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British Mensa Travel Special Interest Group |
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Padre Island We flew to Abilene and a two-day drive took us to the southernmost point of Texas bordering Mexico. On one side of the Island is the Laguna Madre and the historic port of St. Isobel, on the other side is the Gulf of Mexico. One reaches the island by crossing a 2½ mile bridge which was built in 1974 since when the island has become highly developed. The end of this is called the Queen Isabella Causeway. The island is about 30 miles long and only 2½ miles wide at the widest point. Much of it is taken by two large national parks which leaves only about six miles for residents and business. Many of the residents work in Brownville, but also work crews for cleaning and similar tasks come across from Mexico. Recorded history begins in 1529 and the local inhabitants were probably a tall Indian people known as the Kronks. But it was a profitable site for pirates as the number of shipwrecks, some probably deliberately planned, was high. It is said there was a deal of buried treasure to be found there (I couldn't find a metal detector). In 1804 Padre Jose Nicholas Barri founded a settlement called Rancho Santa Cruz. His statue stands at the eastern foot of the Queen Isabella Causeway. I had rented a lovely apartment bordering the Gulf of Mexico. Ten steps took us onto the white sandy beach with the lovely surf of the Gulf of Mexico. A few more steps took us to the swimming pool complex and hot tub. I swam alone on several mornings to a beautiful sunrise. Our patio provided us with a first-class spot for watching all the water sports: aqua-sailing, paragliding, hang gliding, kite flying (most enormous kites which carried the modern day Icarus). Also there was volleyball, sailing, shell seeking and on one occasion we watched a wedding taking place on the shoreline. Some cheap beach shoes I bought cut my feet badly and resulted in a septic foot, which kept me off the beach and out of the pool for a few days. I had a day trip into Mexico which was mainly about shopping. Our bilingual guide was very knowledgeable and told us all about the Spanish-American War in the 1870s. Apparently a disagreement over whether the Rio Grande or another site should form the border was not settled for nine years, at the time when Texas became the 48th state - so Texas kept its flag with the single star - hence the Lone Star State. According to our guide this gives Texas (the only state to have it) the right to fly its flag even when the Stars and Stripes is at full mast. Another highlight was a cruise where we watched many dolphins jumping all around, escorting a big ship into Brownsville. The trip ended with a glorious sunset: you know the type, where an enormous red orb sinks into the sea and one expects to hear enormous sizzling accompanied by masses of steam. It was November and the temperature did not drop below the middle eighties. Another trip into Brownsville was broken by a super 'All you can Eat' Chinese Meal for $6 per head. It was in a lovely restaurant where they had enormous living pictures of Beijing and other Chinese beauty spots. Brownsville is the second largest port in the USA and there was a large fleet of shrimp boats, though we were told China is taking over the shrimping. There was a shrimping contest of some kind whilst we were there. They also have a very long ship canal, which is being widened and deepened to take tankers as apparently much of the oil-refining industry is to be transferred there. Also it has all the services for offshore rigs and installations there, though the area between the Island and Brownsville appears like Fenland, as the wealthy owner does not want to pay the taxes which development would incur. A trip to the historic Port Isobel lighthouse was of great interest with much information about where the pirates used to operate. One of the services on the Island was a free bus called "The Wave" which took an hour to cover the itinerary. I had always thought of Singer sewing machines as a British invention but our guide insisted that a Mrs. Singer from the island discovered the prototype from Mexico and that her husband developed it and sold it. You learn something new every day. We also did a cruise where the two boatmen dragged a trawl for a time and then brought aboard all kinds of unusual sea-creatures - many starfish, puffer fish, crabs etc. The boatmen were very knowledgeable; they threw many of the exhibits back, but kept some for aquariums and - I suspect - a small bucketful for their supper. We had glorious weather until the day we left. We returned to Abilene to celebrate Thanksgiving with my sister, but unfortunately my brother-in-law had to go into hospital and was diagnosed with lung cancer. They practically never get snow in that part of Texas, but we managed to fly out in a snowstorm. Two large vans were spraying the wings, and propellers and the take-off run seemed to take forever - a solid white-out all the way to Dallas. My admiration for that pilot knew no bounds. First published in VISA 79 (Jun08) |