The Zoo and Dolphin Watch

On Tuesday afternoon I visited the zoo and had the place to myself.  It really is a beautiful place and, strikingly, doesn't have a raw animal smell about it.  J and I had wanted to go together but we ran out of time while he was down here. Who knows, maybe we'll have another chance to visit it together soon.

Very cute pygmy hippo!

The gorillas were particularly fun to watch with all their very familar actions. We really do look like them!

Yesterday I was stuck indoors all morning because of heavy rain. By the afternoon though it had cleared up and the sun was out. I spent the later part of the afternoon, until sunset, on a two hour boat tour of the waters around South Padre. The tour focuses on watching dolphins and we saw a lot of them.  Even more fun, however, was standing at the prow of the boat as we rode the waves. We would go up one pretty high and then crash back down. It was absolutely thrilling and I yelped with joy and excitement!  Felt a bit like a rollercoaster...

At one point we went by a long jetty made of granite brought down from Marblefalls years ago. A man stood at the tip of the jetty, his fishing rod bent in a dramatic arch, as he fought with something big hanging on to his line.

My fellow passengers began cheering and taking pictures as our boat swung around to watch. This was a rowdy affair but it was apparent that the fisherman loved the attention. Our boat stopped and finally the man was able to pull in his catch. The cheering intensified as he held up a fish that was about two and a half feet long! The man was quick to measure the fish, and took a selfie with it, before throwing it back into the water.

The crew had a couple of living sea creatures in a tub and they gave us a little lesson about them. An elderly woman in a wheelchair got to hold a sea star and it seemed to really make her day. It was her first visit to the sea.

As the sun set on the horizon, and the cool sea breeze washed over us, I sat quietly and chatted with an interesting family from Switzerland. Soon we arrived back at the dock and our tour was over.

And this just about wraps up my two weeks in South Texas.  Tomorrow is transfer and I'll finally find out how many embryos made it. I'll write a final post when I get home but, until then, thank you ever so much for all the good wishes and positive thoughts!  It's been a very special two weeks.