Jason and I took a trip down to Rockport/Fulton and Aransas Bay for V-day weekend! We have been there once before, and loved it so much that we knew we would be coming back for another weekend get-away!
We arrived at Fulton Harbour on mid-day Friday. Our bird-watching boat tour was scheduled to leave at 1pm, so we planned to arrive early, eat a picnic, then head to the boat. Our picnic table was next to this pier. As we were eating, we saw dolphins swimming under this pier--at about the spot where Jason is standing. I was so excited, because it was my first time to ever see dolphins in the wild!
I was so excited to see my first real, live dolphin! They were so amazing! They were swimming with their dorsal fin above water, and every once in awhile they would rise out of the water. Not really jumping, since it was a cool day, but rising out so you could see their faces! How beautiful!
Here is the boat we took for the birding tour. We were specifically going to see the engangered Whooping Cranes, which stand about 5 feet tall, and are white with black stripes on their wings.
We saw some interesting boats while we were leaving the Harbour. The shrimping boats were especially interesting.
The weather was great for the trip, but the sky was a little cloudy, overcast.
The couple to the left of Jason were farmers from Oklahoma. We enjoyed talking to them and learning about their lifestyle. Every year they take at least one vacation down south, some years to Florida and other times to Texas.
A huge barge came next to our boat while we were in the Intercoastal Waterway. It was so gigantic, that I just had to have a photo of it!
I wonder what it would be like to be the captain of a ship? Probably lonely...but maybe a little exciting sometimes too! I know I would really enjoy seeing the dolphins!
Here are two of the Whooping Cranes we saw. They were fairly close to the shore where we had stopped the boat. My camera does not have much zoom, so they still look far away. Jason took some great close up shots with his mega-zoom lens.
On the way back to the Harbour, we spotted these dolphins hunting for fish. We saw many, probably about 40 or so, all around the boat in the distance. Then, one dolphin came up right at the hull of the boat where I was standing, and did a little leap out of the water! Towards the back of the boat another dolphin was playing in the wake. It all happened so fast that I was not able to get a photo of the ones that were upclose, but I did get this little video of the dolphins in the distance--catching fish. When they are hunting, they swim in fast circles around a group of fish, and try to confuse them, then they snatch out fish from the confused, swirling group. If you look closely in the video you can see water splashing--that is the dolphins swimming around quickly and stirring up the fish.
This used to be a beach where you could walk, but errosion has caused it be difficult to access. Plus, there are many trees and limbs strewn around this area because of Hurricane Ike.
Jason is photographing herds of javelina and deer, which were grazing in this open area--which normally would be completely full of water.
In the distance, you can see a few javelina--my camera doesn't have very good zoom. In the opposite direction, there were even more grazing--just even farther away. This area is usually completely full of water. Once when we were at this viewing deck, we saw a bobcat try to catch a baby duck which was swimming near the shore in some shallow water. He missed on his attack, and embarrassed... quickly disappeared into the thick brush he had jumped out of. It was really cool to watch, and I was glad he did not successfully catch the poor baby duck! 
Here is the tallest observation deck in the refuge. From here, you can look all around to spot deer, javelina, and birds. We saw Whooping Cranes in the distance from up here.
Usually in this area, there is more water, and we see a variety of herins and ducks. We did see a great white egret, but not much else along this board walk.
