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.
