Today we had another ferry ride, this time without incident. After leaving the picnic area, which turned out to be a real gem as we had the place all to ourselves for the night, we drove into Port Bolivar and got in line for the ferry. When we got to the head of the line, there was no room for us on the vessel they were loading, so we had to wait fifteen minutes or so for the next vessel. We had a very pleasant crossing, but no dolphins.

After disembarking the ferry, we drove along the famous Galveston sea wall, the top of which is a beach-front highway. The Galveston waterfront turns out to be much the same as any of the tourist-centric coastal communities we passed through from NJ all the way down to Ft. Lauderdale and again along the gulf coast from Florida through Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. We opted to drive through slowly but without stopping. The rest of the island was more scenic and less crowded. We crossed the Galveston Toll Bridge to the next barrier island and passed along Christmas Bay and through the community of Surfside, where we had no choice but to turn inland. From here south, the gulf coast of Texas is protected by myriad barrier islands, but, save for a short stretch near Corpus Christi, none is traversable by motor vehicle until South Padre Island at the very southern extremity.

We are proceeding south toward Corpus Christi, where our mail should be waiting for us in the suburb of Ingleside. Tonight we are parked at the Lighthouse Beach & Bird Sanctuary, a public campground operated by the city of Port Lavaca (map). This turned out to be strictly a lucky find, as it is not in any of our directories or on any of our maps. However, it is a very nice facility right on the beach at Lavaca Bay, and we have a waterfront view from our penthouse window. We spotted it from the road as we were driving through, hoping to find another rest area or perhaps head down to Goose Island State Park.

We are only 75 miles or so from Ingleside and our mail, but, of course, the post office will be closed tomorrow (Sunday). We might spend tomorrow night at Goose Island or, perhaps, head all the way in to Corpus and spend the night on Padre Island, backtracking into Ingleside Monday morning. We are a bit ahead of ourselves, as I had expected to spend most of today in Galveston, though I'm not sure why...