A day in Port Aransas, Texas…

With the weather hovering in the low 70’s F for the highs we decided that it would be a great day to drive over to Aransas Pass and take the ferry over to Port Aransas. The Port Aransas Ferry is a FREE service connecting Mustang Island and Port Aransas with the mainland. The ferry runs seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day and is capable of taking large RV’s and trucks. We saw several RV’s with either large trailers or cars in tow on the ferries. However, their website warns that your vehicle plus towable’s overall length should not exceed 55 feet.

Riding the ferry brought back many memories for us as we visited this part of Texas coast extensively during the 1970’s and 1980’s. Needless to say a lot has changed yet the ferry still takes people and the cars/trucks back and forth… back and forth. We were really surprised that a bridge had not been built across this stretch of water but we thought maybe they didn’t do so since it is so short a distance and is still in navigable waters. I mean can you image how steep such a bridge would be to accommodate ship traffic in such a short stretch of water?

Traveling across the waterway it is always fun to scan the water as dolphins are commonly seen during transit. Sure enough we spotted a small group of three moving up the ship channel in the wake of a ship passing by. Once across we made our way over to the harbor to see if the Scat Cat was still here. The Scat Cat was a charter fishing boat we took out to the red snapper banks years ago. We still have fond memories of catching over 20 snapper one day. It was also Sharon’s first experience deep sea fishing. Happily we saw that the Scat Cat is still in port along with its’ sister ship the Wharf Cat. In reminiscing we realized we were last on the Scat Cat over 35 years ago… Yikes!

We then drove to the Gulf side of Mustang Island where cars are permitted to drive onto the beach. We avoided driving in the surf though as rust could become our worst enemy so simply driving the beachside was more appealing to us. We parked and sat in our chairs just taking in the sights and sounds of the ocean… The surf always lulls us into a slightly unconscious state. Although it was still a little chilly on the beach with temperatures in the upper 60’s we noticed it didn't stop the beach goers and the plentiful fishermen.

Before leaving we went over to Pioneer RV Village Resort nearby to visit Catherine, Jo Beth and Grace of RV Crazy fame. We had planned to meet around happy hour to share stories and see their new rig. We last saw them when we inadvertently camped beside them in Las Cruces sometime last year. Small world this RV’ing world is… As before it was great visiting with them and we even made plans to meet again during our stay…