I believe we will see different colors used on the buildings. These are two different colors being considered for the other buildings. Many owners wanted a very light blue to be considered.

This is the back of the 100 building. The trim is being painted white.
The front of the 100 building is also being trimmed in white.
The back of the 600 building is being trimmed in white.
Work on the roof is going slowly. A small crew has been replacing the rotted facia boards on the bay side. The shingles have not yet arrived.

Our beach front looked like South Padre Island this weekend. The place was really crowded. As you can see in the picture the water was splashing up and over the bulkhead so the campers had to stay back. The winds kept the boaters at bay for the most part.
The roofers did a little work today, but I expect they will really get it in gear tomorrow.
Merlin(506) did catch a big red off the crossbridge Friday night on cut mullet.
I got my weekly stats today and I guess there is some interest in the roofing project as 156 hits on the blog were recorded. That is definitely a new record. I asked some owners who were here as well as guests about the color of the buildings and the responses were unanimously in favor of using different colors on different buildings. Boat owners were also unanimous in their opinion about the finger piers. The carpentry and visual appeal rate an A+, but as you can see in the picture at least one boater would rather tie his boat to the posts and jump to shore than to use the one slip with cleats. Parking a boat is not like parking a car. When you enter a slip you need something to grab on to. The posts work fine, but they are being cut off to give a better look to the pier. Also the end corners are sharp and could harm a hull. Most all slips that I have seen elsewhere have a post at the end to provide a rounded bumper. I'm afraid if we cut off all the posts, we will have boats playing bumper cars this summer. One guest who was trying to tie up his boat told me that he would not return here if we didn't provide better mooring facilities. It doesn't matter to me as I usually pull my boat out after a trip.


Leave it to guests to notice the little things that we have overlooked. I know Jerry took great pride in our place and always trimmed the grass inside the tennis court. The current lawn service seems to have overlooked this for some time. A guest pointed out to me that that at the rate the grass is encroaching on our tennis court, we will soon have true lawn tennis.

The wind and high tide have pushed the water up into the vegetation line on the HEB property. I guess they will be happy knowing that our folks won't be walking on "their" beach this weekend.
Last minute preparations for the weekend have Justin climbing a ladder this morning with paintbrush in hand. All the rotted window trim is being replaced and painted.

Yesterday, May 22nd, at the 1st Presbyterian church in Rockport, Texas, Jim Sikes and Barbara Wagner were married. May God smile on this union.

Jim & Barbara

Painting began on the 100 building today. Notice the skirting is also being painted white. Justin feels the spindles and hand rails on the entrances might look good painted white also. This is similar to what is being done at phase II. There is some talk of making some of the buildings different colors. This was done at the Villas. It hard to tell right now because the roofing has not been completed on the 100 building. The roofers will work only a half day tomorrow. The 100 and 200 buildings will be felted and on the 300 building only the edge tiles will be removed until after the weekend.
Robbie is starting to put the cleats on some of the finger piers. Its hard to see in the picture, but there are two on top of the pier on the end and two on the sides near the bulkhead.

Here is another interesting article sent to me my Randy(308).

BY TARA BOZICK - VICTORIA ADVOCATE

May 20, 2008 - 10:57 p.m.

PORT O’CONNOR - The fourth-generation oysterman hopes to dredge for oysters until the day he dies.

The commercial oyster season runs from Nov. 1 to April 30 along the Gulf Coast. But 43-year-old Robert Anthony Stringo said he didn’t really have an oyster season in San Antonio Bay this year.

“A lot of places I’ve seen, the oysters were just dead,” Stringo said.

To make a profit he needs to collect 40 bushels, or between 100 and 110 pounds, of oysters each eight-hour working day. This past season, Stringo collected between 30 and 40 bushels a day. He now works odd jobs to supplement his income.

Stringo attributes the “awful” season to summer flooding and expects the oysters to recover in the next year and a half.

Texas Parks and Wildlife biologist Norman Boyd agrees. Boyd said the San Antonio Bay oyster reefs are healthy, but the oysters suffered because of heavy summer rains.

Because San Antonio Bay is small and relatively shallow, large amounts of freshwater flowing from the rivers can really decrease the salinity levels, Boyd said.

“The oysters took a beating last year with 55 to 70 inches of rain,” Boyd said.

When oysters encounter freshwater, they close up like a clam, Boyd said. But they can only stay closed for 10 days to two weeks as their metabolic waste products build up inside them. If they open, they die from the freshwater.

The summer floods may also have delayed the oyster spawning, the biologist in the coastal fisheries division in Port O’Connor said.

The salinity levels are back up and if everything stays normal, the oysters will prosper the season after next, Boyd said. He even expects better quality oysters than before the flooding, as the rains brought in an abundance of nutrients.

The winter season this year won’t be a “bumper crop,” Boyd said.

Because of the lack of oysters in San Antonio Bay, John Williams harvested oysters in Copano and Aransas bays to provide product for his and his wife’s business, Linda T’s Fresh Shrimp off state Highway 185 in Port O’Connor. But toxins produced by an algae bloom forced the Department of State Health Services to close those bays and San Antonio Bay in March. San Antonio Bay reopened April 5.2

“It’s been a bad year,” Williams said. “I don’t think we can make it.”

Williams, 53, banked on oysters for profits while high fuel costs ate away his shrimp income. But, he added, his retail shop only survived so far because he caught some large white shrimp, around 70 to 100 pounds in a day.

High fuel costs, dead oysters, algae blooms - it’s just one thing after another, Linda Tippit said.

The oysters will be back, the veteran Stringo said.

“Just leave them alone for a year.”

But even positive-thinking Stringo worries he may not afford to continue in his line of work.

“I would like to stay shrimping and oystering the rest of my life, but I don’t think it’s going to happen,” Stringo said.

Tara Bozick is a reporter for the Advocate. Contact her at 361-580-6504 or tbozick@vicad.com.

Half Moon Reef has been very productive this spring. I often write about it so I thought I would show what it looks like. This is Jim and Deborah's(210) son ,Weston, a few weeks ago. The day could not have been better, but the fish catching was marginal. As beautiful as it was here, we caught only a stingray. I think you can see why they named it Half Moon.

The roofers arrived here at 6:45 a.m. and were on the roof by 7 a.m. and worked until dark thirty! This is a picture of all the 1x2 that they throw off the roof. They throw the tiles into a dump trailer. There is now no plan to complete the roofing on the first three buildings by this weekend. They will place the felt paper on top of the two layers already present to dry the buildings in until after the weekend.

New felt is in the process of being placed over the old felt on the 100 building. The roof trim has been painted white. Some plywood was found rotted, as can be seen, between 102 and 103. I seriously doubt that they will progress beyond the 200 building by the end of the week. They did work late this evening. It appears that the crew is no more than seven guys, but they do work hard. One of the busiest workers is, I am told, sixty-eight years old. It makes my bones hurt to see him go up and down that ladder all day long. There is a lot of sand on the roof that has accumulated through the years. The tiles were never nailed down. They were held down by gravity and held on by one by twos parallel to the roof edge. They are tossing the old tile down into a dump trailer. It crumbles into small pieces. I suggested that some of that be put at the end of our boat ramp to fill the void left by years of boat launching. Two years ago Jerry put six yards of oyster shell in the hole, but it all washed out.
Robbie and Chuck worked on the finger piers all day. The photo shows what is now done behind the 500 building. Robbie showed me one of the cleats that he has purchased to place on the piers to tie on to for boats. They are eight inches long and galvanized. He was able to get 90 for $300.
The paint for the buildings is still undecided. A different shade of yellow was placed on the front of 204 today for consideration.

The roofing crew arrived about 7:30 this morning. They worked in the heat and plan to complete the first three buildings this week. The trim will be painted white before the shingles to on to keep the paint off the shingles. This evening Chuck Wright is pressure washing the trim and walls.

The "Babes on the Bay" had a record of almost 900 entries. The ones staying here did pretty good on the fishing. The weather was great. Scott and I went out for six hours on Sunday and came back with only three trout. We put Gulp up against DOA and DOA won 2 to 1. However, a group of fellows here for there own tournament came back yesterday with a boatload of fish caught on Gulp, mostly at Half Moon Reef.
Last evening Robbie came by for some fishing pointers. I think he is catching the fishing fever. We went on the pier and caught many small trout. It was unusual that the fish were snapping off the tails of our lures. That rarely happens. I lost the tails to eight cocohoes and he lost the tails to the only worm puzzler that he had.
It was good to see Cyrena and Kevin(501) back this weekend. They were supposed to close on their place on the 8th of May, but at the last minute it fell through. Their kids don't mind that a bit. It was sad though to see Pack(307) and his family tow in a UHaul to empty out their place. They close this week. They have been owners for 15 years.
I did hear from Jim(former owner of 602) last week. He and Barbara(former owner of 101) will be getting married this month. Congratulations!
Roof work began this morning. I will post pictures soon.
My stats show that last week the blog had a record 100 hits on the site. I don't recall ever seeing that many. Now I feel the pressure to find interesting stuff to blog about.

We had a sewer line break near the entrance road this week. The water lines were right next to it so Ron is trying to repair those valves while he is at it. I'm not sure we can keep that sprinkler system working because so many people park on the grass there. I'm also posting a picture of a small heron fishing in the mitigation site. Just after I took the picture he snared his supper. It doesn't appear that clear, but the head was a vivid dark blue.

Work around here continues at a hectic pace. The roof project has been pushed back until Sunday. They didn't want to disturb the many guests this weekend. The roofer plans to finish the 100,200, and 300 buildings next week. Then they will take a break for Memorial Day and finish the rest. Painting will begin as soon as the roof project is completed. Some tint of yellow is being considered. The picture is of the end of the 100 building with three colors that are being considered. The sidewalk repair at the corner of 608 was completed today.

This weekend is the "Babes on the Bay" weekend. There are large tents set up at the Rockport harbor. We have some guests staying here. This is a picture of one of the boats. Check that 300 horsepower engine. No wonder there is a gasoline shortage. I want to see him get out from our channel!

Randy(308) sent this interesting article from the Victoria newspaper.

BY TARA BOZICK - VICTORIA ADVOCATE

May 16, 2008 - 8:18 a.m.

The Gulf Coast shrimp industry as we know it is over, commercial shrimp operators say.

“It’s a shame, it really is,” Henry Anderson, owner of Clark’s Restaurant and Marina in Port O’Connor said. “I guess you would call it the degradation of the seafood industry.”

Anderson’s family entered the seafood business in 1917 and the 56-year-old remembers the peak of the shrimp industry. And now he sees its end.

“Fuel and imported shrimp prices,” he said. “You can’t overcome both.”

The amount of shrimp brought in from the Gulf of Mexico commercial shrimp season, which ended Thursday, will definitely be less than in past years, science director Mark Fisher with the Coastal Fisheries Division of Texas Parks and Wildlife in Rockport said.

Even bay shrimp landings have decreased since 1987, Fisher said. The bay shrimp season started Thursday and runs through mid-July.

“The wild shrimp industry – it is in severe decline, both landings and effort,” Fisher said. “They’re not going out and trying.”

But not for lack of shrimp. The division’s netting survey this year brought in the second highest number of shrimp compared to past years, Fisher said. The quality of the shrimp also compares to past years.

The high cost of diesel fuel along with the declining price of shrimp would most likely cause a reduction in harvesting, Fisher said. He added imports make up roughly 90 percent of the market.

Farms in southeast Asia can raise shrimp cheaper than shrimpers can harvest wild shrimp, Fisher said. But this area’s climate isn’t favorable for raising shrimp.

The low cost of shrimp motivated some farmers to even switch to a more profitable species like catfish, Fisher said.

Most shrimpers in Palacios tied down their shrimp boats and found work elsewhere, Craig Wallis, owner of W&W Dock said. Wallis owns and maintains eight shrimp boats and hires crew to operate them, but the rising fuel costs forced him to tie up in February.

That same month, Wallis went to Washington, D.C. with the Southern Shrimp Alliance to lobby for fuel subsidies, tariffs on foreign shrimp and just plain old financial assistance.

“They kind of turned a deaf ear,” Wallis said, frowning. “I really think there are very few people who will be able to survive this.”

Loading his boats with 7,500 gallons of fuel and spending 45 days on the Gulf, he used to get by on 200 pounds of shrimp a night. Now Wallis needs 400 pounds of shrimp a night to break even. Still latching onto hope, he searches for fuel in Mexico, where the price hovers around $2 a gallon.

Around 300 people in the Palacios area, including shrimpers and supporting businesses, rely on the shrimp industry. Palacios serves as one of the two largest shrimp ports on the Gulf Coast.

Wallis can’t imagine the town without shrimp.

“I think the town would really suffer. I really do,” he said. “It gets pretty discouraging.”

Anderson predicts some shrimpers will try to hang on for a while but, ultimately, the industry will need federal help.

Over the last 10 years, Anderson watched more and more people in Port O’Connor slip away from shrimping.

With more money with recreational fishing, he diversified his own business in 1994 and sold off his shrimp boats. He now manages a restaurant, marina and bait shop.

At the back of his bait shop, he opened a freezer and pulled out a box of shrimp. The label said it was from Vietnam. He started experimenting with foreign shrimp because he foresees a time when his restaurant won’t be able to rely on domestic shrimp.

“I’ve got to run this restaurant and it’s a shame I have to run it with foreign-raised product when I got it swimming right here,” he said, pointing out to the Gulf. “It really is a sad situation. This is the worst. That’s why I say it’s over.”

Tara Bozick is a reporter for the Advocate. Contact her at 361-580-6504 or tbozick@vicad.com.

It looks as if things are going to be very busy around here the next two weeks. The roofing project is set to kick off on Thursday. The company insists that they will finish by June 1st. They plan to use 35 employees. The price was adjusted yesterday to allow use of materials that can withstand winds of 120 mph.. The final price will be around $163,000, well within our budget. Paint will be available tomorrow in a light yellow color to paint the buildings after the roofing is completed. I don't think a final selection of color has been made. I'll try to post pictures as things progress.
Clark Construction is supposed to be here this week to evaluate the clearing of the channel from all the sand that has accumulated. I don't feel there is any way to ever solve this problem without modifying the existing configuration. Something has to be done to prevent the waves from traveling straight down the channel and depositing their sand. Either an additional angled section has to be added or about 100 feet could be removed from the north end and placed perpendicular to the end of the south section. This could probably be done without additional GLO approval, maybe.
The March financial statement arrived on Saturday. It is still difficult to know what to think about it. About all that can be determined with certainty is that we were more than 100% over budget for the month. Some of that is the accumulation of salaries that were posted in March. It would still be good to receive some notes of explanation with the statement, as we did for many years.
No more work has been done on the finger piers as all available help is being used in the remodeling that is going on. All units in the rental pool are rented for Memorial Day and the time is getting short. The Will Petty party is renting over 25 units for the following week, so much is being done this week. I am trying to get some remodeling done in my upstairs bath. I had a local contractor give me a written estimate for $23,600. Rob said he could get in done for half of that in a week. I had to get started and Rob was still in California, so I am going with a friend of Gus(203) and doing less than a complete remodel.
Fishing off the deck continues to be good. This 23 inch trout came by on Sunday. Jim(210) netted her up and took the picture.

Chuck(107) sent these pictures of their condo on Maui. What a great looking place.

Tuesday the winds gave us a break. I put two poles with pin perch behind the condo and two on the pier. Right away I caught a 16 inch trout on the pole behind the condo. Several hours later the same pole caught an 18 inch trout. One on the pier must have hooked into a big red. When I checked it, the line was under the pier and broken off.

Sand was put on the beach in the morning. Thirty loads at $200 each were ordered. It looks like that was just about right. I did see three loads put on Richy's property at the end of the pier. The price included spreading. In the afternoon the wind came up and what sand did not blow away was being washed away. The picture is of the area behind 101 in the afternoon. You can see the sand washing around the corner and under Richy's shoreguard. The three loads on his side hardly made a difference. The water still drains that direction. When I went to take in my poles it was like walking in quicksand. The fresh sand and a lot of water make a pretty slushy mix.

Remodeling has started on 204. When they took up the tile floor in the entrance area, the subfloor came up with it. I'm sure many subfloors are also rotted. It looked strange to stand at the door and look inside and see the piers and beams under the building. Justin was swinging a mean sledge hammer trying to drive new plywood into place. He did say that he has received the liability insurance confirmation from the roofer who has given us a good price. I hope it works out.

From the Rockport Pilot

Oyster bed restoration target of pilot project

As part of a pilot project to restore ecologically important oyster beds which are in decline in the Gulf of Mexico, The Nature Conservancy deposited 200 cubic yards of oyster shell into the shallow waters of Copano Bay on Monday, April 28. This is part of an effort to create new shelter for oysters and other marine animals, including juvenile sport fish, which depend on shell reefs. The mound of shells was carried into the bay on a 30-foot barge and blown into shallow water with a fire hose within a one-acre patch where an oyster bed previously existed.
“Oysters have been in serious decline since the 80s in Texas, in part due to pressure from commercial fishing but also because of shell dredging for use as roadbed material and in making concrete,” said Rafael Calderon, director of The Nature Conservancy's Gulf of Mexico Program.
Oyster beds provide important habitat for many other species, from invertebrates to juvenile fish, including many sport fish vital to the state's recreation revenues, Calderon said. They are filter-feeders, filtering up to six gallons of saltwater an hour each. They consume plankton (tiny microscopic plants and animals found in the water) and play an important role in maintaining good water quality in bays and estuaries.
Local fishing guide James Fox, a native of Rockport, was on hand in Copano Bay to watch the oyster shells being deposited in the water.

The Nautical Flea Market was held this weekend at the Rockport harbor. I went Saturday and it was very crowded. I didn't find anything I couldn't live without.
I looked out toward the 700 building at dusk on Thursday. I saw two guys on the very top of the roof and the wind was howling. I checked it out and found they were out to give a roof estimate. They were late because first they had a deer run into their truck and a short time later the timing belt broke and they had to hitch a ride to Rockport to get parts to fix it. They were from CN roofing in Port Lavaca. They did think the deer survived.
Friday evening Justin said that he has a bid for the roof that is $75,000 under our estimated cost. He will check out the company references and work and they may begin very soon. They think they can finish in two weeks after starting. I told Justin that all the owners that I have talked to concur that the entrance road should be a very hight priority. I showed Justin some of the loose tiles that are just laying on the roof and may slide down any time. The pictures are of the tiles above 503 and 607.
I have also included a picture of work on the sidewalk near 608. The water has always washed out below the sidewalk at the end of the crosswalk. You see in the picture Jesse and Ron with the rented jackhammer. I'm not sure what they were trying to do. We have filled that area over the years with a great deal of concrete and the only final resolution will be to build a wall with shoreguard to prevent the water from eating out the soil beneath the sidewalk.
The south side of the breakwater is coming apart near the end. It looks like six of the long through bolts have fallen out and a seventh is almost gone. This leaves the shoreguard loose between the whalers and they constantly rattle and move. We probably need to budget annually for breakwater maintenance although it should be shared with Phase II and Sea Shell Shores.

After talking to several people about my big fish last Tuesday, I believe now that it may have been a gar. The description matches, especially the tail I saw. I think I would have noticed the nose, but maybe not. Steve Lew, barbeque diner owner, first told me it might have been a gar. He and his brother went to Cedar Bayou on Tuesday. He said that had their limit of trout from the surf in no time. What did get his attention was a really big shark that came up to him in only about three feet of water. He said he bonked it on the nose with the rod handle and it moved away. He said it was a big Black Tip.
Pat(602) tried out three new boats at the recent boat show and by far the best was a 22 foot Ranger. He hopes to have it soon.
The newest bill from my energy provider, YEP, arrived last week. What a savings over CPL. Rob says he is still with CPL, but I don't know of anyone else.
I visited with Keith and Sandy(508) today. What a remodel they have done on their place. It looks great!
Kevin and Cyrena(501) are enjoying their last weekend as owners. They close on the 8th. Kevin went out this morning and tried all over Long Reef, St. Joe, and even Copano and caught only small trout.
The finger piers have not progressed while Rob is in California. The ones behind the 400 building are complete, but no cleats have been installed so that boats may be tied up. The ones behind the 500 and 600 buildings are still under construction.

We finally got a break from the wind on Tuesday. Marvin, Merlin(506), and I went out in the afternoon. We picked up five trout and four gafftop. Marvin wanted to use live shrimp, but Gulp was doing much better and soon changed. I did put a shrimp on at Paul's Mott to give it a try. I hooked into the biggest thing I ever caught in the bay, outside of sharks. It never made a run, but fought its way to the boat and made two circles around the boat. After the second lap it came out of the water about 15 feet away. We all saw it and did not know what it was. It was not a red and not enough girth for drum. On the third lap it made a short run and the hook became dislodged. It was between 30 and 40 inches long and dark on top. The tall dorsal fin and tail were very dark, but the body was lighter and svelte.
The entrance channel is really filling in. I had the jackplate all the way up and still couldn't get in. I had to tilt the engine all the way up and float over the hump at the west end of the channel. Something will likely have to be done before summer. I think the problem was that a turn was not incorporated into the breakwater and the waves just come right down the channel and deposit their suspended solids further and further up the channel. Initially the failure of Moose to close the wall where it joins the old wall was clearly a problem and it still is the most shallow area. However the whole thing is filling in from the constant wave action. The very end is still seven feet deep, but near the former end of the pier it is down to two feet.
Justin is back from California and Rob is in California until early next week.
Marv and Rita left yesterday to go back to Pearland. Rita said the wind was so strong last weekend that the it overturned a table on the deck and the table then smashed the window and scattered glass into the condo.
Merlin has been doing well on the pier using really small perch for bait. I saw his catch on Monday and he had three really nice trout in only about a hour of fishing.
I was passing through Holiday Beach on 35 at dusk recently. An Aransas County Sheriff's officer pulled me over and said that I was driving without headlights. I showed him that the headlights are automatic and if its dark, they are on! I don't believe I could turn them off if I wanted to. He walked around to the front of the car and came back and said, "I think I have the wrong car." What's up with that? Maybe that's why the current sheriff lost in the primary in March.