After an absolutely glorious evening, we woke up to rain showers, wind, and cold temperatures, a different world.
With the warm evening, I had left the sliding door on the van open to enjoy the sound of the ocean. In the middle of the night, the wind started blowing and the temperature started to fall. I eventually got up and closed the van door but not before I had a nice fine coating of sand inside…… Uggggh. You just can’t come to any beach without a good solid battle with sand.
It was time to explore this portion of Padre Island, first stop, the visitor’s center.
Next stop, the entry to the South Beach Primitive area. At this spot the paved road ends and you drive along the beach. The piles restrict motorized traffic to the southerly direction but also made for an interesting subject for photography.
Angry skies and seas.
The beach road heads south for 60 miles….. four wheel drive vehicles only please.
The cloud cover provided such interesting light and textures.
One last barrier picture.
One last ocean image….. for now.
It was time to head over to our next camp spot. With the cold wind, we opted to camp on the inland side of the island. I was also tired of battling the sand so we set up at a slightly more civilized spot on Bird Island.
This inland waterway is called the Lagua Madre and is one of the saltiest inland waterways in the world. It offers a unique habitat for the local wildlife and vegetation.
These are TLYFs.
I managed to snap this image of one of those unique wildlife members. He was not that afraid of me as I think he was hunkering down along the shoreline to get protection from the cold wind.
This is a fairly sizable body of water.
Time to take a midday break, more coming soon from day two!
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