Beach at Boca Chica

The following photos were taken at Boca Chica, which is the southern most beach in Texas. It is also where the Rio Grande runs into the Gulf of Mexico. Donnie and I had seen Boca Chica on one of our previous winter trips to the valley, but were unable to drive out on the beach as we have only two wheel drive. Bob and Karmen asked us to join them for a trip down there in their 4X4 pickup so we actually got to explore the entire six miles of beach. When we first arrived the sky was a little overcast but then cleared up and we had a beautiful day for shelling and exploring.


Karmen and I just had to pose in our beachcombing attire. Check out those boots! Bob, thanks for loaning me your "waders"! We girls had a great time collecting shells while the guys watched the dredger in the ship canal.



A tug boat in the Brownsville ship canal. The canal runs between South Padre Island to the north and Boca Chica to the south. You can see the SPI high rise condos in the background.



A dredger at work clearing sand from the shipping lane. You can see a dolphin to the right of the dredger. Donnie said he and Bob watched several dolphins swimming in the canal.



A Mexican fishing boat in the Gulf.



At this point, center left of photo, the Rio Grande flows into the Gulf. You can see Mexican fishermen on the other shore. This is as close as you can get to Mexico without a passport!!



It was really interesting to watch these men casting nets into the river, each time bringing in several large fish.