DAY TEN: Cruising around

Our final full day on the island.....I had peaked with exposure to people and at Stacy's insistence I drove in to Port Aransas and did some shopping on my own, searching for souvenirs or some goodies to take home.  I went to about every store in Port Aransas, tourist store that is.  Then I drove to the south end of the island to North Padre and looked at the stores there.  After about 3.5 hours I headed back to the condo.

Loved all the little housing communities that were painted pretty colors.  Took this while driving into Port A.

Our final meal was at SHRIMPS where I had a crab cake burger.....good...and with the most yummy coleslaw.  Cabbage, dried cranberries, pineapple and some nuts.  REALLY good and unusual.

DAY SEVEN: DOLPHINS!!!!

The morning started with a trip to Cancun Mexican Restaurant for their breakfast tacos....good and very inexpensive.  Then, on to the feature....

The big event of the day was the dolphin watching.  We went to Deep Sea Headquarters for their dolphin watch tour.  While we were waiting to load, we had some incredible photo ops.

This is my favorite picture.  This guy flew a seagull off to pose for me.  I think it looks like a painting.

Great photo ops....even got the reflection.

Stacy is enthralled with the flip video and is trying it out today.  Here he is taking a video of me taking a picture of him.  Joe and Susie in the background.

As we board Captain Kelly sees us on.  He and his wife were our crew and very nice.

Polly Anna. A 96-foot steel catamaran-style shrimp boat, it’s among the most imposing vessels in the harbor. And it’s actually the third in a line of Polly Annas, all owned by John Nixon of Port Aransas.

 One of our first dolphin sightings....most were like this, so the Captain told us that dolphins like to surf and we were going to ride along side a large boat they were surfing in front of.  Sure enough.....looked like a school of five dolphins.

 This is the boat that was "pushing" the waves for the dolphins.

 Lydia Ann Lighthouse

Susie and Joe

 Stacy enjoying the ride and knowing his pics being taken....

 Coming back in to the wharf.

Amazing day and traipsing through the shops in Port A as well a bit.  Then back to the condo.  We sat out on the beach from 5 pm - 11 pm enjoying the beauty.  During the evening, more of Stacy and Joe's old friends came.  Robbie from Petersburg, who was a bit ahead of Stacy in school, and his wife Linda.  Also showing up at the same time was Dee, a friend that lives blocks from the house in San Antonio.

DAY SIX: Susie's Birthday!

August 20 brought Susie's 60th birthday....and rain and thunderstorms.  Our little cabana was the lone cabana left on the beach.  We spent the day lounging around, playing on the internet, watching TV.  The guys ran into town and got Susie a cake and Stacy brought me back a COMB!  Somehow I had left my wide tooth comb at home and have been finger combing up until this point, which with curlies probably is best, honestly.

Tonight was the official full moon, blue moon, fullest at 946 pm.  We sat on beach with Joe and Susie and watched, chatted.  Not much in the way of pics....just one of Joe and Susie watching questionable TV while Stacy lays on the floor to get his shoulder to the ground....that in itself is therapy but clavicle is healing, well but slowly and painfully.

DAY FIVE: BEACH!!!

Today was a beach day all day....started with our morning walk and again we collected goodies.  Below is a pic of what we have collected so far....no need to buy beach toys, is there?  The purple bags are produce bags I think.  We found two and they are perfect for beach things cause you can dunk them in the water to rinse the toys off.  Of course, I collect things like shells and driftwood......

Below is our set up on the beach.  We leave it at night, locking up the chairs.  People seem pretty good here, we haven't been bothered.  Notice Joe's rental on the beach.  What blew me away is the cars drive on the beach!  I've never been around that, Stacy said maybe it's just a Texas thing.  But they do....drive right up and empty their stuff out....lots of fishermen do that, trucks parked rear to the water and they work their day out of the bed of the truck.

Tonight is ALMOST the full moon.  Joe plans this trip so that a full moon always hits during the dates.  This moon was a Blue Moon....apparently there are two full moons per cycle and this cycle happened to have three which isn't extremely common.  We definitely saw a change in the tide and waves, it was fun to observe.  We came down to the beach and sat for hours, talking and just enjoying the beauty to witness this.

DAY FOUR: Playing tourist sunday

Woke to this sunrise, a bright yellow halo around the rising sun. Not a bad view off the balcony.

Started the day with our usual one hour walk on beach, picking up treasures and snapping pictures along the way. Stacy is so patient with me as I constantly am stopping to look at things or take pictures. This morning we found this lovely sand castle that made it through the night. Sake bomb it proclaims. Check out the arches on this thing. Someone knew sand architecture.

Stacy wanted to show me Port Aransas, I had never been in the town nor even knew it was here!  So in we went......TOURIST TIME!  We hit some wonderful touristy stores, my favorite being the one with all the seahorses outside.....

Stacy standing guard over my seahorses.  Doesn't it make you want a seahorse lollipop?

Check out this sunset we caught off the front balcony.

Tonight a friend of Joe and Stacy's joined us. They've known him for 30 years. Jess and his wife Terry from New Jersey. Dinner was at Kody's....yum!  Jody was walking around and brought us a sample of a rib eye he'd just pulled off the grill. Freaking amazing. We'd already ordered so the shrimp basket was it and yes, yummy. 

Then....stop at the IGA for some groceries before heading back to the condo. A grocery with a fun house mirror????  Yup. I'm surprised we didn't get kicked out we were laughing so hard and getting goofy.