Coastal PATCOM Is ON!

Save the dates, March 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. Come for one day, or all three. The general consensus seems to be “keep it simple”, so the event will be held on Kleberg County Beach. You will need to pack in everything you’ll need, including water, and take your trash out when you leave. No “facilities” of any kind, though rest rooms and cold showers are available a few miles up the beach at Bob Hall Pier. The closest store will be about 10 miles from the location. No parking permits or camping fees are required.

In the next week or two I plan on making a “scouting trip” down there as I haven’t been in a long while. I’ll take another peek the week of PATCOM to check out beach driving conditions. After the scouting trip I’ll post directions. Some of the beach access roads are not shown on Mapquest, so I’ll have to check them out myself.

I can’t wait to see those of you I’ve met already again, and the new folks who will attend as well. And maybe our semi-”public” venue will attract some curious passers-by, so don’t forget to bring along things like pocket Constitutions, or maybe some “Threeper” stickers/patches to pass out, or whatever else you might think of.

Since I’m on the subject of “coastal”, it was a boat day for me at work. Very interesting…

This is all we saw most of the day. Pea soup fog and nearly calm. Made for some interesting navigation.

These three were my friends today; the GPS, compass, and depth finder, in that order. Boating by Braille is a bit of a challenge, but I had fun. I love a good nautical challenge. Thankfully the GPS was dead nuts accurate today, and the channel buoys were all where it said they’d be. Kept the VHF radio on as well, especially in the morning when visibility was about 20 yards. Getting runned over by some barges will put a damper on your day, so listening to their movements on the radio at times like this is a good idea.

After an hour of putt-putting we finally got to what should have been a decent fishin’ hole. Nice, grassy bottom with pot holes, near the end of an island…

You can see it there off the bow, right? Squint… Harder… It was about 50 yards away, but not to be seen. Alas, lack of wind, or current spelled no fish. We tried like hell, banging our way up the back side of Mud Island.

Hey, it’s clearing up! That bit of the island was about 60 yards away.

SHARK! Actually that is one of several dolphins that were chasing the fish away hanging around the boat. Finally caught one on “film”, they’re hard to get a good picture of.

Caught another one, just barely. You need a really fast camera to get a “head shot”. Alas, we went home fishless. Our time table and theirs did not coincide today. Fish don’t work on a schedule…