Inside the Moon
May P.I.B.A Mixer A2
Pop-up Gallery Opening A2
The Truth About Palms A6
The
Issue 683
Island Moon
The voice of The Island since 1996
May 18, 2017
Live Music A18
Babes on the Bay A8
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Photo by Teri Beck
Around The Island
New Record for Nesting Sea Turtles
By Dale Rankin
The rain on Wednesday gave us a respite from the blowing sand on our little sandbar. We Islanders don’t need a secret handshake to identify each other on our trips OTB. We know each other by our Dustbowl Hack. Where’s Woody Guthrie when you need him?
High Winds bring them ashore A new state record was set on Tuesday when 43 Kemp’s ridley nests were found in Texas, including 28 at Padre Island National Seashore, 6 on South Padre Island, 4 on North Padre Island north of Padre Island National Seashore, 1 on Bolivar Peninsula, 1 on Galveston Island, 1 on Surfside Beach, 1 on Mustang Island, and 1 on Boca Chica Beach.
Litter Critter lineup
The line for the Saturday Island visit of the Litter Critter backed up traffic from the end of Whitecap all the way back to Tesoro. We can’t say if this is due to the cutback from two Litter Critter visits per month to one or if we Islanders are just generating more stuff that needs to be thrown out. Either way if you are taking your litter to the critter be sure to give yourself some traffic time.
Beach to Bay And speaking of traffic the 41st annual Beach to Bay run is this Saturday and that means an Island traffic snarl of a few hours in the morning. The 26.2 mile-long event is billed as the largest relay marathon in the country and will have 2000 teams this year and that means 2000 runners taking off on the first leg which starts on The Island. For the second year there is also an individual class which will swell the running ranks ever further. The first leg of the event begins near Beach Access Road 5 and is entirely on The Island with the first team exchange point on the beach south of Bob Hall Pier. That means runners who drive themselves will be parking in that area. The route enters SPID/ Park Road 22 at Access Road 6 and continues all the way to the base of the JFK Causeway Bridge where it takes the northbound side to Flour Bluff. The southbound side of the JFK will be one lane each way and in past years that means a backup until around 10:30 a.m.
Brent Chesney's annual Sandcastle Run took place last Saturday. The event raise money to help send children with diabetes to summer camp. More on A16. Photo by Bruce Bair.
Fixing Irrigation System to Collapsed Stop Sand Blowing Bulkhead Expected to Cost $200$300,000
Relief!
By Dale Rankin
Since spring winds picked up in earnest several weeks ago Islanders downwind of the construction area around Lake Padre have been feeling the effects of the fine, blowing sand. On Wednesday the lead developer on the property, Paul Schexnailder, issued his plan to deal with the problem. “We know it’s a problem,” he said Wednesday, “We didn’t anticipate this much wind and we are moving to deal with it.” The plan calls for a series of rotating sprinkler heads place sixty feet apart,
first along State Highway 361 and then along SPID, which will pump 35,808 gallons of water per day in a 36-foot radius. A special coast seed mix of grass will be spread throughout the irrigated area. The work is being done by PureNature, LLC., Landscape Construction Services based in New Braunfels. The water will come from a pond located near the sprinklers which will be fed by non-brine surface water. Schexnailder said the irrigation will be in place, “As soon as we can get the equipment there.”
Lack of bidders a problem
By Dale Rankin About seventy feet of collapsed
Fourth of July Fireworks
We’ll see you there, and in the meantime say hello if you see us Around The Island.
Nest Count 4 Galveston Island 0 Brazoria County, N. of Surfside 1 Surfside Beach 0 Quintana Beach 0 Bryan Beach 0 Brazoria County, N. of Sargent Beach 0 Sargent Beach 1 Matagorda Peninsula 0 Matagorda Island 1 San Jose Island 8 Mustang Island 6 North Padre Island north of Padre Island National Seashore
Sargassum seepage
Strange as it may sound the annual Fourth of July Island Blast Fireworks Display is but a mere seven weeks away and organizer Jerry Watkins has everything ready but is about $3800 short of the final amount of funds needed. We’re trying to keep Jerry from having to sell pencils in the Stripes Parking lot to raise the money so if you can help out make checks payable to Island Blast, addressed to 14890 Granada Dr. #205, or drop them here at the Island Moon office, 14646 Compass. All of the proceeds go directly to the show. This will be the fifth year for the show which in only a short time has become an Island tradition.
Dr. Donna Shaver said the nesting season could extend until midJuly, so certainly more nests will be recorded in Texas this year. 2 Bolivar Peninsula
It kicks off at 7 a.m. and the duration of the traffic event varies from year to year but should be cleared out well before noon. A tip for we Islanders; the route does not use Windward or go north of the beach at Whitecap. South Packery beach is free and clear if you can get there. We’re starting to see some sargassum weed wash up of late. It’s been a couple of years since we have a serious infestation but it looks like this may be the year as fisherpersons have been reporting large offshore mats for several weeks. When is someone going to figure out how to cook this stuff?
That brings the total to 236 Kemp’s ridley nests found in Texas this year and exceeds the previous annual record of 209 nests found in 2012. The 144 nests found at Padre Island National Seashore exceeds the previous annual record of 117 Kemp’s ridley nests found there during 2009 and 2011. The 14 nests found at Boca Chica Beach also exceeds the previous annual record of 12 nests found during 2008.
Sand Blows! Sand blowing across Park Road 22 caused a fog-like effect last week as winds gusted at over 35mph.
bulkhead on Primavera Street is expected to cost between $200,000$300,000 to repair according to an estimate from Padre Isles Property
144 Padre Island National Seashore
Bulkheads cont. on A4
Turtles cont. on A4
55 South Padre Island 14 Boca Chica Beach
A little Island history
Indianola was the State’s Busiest Port -- Now it’s a Ghost Town By Dale Rankin The port town of Indianola was born and died through suffering. The town was situated near sea level on Matagorda Bay near Port Lavaca from 1844-1886. During that time Indianola grew from a camp of immigrants running from suffering in Europe into a cosmopolitan port city. Before the first of two storms hit the city in 1875 Indianola was regarded as second only to Galveston in commercial and maritime supremacy and was a threat to the older port because of Indianola’s location nearer to the heart of Texas, and points west, which were then being settled my immigrant Europeans. Indianola was the port for trade with Chihuahua and the eastern terminus for the shortest overland route to
California. The town that became known as the Mother of Western Texas was founded after the earlier settlement of Matagorda, situated on the left bank of the Colorado River and which had the first newspaper in the state, failed due to raids by Comanche Indians and the development of a silt bar deposited by the river along the narrow eastern arm of the bay which prevented the approach to Matagorda by ships entering the bay through Pass Cavallo. Cargo had to be shifted to lighter vessels and ferried the final four miles of the route, which was expensive and tiresome.
Politics intervenes Then in 1839 things changed for the mid-coast region of Texas when a decision was made, against the wishes of Sam Houston, to move the seat of
Indainola, TX street scene History cont. on A4