Last I blogged we were in Port Aransas visiting the birding center on Monday. Tuesday we decided to take the Whooping Crane boat tour which left out of Port Aransas and traveled up the inter-coastal waterway to the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge area a distance of about 20 miles north of where we got on the boat. Was a little shaky at the beginning - our 110 foot catamaran (the boat we were on) turned back to the dock only after 10 minutes out. Seems they couldn't fire up the second engine and had to go back to port to have the engine primed. And, the weather was extremely foggy and chilly. So, by turning back and waiting we were hoping that the sun would burn off the fog. We skimmed along the water for a good 25 minutes and just as predicted - the sun came out and how beautiful! Lots of fishing boats were taking up their net boxes with oysters, tugs with barges skirting by, personal boaters out fishing - what a lovely day to be on the water. Saw many times dolphins swimming along with us - I guess I was the dolphin magnet - I could spot them quickly and people would come running when I exclaimed that I see them! Once they got to the rail of the boat - the dolphins disappeared - thank goodness we got pictures! This water was very very shallow (10 to 15 feet deep) and so very clear inside the 
Intercoastal. We loved this trip for another reason - made us remember our days as sailors on Lake Erie - being and feeling the waves and just soaking it all in. Freighters cannot use this passage since it's too shallow and must exit out of Port Aransas to go to whereever. By the way Corpus Christie does not have a seaport - islands front the city along the beaches and therefore all freighters and tugs must go through Port Aransas into Corpus Christie Bay. Took about an hour to get to where the whooping cranes are. In 1937 there were only 15 known whooping cranes in the world. This bird is the largest bird in North America - taller than Sandhill Crane and taller than the Great Blue Heron. Today there are approximately 550 whooping cranes of which over 330 are in Aransas. They migrate from Wood Buffalo National Park in the most northern border of Alberta, Canada to Aransas, the others go to Wisconsin and also to Kissimee Florida in October. In April they return back to Canada. We saw about 30 while on this tour - of course you cannot get close to them, but with telescopes and a camera - you can catch them forever in your memory. We saw a number of immature with their parents - they have to be strong enough by the time they go back in April to survive the flight. The babies or immatures are white with a dirty red head and neck and dirty butt. These birds are noisy! We could hear them over the hum of the diesel engines of the boat. Amazing. This was so impressive - to see an endangered bird 'up close' and to really appreciate what the naturalists are doing to protect and perserve these birds. In the wild they typically live 30 years - one of the pairs we saw were 32 years old.
Intercoastal. We loved this trip for another reason - made us remember our days as sailors on Lake Erie - being and feeling the waves and just soaking it all in. Freighters cannot use this passage since it's too shallow and must exit out of Port Aransas to go to whereever. By the way Corpus Christie does not have a seaport - islands front the city along the beaches and therefore all freighters and tugs must go through Port Aransas into Corpus Christie Bay. Took about an hour to get to where the whooping cranes are. In 1937 there were only 15 known whooping cranes in the world. This bird is the largest bird in North America - taller than Sandhill Crane and taller than the Great Blue Heron. Today there are approximately 550 whooping cranes of which over 330 are in Aransas. They migrate from Wood Buffalo National Park in the most northern border of Alberta, Canada to Aransas, the others go to Wisconsin and also to Kissimee Florida in October. In April they return back to Canada. We saw about 30 while on this tour - of course you cannot get close to them, but with telescopes and a camera - you can catch them forever in your memory. We saw a number of immature with their parents - they have to be strong enough by the time they go back in April to survive the flight. The babies or immatures are white with a dirty red head and neck and dirty butt. These birds are noisy! We could hear them over the hum of the diesel engines of the boat. Amazing. This was so impressive - to see an endangered bird 'up close' and to really appreciate what the naturalists are doing to protect and perserve these birds. In the wild they typically live 30 years - one of the pairs we saw were 32 years old.Was a super day! We got our faces burnt from the sun and wind burnt. We ended the day with a meal at the Mexican restaurant again. Packed up that evening and by 9:30am Wednesday morning we were heading south to McAllen, TX.
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