PADRE ISLAND NATIONAL SEA SHORE

This is a documentary of a trip I took with a commercial company down Padre Island National Seashore or PINS, as it is know by the locals PINS for 60 miles straight down the island in 4wd country. There were no streets, phones, bathrooms, stores, cell phone service, all they way down to Mansfield Pass, which is 60 miles from the hard top at (PINS).

I booked a charter with: Padre Island Expeditions TOUR with Colin Davis, who is a graduate of Mass Maritime, and is a captain of a tug boat that runs up and down the Mississippi River when he is working his regular job.

It is not cheap, but I can guarantee you will get your money's worth. I took the photographic package and loved every minute of it.

Well, lets get started and see some photographs. These were all done with a Nikon Camera.

Ok. Some of these photos might need a further explanation? First two are of Colin. He is the fellow that provided the tour. Second photo is of Colin and his 4wd that you go down in. The rest are of various things you run into on your way down to Mansfield Pass, which is 60 miles from the hard top road starting at Malaquite Beach, PINS. There is an expression: Go prepared, or don't go at all. On the way down there I saw a Toyota Corolla being pulled out of 2' of sand. Now who in the hell would take a Corolla in a place where only 4wd vehicles should go?

There is a photo of the jumping off point is and you should have a truck with large wheels even there, and this is not even considred 4wd territority. There is another photo of the desolation and isolation, which I love. You are in wide open spaces here. You can't call anybody, because there is no cell phone service. If you have the money you could use IRIDIUM satellite phone service, and they have portable devices, but you would have to buy one out of Houston.

The next series of photos will be of things that wash up on the beach, and the sea shells you can find at "Big Shell", which is about 30 to 35 miles south of the hard top. Why there I do not know, but it has to do with the way the currents run and the land mass under the sea that pulls them up to shore. Then about 55 miles down or so, you will encouter the Devil's Elbow, which is a place where junk and other stuff washes up. There is also Spanish gold there from the 1700's, where several Spanish Galleons dumped millions of dollars worth of coins and valuables all along this area during a hurricane. Don't start visualizing money. It is forbidden to use a metal detector and because this is also a trail for drug smugglers there are drones that patrol the skys above and would catch you if you were to try and use a metal detector. It is what it is. Sorry. Have fun anyway.

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