From snow and cold to hot and breezy was a shock to the body. After the long drive full of excitement about what was to come, Port O’Connor was the first stop on the tour of Southern Texas. The coast was my favorite part of the trip. From traveling around, I have always enjoyed experiencing coastal towns. Each town is unique in its own way but still shares many similarities like small restaurants to family-owned bait shops.
Matagorda Island is a very interesting place to visit. It is hard to explain the experience of staying out on the island as I have never done any remote or primitive camping. Having to pack everything one would need for a couple of days was a change but fun. It really put into perspective how little one needs to comfortably thrive when camping.
The trip out to the island started by unpacking and rearranging the trailer so we could figure out what needed to be shuttled out to the island. I was on the second ride out, so we loaded up the van and shuttled everything over to the boat house and waited for the boat to come back. After loading the boat with the rest of the gear, it was time to ride out. This was my first time in a boat out on any coastal waters, so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Just leaving the dock I soon realized that this was going to be an adventure. Soon after leaving we made our way through the mangroves. Without a GPS or local knowledge, I would have been lost for days out there. We were weaving in and out and around the mangrove islands. Water depth varied greatly on our trip out. It could go from deep water to less than a foot of water in a second.
Coastal waters are home to a wide variety of wildlife. The number of different birds out there was amazing to see. Even though I am not a birder and probably could only name a handful of birds, it was still amazing to see them all. In addition to the birds, it was also fascinating to see the different pods of dolphins swimming around. You could look in any direction and if you looked long enough you would see a small pod break the surface. The different types of fish were also interesting to see. The fish ranged from many small fish jumping around the islands to the occasional big plow up of a larger fish.
Once we made it to the island it was clear that Matagorda Island is a popular location that is visited by many. There were many sun shelters for people to hang out and relax at. In addition, there were many boat docks that people could tie up to. Once we got the boat unloaded it was time to set up camp. Finding a spot to set up camp was easy because the ground was kept clean and mowed by Texas Parks and Wildlife. After camp was set, everyone started doing their own activity, some went birding, exploring, or fishing. I started off by rigging up my fishing gear and set out to complete my goal of catching a speckled sea trout or a redfish. After fishing for a while with no success, and being eaten alive by the mosquitoes, I took a break to make some food. After dinner I switched to catching small bait fish to use for a larger fish. There was a feeling of excitement as to what might bite as the coastal water is home to many different species of fish. After a long night of fishing and hanging out with fellow classmates it was time to rest for a full day to come.
Waking up on the island was a new experience. It was cool with a light breeze, but the humidity was something unexpected. One would wake up cool, but damp and all clothing or equipment left out from the previous night was wet. Anything touching the tent walls would also be damp. A new day brought yet new adventures. The mosquitoes were still on a mission to feed off our legs. We took a boat ride around Port O’Connor to look for birds and anything else we could find. Just leaving the island we were already into the birds. We made our way back into town before traveling down the shipping channel that goes right through town. There were many ducks and shore birds all over but there was one bird we were on a mission to find. The prize bird on our mind was the whooping crane. Whooping cranes were much larger than I thought from reading about them and watching videos on them. The only thing I can say about them is that I was not taken away when I first seen one. I can’t find the value of them like others do. Overall, the birding was fun, and it was interesting to listen to others talk about them, but I enjoyed the boat ride the most. It was interesting to see the different habitats and homes that were built. There were many homes built on stilts on little islands miles offshore and looked like no one had visited them in a while.
On our last day on the island, we just packed up and slowly loaded the boat. As we packed up a boat cruised in and tied up across from us. We didn’t pay much attention to them as the island is a popular place. After a while the gentlemen that came to the island paid us a visit. We found out he works on the island, and he offered us a tour of the island. We all agreed, and he went to get a truck and we started off. He introduced himself but no one caught his name, but he said that everyone calls him Pickle so that’s what we called him. He took us to the runways of the old military base that was built on the island. After the runways, he took us to the lighthouse that was on the island. There was an interesting history with the lighthouse. It was built during the Civil War and the Confederates failed to blow it up. We were able to climb to the top and look out. According to Pickle, only a few locals have ever been up to the top.
With one last boat ride back to our vehicles, I realized that the coast is a place I would like to live or work. Looking back at it now my favorite part was traveling around on the boat seeing different birds and homes built around the area. My second favorite part would be the kind gesture of Pickle to take 11 strangers on a tour around the island and show great hospitality to all of us. My least favorite part would be the aggressive mosquitoes that call the island home. Like others, Texas will now have a burning spot that will make me question if I want to move down there and work or chase another dream somewhere else.
