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The Only Island in Texas with more Water Parks and Fishing Piers than Places to buy Long Pants
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The Island Moon
Issue 530
June 12, 2014
15th Annual July 4th Boat Parade to Include Live Music and Fireworks
Around The Island By Dale Rankin editor@islandmoon.com
The first day of summer is still a week away but it feels like it’s already here with the sultry weather. The Sargassum weed continues to pile up on our beaches, but the good news is that the turtle nesting season is off to a roaring start. There even was a daylight nesting this week as the turtles like the windy conditions to cover their tracks as they come ashore. See the photos at the top of this page.
Ski Basin Accident A young boy was hit by a boat last weekend while being towed behind a Jet Ski at the Ski Basin and is, as of this writing, remains in critical condition with head injuries. Witnesses said he was riding on an inflatable raft with another boy when the impact left him floating face down in the water. The boat that hit him stopped and took him to a nearby house where an ambulance was waiting. No criminal charges have been filed and none are expected, it looks to be an accident and nothing more. But it brings attention to the ever increasing number of people who crowd into the Ski Basin each weekend and the need for some monitoring of watercraft.
Beach driving along the seawall The move to ban vehicles from the beach in front of the seawall is creeping its way through the city bureaucracy slowly. The next step is for the matter to go before the Watershore and Beach Advisory Committee next. Council members Colleen McIntyre and Chad Magill are spearheading the effort and the Island Strategic Action Committee formally requested that the City Council enforce the ordinance that has been in place since 2008 making the seawall beach pedestrian only. Currently it is actually illegal for vehicles to drive south-to-north on the seawall beach but that ordinance has never been enforced.
Water water everywhere
The voice of The Island since 1996
Get ready for the Mother of All Deck Parties! This year marks the fifteenth year for the Padre Island 4th of July Watercraft Parade and the second year for the accompanying Island Blast! Fireworks Show and live music. The celebration, which will be on Friday, July 4, will also feature a free concert by recording artists Statesboro Review. Since the band played the July 4 party last year they have been on the CMT charts, had several songs on the Texas Top Ten list and toured Europe. They will play at the parade judge’s party which has been held for fifteen years on the combined decks of the homes between 13758 and 13764 Three Fathoms Bank. The homes belong to, among others, Ann Weber and Harald Meyer. The public is invited to attend and boaters can hear the music from the main canal. The music will kick off at 7 p.m. and end when the fireworks begin at 9 p.m.
How it began The 4th of July parade was the brainchild of Ann, Harald, and Island Moon founder Mike Ellis after a couple of particularly brutal La Posada Lighted Boat Parades when
Island Blast continued on A3
PACT 20141015 Board of Directors By Brent Rourk
The Port Aransas Community Theatre is diving into the new year with the newly elected 2014-2015 Board of Directors in place and a few extremely entertaining plays ready to perform. The 2014 Board of Directors consists of; Sandra Little (President), Patsy Balcom (Vice-president), Margaret Price (Treasurer), Penny Pillack (Secretary), Betty Crawford, Larry Paton, Ashley Knotts, and Rick Adams. The theatre managers are Darlene Secich and Sally Jo Bartlett (Interim) and the Volunteer Coordinator is Mary Hammond. Congratulations to the new Board and continued success for PACT.
The next step is to dig a test well at Billish Park in preparation for the building of a pond there to provide irrigation water to drown out the sandburs that now have the run of the park.
At the recent annual meeting Patsy Balcom and Betty Crawford announced the $20,000 donation made to PACT from the Sandfest proceeds.
PIBA Mixer
July 10, 11, 12, 13, 17, 18, 19, 20: Beauty and the Beast. Another not to be missed summer production.
The location of the PIBA mixer this month is at the new Alex Harris development Nemo Cay Resort on…wait for it…Nemo Court! The event kicks off poolside at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, June 17. For the directionally challenged Nemo Court is the street that runs off SPID next to the Coldwell Banker office so there should be plenty of street parking. We’ll see you there and in the meantime say hello if you see us Around The Island.
Inside the Moon...
Before Exploring Cave Ruins A4
By Dale Rankin
New Board Voted In
Two ponds recently dug at the entrance to Balli Park are a reminder that even in the midst of a drought our Island is afloat on a sea of fresh water just beneath our feet. Within hours of the two holes being dug they filled up with fresh water and have become very popular with Island birds.
Palmilla Beach Brings New Type of Development to The Island
Weekly
Upcoming Events
July 31, August 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 9, 10: Godspell. Ken Yarbrough has wanted to do this for some time. It is sure to be good. NOTE: Godspell Auditions have been postponed from June 9 and 10 until probably the following week. For more information about PACT productions, auditions, prices, and dates please contact PACT at 361749-6036.
Schlitterbahn from the Air
Work on the pool and surrounding buildings is well under way. Photo by Dale Rankin
By Dale Rankin
In the past year the explosive growth on both Padre and Mustang Islands has brought with it a great quanity of new developments. But now as the Schlitterbahn Beach Country Resort prepares to open, and high-end home
prices continue to climb a new type of development is entering the Island market that is unprecidented in its scope and ambition. Palmilla Beach Resort & Golf Club on the southern end of Port Aranas
Palmilla continued on A9
Kemp’s Ridley Nesting and Hatching Update By Donna J. Shaver, Ph.D.
Farah's Backwater Adventures A7
Division of Sea Turtle Science and Recovery National Park Service Padre Island National Seashore e-mail: Donna_Shaver@nps.gov From June 4-9, we nearly doubled the number of Kemp’s ridley sea turtle nests that had been found and protected in Texas this year. As of the morning of June 9, 91 Kemp’s ridley nests have been located in Texas. Sixty-eight of the 91 nests were found in the local area, including 58 at Padre Island National Seashore, 7 on North Padre Island north of the National Seashore, and 3 on Mustang Island. It is the peak of the Kemp’s ridley nesting season so hopefully more nests will be found soon.
Hill Country Design at Home A11
Please report nesting Although turtle patrollers discovered most of these nests, some were found by beachgoers. Please watch for nesting Kemp’s ridley turtles while
Turtles continued on A8
Live Music A18
A little Island history
The Fate of the Silver Fleet and the March of the 300
The year was 1553 and the place was Cuba. The Plata Flota (Silver Fleet) set sail from the New World for Spain with its load of precious metals. Noblemen and merchants alike were aboard headed for home; their fortunes made in the form of chests bulging with casks of silver coins and bars of bullion. The Royal Fifth belonging to the King of Spain was also aboard. The twenty ships of the flotilla that had gathered from across the New World in Cuba set out on their triumphant journey home. They headed northeasterly toward the Florida Keys making haste due to the hurricane season. They had lingered in Cuba only long enough to take on food and fresh water and now were barely out of port in Cuba when an unexpected hurricane swept them before its winds and seas, searing rigging and pushing them westward. Three ships in the vanguard made their way back to Cuba but the remainder were tossed in the storm until only three survived long enough to wash ashore on Padre Island.
A dire piece of misinformation The maps of the time called The Island by different names; Isla de Bayan, Isla Blanco, Isla de Corpus Christi, Isla de Santiago, Isla de las Malangutas and alternately showed
it as one long unbroken Island and sometimes as two or three Islands broken by “rivers.” But desolate as their maps showed it to be The Island was believed to be uninhabited; a dire piece of misinformation. The shipwrecked sailors lingered at the wreck site for days gathering what supplies they could. But their hesitation proved to be the deciding factor in their fate. On the sixth day after the wrecks washed up there appeared a band of
tall, naked, armed, inhabitants. The Spaniards made signs that they were friendly and soon the Indians began to mingle with them and left to return with food. The Spaniards built fires and began to eat the venison and fish brought by the natives. But before they could finish the Indians fell upon them with shouts and volleys of arrows. The Spaniards retaliated with crossbows and drove the Indians into the dunes.
History continued on A5