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Riley P. Dog’s Canadian Cousin A5
Fishin’ With Farah A3
The Island Moon Published by Island Moon Publishing, LLC 15201 S. Padre Island Drive Ste. 250 Corpus Christi, TX. 78418 editor@islandmoon.com (361) 949-7700
Beach Fun Then & Now A 9
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India: The Best of Times A 10
Spring Break 2012 A11
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The
Island Moon The Island Newspaper since 1996
Island Area News ● Events ● Entertainment
March 29, 2012
Photo by Miles Merwin
The Island With More Gorillas than Grocery Stores
Around The Island
By Dale Rankin editor@islandmoon.com We’ve had Chamber of Commerce Weather hereabouts of late. Fishing continues to be good and the beaches from the north sticks (north end of Padre Island National Seashore) to Newport Pass have been drivable with your basic two wheel drive vehicle. From there south, on PINS, it is touch and go – mostly touch and no go – as soft sand continues from about the 6 mile marker all the way down past Little Shell at about 26 miles. A few intrepid souls have reported making the trip but the ones we have talked to say they won’t be doing it any more for a while- with the exception of Montana who is hard core and owns a small jeep and makes two trips per week down there for fishing. The Sargasso weed is starting to wash up in greater quantities and Captain Morgan who recently passed this way at the helm of one of the wooden Columbus ships said that offshore he encountered large, thick mats of floating seaweed dense enough to foul his prop. We’ve noticed recently that the beach cleaning crews in Port Aransas have begun piling the beached weed up in large piles which they later use to fill man-made gaps in the dunes known as Maintenance Dunes. At first glance it looks like the crews are blasting gaps in the dunes, which they are, but as dune expert Greg Smith pointed out, they then fill the gaps with the large piles of seaweed. This serves two purposes; first it stops the practice of dumping the seaweed in front of the dunes which serves to narrow the beach over time. Second, it allows for dunes higher than the norm to be built up in the gaps meaning that over time it raises the protective dune line all along the beach.
Next Publication Date: 4/5/2012
Spring Break by the Numbers Here are the totals from the height of this year’s Sprig Break from March 12-18 provided by the Convention and Visitors Bureau. Visitors bought 35,163 Room nights in 51 hotels across the city. Average cost was $80.00 per night Downtown and I-37 and Airport hotels had 90% occupancy rate, Island hotels were at near 100% Cars visiting Island Beaches had 3.5 passengers Based on the 3.5 person-per-vehicle number, using the traffic counters placed on the main Island roads during Spring Break: 109,351 people visited the beach near Zahn Road. 208,327 visited beaches from Packery Channel South to the Kleberg County line. The State Aquarium had 40,838 visitors 5,515 of those in one day. The Lexington had 21,242 visitors
Shell of a Mess
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Year 15, Issue 415
Solar Powered Homes on the Island Not just a pipe dream anymore By Dale Rankin How many times have we Islanders asked each other, “With all the sunny and windy days we have on The Island why aren’t there more homes with solar panels and wind turbines?” The answer is that there is and there are about to be a lot more. A company out of the Rio Grande Valley has installed solar panels on one Island home and is working with a local builder to construct an energy efficient Gianluca Ferrario installed the solar panels on this home on Whitecap that will include solar roof panels. house on Cuttysark (top) and on the house in Flour Bluff
(below).
The company, SPI Go Green this week completed installation of solar panels on its second home located in Flour Bluff and has five more homes under contract. We will get to wind turbines later. The most common questions asked about solar power for homes; how much does it cost and how long does it take to recoup the initial investment? Can I go completely off the power grid and be energy self sufficient. Let’s take these in order.
Solar by the numbers
The cost to install a solar energy system varies by the size of the home. If the size of the solar system is scaled to the size of the home then
Solar Continued on A6
Curb Aquarius
If a storm threatens the dune gaps can quickly be filled in to avoid giving Mother Nature an opening in the dune protection line which is the main defense against hurricanes. It is a good plan that has been proven to work.
What’s all that hammering? A drive around The Island of late reveals a large number of homes under construction. For exact numbers on Island real estate see Mary Lou’s column in this issue. There doesn’t seem to be a pattern in terms of where they are going up, some on Whitecap, others scattered around the neighborhoods. The ICF Styrofoam homes seem to be becoming more popular. The inventory of homes for sale has dropped below a six-month supply which is considered a benchmark of a healthy market and realtors report that condos and vacant lots are selling very well. The buying seems to be driven by a combination of factors but having the Eagle Ford oil play pumping more and more black gold out of the hundred mile swath of Central Texas doesn’t seem to be hurting. During the Texas Women’s Angler Tournament last summer we counted just north of $20 million worth of boats lined up for the weigh in and most had names like Dry Hole, Gusher, Oily Rag, or some other oil patch related theme. One exception was Day Money owned by George Strait who came down from Rockport to hang out at the Back Porch while his wife fished.
Islander Scott McFarland got tired of looking at a duck blind on land behind his house and decided to remove it. The land is owned by developer Paul Schexnailder and is marked no trespassing but the blind that was built there was built to last. McFarland said the shotguns opened up around 6:30 during the last duck season and after calling various agencies got no reaction so he went to work on the blind.
At any rate, the last two summers have been huge for tourist dollars on The Island and according to Keith Arnold from the Convention and Visitors Bureau this season looks to be just as good or better and the new homes going up are signs that the real estate market is looking up as well.
The blind was meant to last and had four-byfour posts cemented into the ground, some of which will have to be cut down with a
Park Road Bridge We get asked a lot about whether the city is actually going to build the Water Exchange Bridge to connect Lake Padre to the Island canal system. All we can say is that they say they are. In the council meeting this week the council affirmed that they plan to use $8.5 million from the 2008 bond election to build it and the staff told the council that there is a total of $13 million left in the bond funds that will become available by late summer. As talks for the Schlitterbahn Waterpark & Resort have moved into the detail stage the bridge looks more and more like the lynchpin in the deal. The publicly stated schedule is still to break ground on the park no later than June with opening by next summer. We’ll keep you informed as things progress.
Island Showcase Don’t forget the First Annual Island Showcase coming up at the end of April. If you have a home for sale or if you work in the home improvement it’s a way to showcase your work. In the meantime say hello if you see us Around The Island.
Shells Continued on A8
Antiques Roadshow Looking for Volunteers Antiques Roadshow is coming on August 4. KEDT is looking for 120 volunteers who are fans of the show to help make this event a big success! All volunteers will receive two major perks: the opportunity to have two items appraised, and an Antiques Roadshow polo shirt. Who knows, maybe the item you bring in will be the next $100,000 find! Volunteers are required to attend a mandatory training session on Friday, August 3, from 4 p.m. - 6 p.m. where you will be assigned to stations and trained on your responsibilities for the event. Volunteers must arrive by 6:30 a.m. Saturday morning, August 4. Your shift will end around 7 p.m. and, although you will be able to take short breaks, you must be able to be stand on your feet for 10-12 hours on Saturday. Breakfast and lunch will be provided. This will be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! To sign-up to be an Antiques Roadshow volunteer in Corpus Christi on August 4, please send us an e-mail.
Crews are now running the curbs on the north end of the Aquarius Extension project and putting the finishing touches on the roadbed on the south end. The project is on schedule for completion by mid summer.
Blake Farenthold to Speak at Island Tea Party
On Wednesday, April 4th, Blake Farenthold, our Congressman, will speak at Padre Isles Country Club at 6:00 p.m. He will inform everyone what is going on in Washington D.C. as well as the redistricting situation in Texas. Notice we will meet on Wednesday because of Blake’s schedule, not our usual Thursday meeting. Come and bring your friends.
1st Annual Island Showcase Set for April Still time to enter homes, vendors, volunteers needed The First Annual Island Showcase is barely one month away and the slots for showcase homes are filling up quickly. The event is a celebration of the Island lifestyle and will feature tours of homes, both by land and water, and will also be a showcase for companies who work on Island homes, decks, and landscaping. It will run from 1-5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday April, 28 and 29. Organizers are looking for more homes to show and there are still a few vendor spots available for the showcase at the Seashore Learning Center gym on Encantada.
They are also looking for Islanders with antique cars for display, as well as Islanders with golf carts who wish to participate. They also are asking if anyone with a boat can provide canal tours for Island visitors. The idea is to showcase the Island lifestyle in every form. The event is the first annual and all Islander are encouraged to participate by contacting Mary Lou White at 960-9460 or by e-mail at marylou. white@coldwellbanker.com.