What Hurricane?

Sunrise at Indian Point Park

Location: Corpus Christi, Texas and surrounding areas
Date: August 20-21, 1999
Weather: Mid-90s, becoming cloudy, windy, and cooler (mid-80s)
Activities: Digital and traditional photography, birding, relaxation
Submitted by: Shannon Moore

Several weeks ago Justin and I resolved to get back into our old routine of hiking, camping, and getting outdoors regularly. With that, we packed up our camera gear, binoculars and field guides and headed to Corpus Christi after work on Friday, arriving around 7 PM. Instead of roughing it on Padre Island National Seashore in our tent--as tempting as it is--we made reservations for two nights in a hotel located across the JFK Causeway, on the way to the Seashore. When you've been in a rut for awhile and are beginning to forget what the sun feels like on your skin, it's best to start out slowly!

Walkway at Port Aransas Birding Center

Copyright © Shannon D. Moore
See more photos at OutdoorPhoto.com

Although Justin and I had both heard mention of a hurricane, we did not realize until we tuned in to the Friday evening news that it was brewing in the Gulf of Mexico! Saturday morning, we headed out to Indian Point Park--one of our favorite Corpus Christi area birding haunts. While many of the tidal flats had dried up (it is late August, after all!), we enjoyed a beautiful sunrise followed by increasing cloud cover and winds that were a prelude to the coming storm. We observed reddish egret, great egret, great blue heron, laughing gull, black-necked stilt, roseate spoonbill, Virginia rail, and brown pelican while at Indian Point. Afterwards, we headed to another favorite coastal birding locale, the Port Aransas Birding Center, where we observed American alligator, nutria, and slider turtle, in addition to least bittern, moorhen, great-tailed grackle, black bellied whistling duck, neotropic cormorant, pied billed grebe, and other bird species.

Hurricane Bret rain band approaches the shore

Copyright © Shannon D. Moore
See more photos at OutdoorPhoto.com

After keeping a cautious eye on the weather forecasts and the sky, we decided to attempt a visit to Padre Island National Seashore around 5 PM Saturday. As we drove to the park's entrance, however, the first of Hurricane Bret's rain bands loomed ahead. Having noticed an unusally high number of vehicles leaving the park, and with the rains and winds threatening, we opted to turn back... but not before snapping a few digital photos.

Returning to the hotel for a weather update, we found that Corpus Christi was expected to have a 70% rain chance with squalls and potential 35-45 mile per hour winds Saturday night and Sunday morning. We were staying in a hotel located on Padre Island, isolated from the mainland by the JFK Causeway which floods out 4-5 times annually under normal circumstances, not to mention a hurricane. Given these conditions, and our healthy fear of hurricanes, we decided to return home Saturday afternoon rather than fight the expected traffic exodus on Sunday morning. Judging by the news reports on Sunday when we were back home in San Antonio, we made the right decision; traffic was bumper-to-bumper on I-37 and travel times between Corpus Christi and San Antonio were double the norm.

Although we had an abbreviated trip this weekend, we enjoyed ourselves and look forward to getting back into our outdoors routine. We have missed the hikes, camping trips, and quick weekend getaways we used to take, and I have missed sharing our experiences here on Wild Texas.

As for Hurricane Bret, thankfully he was not as much of a brute as he appeared. While some of our South Texas coastal areas got a little battered, Bret could have done a lot worse!

Sunset on the drive home to San Antonio

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