What's Happening with Hurricane Ike...

Hello from Port Aransas,

Following a great summer here on the island we've dodged our second bullet this hurricane season. Although the elders say "we don't get storms after D or E in the alphabet" and "Texas doesn't have land falling storms in even years" I think you have to take them all seriously.

Port Aransas was very fortunate in that we saw no more than 35 mph winds and never got a drop of rain. The only indication anything was lurking in the Gulf was the huge surf and the rising water in the channel, marina and storm drains. These photos were taken Friday morning as the water rose over the finger piers. (Click on the photo's for larger image)



The surf at high tide near 2 pm had onlookers scrambling for high ground.



The rising water in front of The Dunes Condos made Lantana Street impassable early.



Closer to home, the picnic table view of the marina shows how high the water was by 4 pm Friday. Pretty impressive for a storm that was 250 miles northeast..



Shorty's and the Flats were accessible by car and by boat at 5pm Friday afternoon for those who needed to rehydrate during storm preparations.



Unfortunately however, we have seen no advancement in mental judgment, risk management or self preservation since my generation prepared for 10 to 15 foot waves... We watched 30-40 surfers plunge into the roaring surf all afternoon. (Shane was heartbroken that he wasn't able to join them.")



Today, following landfall near Houston, we see only unusually high tides.



As our dog Willow was giving me the grass and bush tour at sunrise, the water in the ship channel was dead calm but was even with the top of the bulkheads.



The tides are slowly pulling back this morning and hopefully taking some of the seaweed with them.



Although the fishing piers are still underwater, most of the docks appear to have held together.



We were very fortunate that Ike made its predicted turn up the coast. Our thoughts and prayers are with our neighbors to the north.

What's Happening..

Today the Board of Directors of the Cline's Landing Association elected officers:

Richard Suttle - President
Randy Clay - Vice President
Ken Jones - Secretary / Treasurer

Also in attendance were Bob Wray and Bobby Clark.

The new Board pledged to work together on behalf of the Owners and the Association.

Lot's Happening... 03/01/08

For those who haven't been down since Christmas, there's a lot going on.

The mornings begin at 8:00am with the sounds of cranes, generators and jackhammers.
The top photo shows the crane that lifted the new roof supplies up into position over the last couple of weeks. This week it's back to lower the old roofing materials down into a huge dumpster. To the untrained eye (like mine), looks like insulation, tar paper, wood and lots of rocks...



































These photos are of the technicians installing the new Security Cameras around the property.
The office now enjoys clear views of each of the entrances and exits as well as under cover parking and the marina.





The next photos show the excavation in the marina near the large boat slips. The engineers and workers jackhammered up the sidewalk and removed the soil from the areas identified by the divers last fall. They're currently replacing the membranes over the seams in the concrete bulkheads then will backfill the area. They are only about half way to completion but the progress is good and best of all there have been no surprises...






The next photo shows some of the work that's been done around the property. This is very encouraging as prior to the arrival of Royce and his team this type of thing only occurred just before the Annual Owner's Meeting. These four guys work hard, they work independently and they care about the job they do. Also, the rock lowered in picture #1 above was recycled and used in these flowerbeds...




































The last two photos are pictures of pictures so they're a little hard to make out. They are of the waves that blast our marina when the ships go by. Along with attempting to verify ownership and responsibility for the crumbling concrete wave-break pier, we are also looking at a mooring device that allows the cleats that secure the boats to slide up and down a stainless steel shaft. This will allow the boats in the marina to survive these destructive waves.

See you Soon !