January 2019.  There are numerous tours available to us in this park and we have taken two of them,so far. First we took the 3 hour pontoon boat trip down the Rio Grande River.  We were promised spectacular bird sightings and interesting historical facts. Unfortunately it was cloudy and a little misty that day, so photos are not great. We did see numerous birds. And we had an experienced “birder” along so we could learn about the different species ( from a distance they all looked the same to me😎). The boat captain filled us in on the historical facts of things we saw, both on the Mexican side and the American side. He pointed out “spotters” on the Mexican side who monitor boat traffic for the smugglers. Two Boarder Patrol gunboats passed us while we were out there 😮. It was an interesting trip.

On Thursday we sent Jax to doggy jail and took the South Padre Island Tour. I never thought I would be one of those old gray-haired people,with name tags, being herded from place to place, but there we were!  They even blew a whistle to get us all rounded up 😂. We boarded the bus at 6:45 am and were given a breakfast sandwich to eat on the way. After crossing the 2 mile long Queen Isabelle Causeway, our first stop was the 3 hour dolphin-watch trip (no Gilligan in sight). We did see dolphins several times, but they are hard to catch on a picture.  The tour goes all the way down to the Port of Brownsville, which is the only deep water port on the US/Mexican border. Interestingly, we were told not to take pictures there. They dismantle some military ships there and they don’t want them photographed. There were oil rigs in varying states of repair there, as well. The boat captain shared a lot of interesting stories and facts. Then we headed back. After we docked, we had lunch at the Sea Ranch. Next we boarded the bus again and went to Sea Turtle Inc.  This organization rescues, rehabilitates, and releases sea turtles. There was one turtle there that had lost three of her flippers and so this place gave her a prosthetic device to help her swim. She has to be a permanent resident there, but it was incredible how they helped her.  After the turtles we went back to the dock for our sunset cruise and shrimp boil. It was a beautiful evening to be on the water. Again we saw dolphins. We sipped wine, ate shrimp, and cruised along the jetties, watching the sun set.  This is the life!  We got back to the RV Park around 9:00pm. tired but happy.