Driving the South Padre Island Beach North to the Port Mansfield Channel

During this return trip,
Eric plans to drive 26
miles north.







Low tide was about an hour and a half ago, so we are aware that the tide is slowly coming in as we drive the shoreline of South Padre Island.

Eric parks facing the water

so we can enjoy the waves

as we eat lunch.

I managed to get a photo
of a Brown Pelican at the
water's edge.

They usually take to the air

 as soon as a vehicle

approaches.

This barrel is a reminder of

man made "trash" that washes

up onto shore.

The beach is about life, and death....

This Bottlenose Dolphin was

 probably dead for a long

time before being washed

up onto the beach.

This is the third time Eric and I found a dead mammal on beach drives.  We found a Golden Eagle sitting atop a dead Seal during a drive on Long Beach, Washington.  While visiting Astoria, Oregon, Eric and I heard of a dead Gray Whale on Seaside Beach, a short drive south along the coast.  A Marine Biologist was measuring it and taking samples for research.





Our drive comes to an end
at the jetty at Port Mansfield
Channel.

This channel was cut to allow seawater to move into the bay side of this barrier island and provide a water  access to Port Mansfield.  The first channel, with jetties, was cut in 1957 and destroyed by storms later that same year.  The US Army Corps of Engineers  completed the current channel in 1962.

The populations of Redfish, Brown Shrimp, Flounder and Speckled Trout have increased, much to the delight of fishermen.

A Great Blue Heron

struts atop the jetty.

Across the channel is the
jetty on the south end
of Padre Island.

Surfers gather along this

stretch of beach.

One of them starts
to stand....

And rides the wave....

... toward shore.

Eric turns our Jeep north to

return to blacktop north

of the SPI Kite Festival.

I get this shot of birds sitting in the rising water at the shore's edge 

with my camera's long lens.

Horseback riding along
the beach.







Each drive along the south Texas beaches is different, and beautiful.