bopping about. And in the motorhome or car, defensive driving means having hands on the wheel at all times.
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