Bottlenose Dolphins of Texas

Enjoy watching Delphinidae Tursiops truncatus (bottlenose dolphin) pods in Galveston Bay, Texas every year.  

Last summer every evening a female and her baby would swim up Clear Creek Channel by the Seabrook Marina pool to feed and play.  We would sit by the pool and watch the dolphins jump and play with each other or the kayaks and SUP, stand up paddle boarders.  Unfortunately we have not seen them this year maybe because of the high level of fresh water and hyacinth this year kept them away.

My first dolphin sighting was right when I visited the Texas coast in the summer of 1999 crossing on the Galveston ferry to Port Bolivar.  Majority of the passengers walked to the front of the ferry to watch the dolphins jump the waves.  It was fun and free for my first time dolphin watch.  But what got even more exhilarating was when the dolphins seeked us out on the sailboat.

Will Rain Fall over Clear Lake

Having our boat between Clear Lake and Galveston Bay for seven years, we had long heard and witnessed the Clear Lake umbrella effect.  Storms would be coming from the west or south and completely miss or slightly brush over Clear Lake.  Tornadoes would be hitting League City and disappear by the time that it gets close to us which is a huge relief.  Understanding the Clear Lake effect is difficult to nail down because it is not a perfect model.  

Galveston Bay and Texas Oyster Appellations

Christmas and Thanksgiving with my family always includes Scalloped Oysters: baked oysters with milk, butter, crackers like Beaumont Inn's recipe. My mother absolutely loves oysters: fried, grilled, scalloped, raw-not so much, but never had Galveston Bay oysters until she moved to Texas. 

Water is our Wilderness

Walking the docks of our marina, we saw many jellyfish around the sailboats, all shape and sizes.  We saw one with a beautiful long tail called a War O'war.  Oh you do not want to get in these waters now.  With the water so warm and the temperature so high, this is when most people and dogs are jumping into the water to cool off.

The next day a friend had gotten stung by a jellyfish by Redfish Island, but they had no vinegar on board.   She was stung on her rib cage.  So she just drank lots of alcohol to numb the pain until they returned to shore.

Here are some Helpful facts from Judith Klein, MD that I had just watched after seeing all the jellyfish in the marina.  For an hour she talks about dealing with injuries in the wilderness called Into the Wild, Backcountry Medicine 101 found on ItunesU.

Surfing the Waves

Very light winds and extremely calm seas accompanied us on our final leg of our journey.  Upon returning from TMCA 2nd Spring Fling we motored the entire time up the Houston Ship Channel with little traffic, but like all things smooth quickly changed.