Shucks! Did you say Oysters?

We received news that friends from our old home town in College Station, Texas wanted to come down to the Rockport area for a visit. We have known these people for quite some time as they are also our oldest son’s godparents. But before I go on about this visit we also visited with another renowned blogger… none other than Barney who pens the blog Old Fat Man Adventures. Having the opportunity to sit down and have a chat with one of Rockport’s better known bloggers was fun.  Chatting with Barney gave us the chance to really get to know him better and he is as cheerful a fellow in person as he is in the blog. Now when we read his blog we will enjoy the posts even more after having the chance to know him a bit more…

Now back to our friends… We decided to take our friends to many of our favorite places here in Rockport. We began with what we feel is one of the neatest things to do and that is to stroll the Fulton Harbor to watch the oyster boats come in with their daily haul. Most of today’s pictures are from the Fulton Harbor. This part of Texas is loaded with oysters and as a result the commercial oyster business is thriving in these shallow bays. If you want fresh oysters this is the place to come as even parking lots are paved with oyster shells…

Oyster boats typically dredge the shallow mud flats with a heavy oyster rake towed behind a boat. A piece of chain link fencing is affixed to the back end of the rack to allow the sediment to wash off while the oysters are trapped within the rack. The oysters are then hauled aboard and sacked into burlap bags (80 to 100 in each sack). Watching the oyster boats come in is a treat as the heavily loaded boats are floating just above the water giving the appearance that the boats might be dangerously low in water. It is entertaining to watch then as they offload their daily catch and the forklifts carry 10-15 sacks of oysters away to load on the idling semi trucks nearby. One fellow who looked to be a big shot at the harbor was managing the offloading of the boats. His duct tape repaired shorts were a hoot to see as well… Of course, before leaving we had to buy a pint of freshly shucked oysters at the nearby seafood market to make up some tasty Oyster Poor Boys for that night’s dinner.

We then took our friends over the Copano Causeway to see the Whooping Cranes that reside in the area. We set up the spotting scope and delighted in watching those stately endangered crane species strut around in the fields feeding. We also took them to see the Big Tree and drove along the waterfront and stopped in few spots to check out the ducks and other waterfowl. It was really fun having our friends down for a visit and sharing our favorite sights here in Rockport/Fulton…

To end this blog I will leave you with a photo as Barney (TOFM) would and like him, ask the readers if they can identify this fragment of bone I found along the beach front. What do you think this possibly came from? I know the picture is a bit blurry but I surely one wouldn’t want to deal with those teeth. And as Barney would say..... this is the way Sharon and I chose to have too much fun in Rockport Texas…