Rockport Harbor Marina

After two weeks it’s time to leave Rockport. Two weeks can feel like a long time without a vehicle in a town with very limited public transportation, but it flew by. The people here were so incredibly kind that from the moment we landed until the day of our departure we were approached by fellow boaters asking if they could pick us up something from the store, if we needed a ride to the store or if we wanted to borrow their vehicle to go to the store…quite amazing!

That is how we met Frank, upon pulling into our slip, who asked us if we needed anything from HEB as he was headed that way. He and his wife are fellow Catalina owners, and we enjoyed hanging out with them for a bit on their boat as well as ours. Frank is a retired police officer (very smart btw), and his wife, oh my goodness, she had me in stitches! Her name is Annette, but I just want to call her Elaine, you know, from Seinfeld? Such a fun couple and I hope our paths cross again someday!

We also hung out a lot with Luis and Yvonne. And Jennifer. If you’ve been keeping up with our blog you’ve already read about them in our post ‘The Power of Prayer’.

Luis was the driver of the shuttle bus we took into town one day. We invited him and his girlfriend Yvonne to come and hang out on LaurAlee. Yvonne is so funny; she confessed to me later that when Luis told her he was taking her to meet some new friends on a boat she was mad. “I’m not hanging out on a boat drinking all night with a bunch of loud hellraisers,” she said. I’m paraphrasing, but that was the gist of it, LOL! She must have been quite surprised to find us greeting her instead!

Jennifer, who we had met on the beach, came by too and had us all laughing with her entertaining stories. It was a fun evening and an hour later when Luis, true to his word, asked Yvonne if she was ready to go, she said, “No, not yet. Let’s stay a little longer.” They left an hour later with plans to meet up again; an hour after that we said our goodnights to Jen, too.

And we did meet up again. Luis and Yvonne took us to Commercial Street Icehouse in Aransas Pass on a Friday night for some really terrific woodfired pizza. Yvonne was hoping it was karaoke night, it wasn’t, thank goodness, and instead we enjoyed a stellar performance from Chadwick Lee Hunter.

Luis knows all the great places to go and Sunday morning we went to breakfast at Rositas. If you ever find yourself in Rockport and are going to go out for breakfast or lunch, that is where I would recommend you go. Trust me, you won't regret it.

Jen met up with us there and after breakfast we attended her church. Afterwards she took us to the laundromat. A really great church service and clean, fresh bedding, a double blessing!

Jen could have just dropped us off at the washateria but stayed and chatted with us while we washed, dried and folded so that the time passed quickly and the chore didn’t feel like a chore at all. Afterwards she took us to Walmart to do some provisioning for our departure.

Back at the boat I meal-prepped and Chris readied LaurAlee for the perfect weather window to head south, but it didn’t come. Neither did the insurance binder that would allow us to travel to the Caribbean, Mexico and all the way south to Brazil with peace of mind. So, we waited. And while we waited, we ate all the meals that were prepped and the snacks we had bought and emptied the water tanks we just filled.

We really didn’t mind the waiting though. Over the course of the week, we saw Luis and Yvonne again, taking a scenic drive together through Fulton. Back at the marina we helped a neighbor with sorting out his sails, who in turn gave us a ride to Heb.

We grabbed a burger at the Poorman’s Country Club enjoying the friendly service and laidback atmosphere. We took advantage of the few good beach days for playing in the water, soaking up the sun and strolling the shoreline.

Another bonus to staying an extra week is that we were treated to a great homecooked meal at Jen’s, where we celebrated her new job!!

The delay also gave us an opportunity to tour our neighbor Scott’s very cool Diesel Duck trawler and fill up our spare gas cans with extra diesel thanks to Tony who drove Chris to the gas station.

Before we knew it another Sunday rolled around. We still did not have our insurance binder so we decided that while we were waiting, we would take the long way around to Mexico instead of heading straight down. The weather was looking pretty good to Gulfport, MS if we could beat the northerly that was heading in on May 2nd. We figured we probably could.

We attended Hope Church again with Jennifer then grabbed a quick bite to eat. She dropped us off at the boat and then went to the store to grab a case of water for us (she is just so sweet and thoughtful!) Luis and Yvonne came by to join in the sendoff. We were excited to be heading out on what would be our very first multi-overnight, 540 nm journey, but a bit sad to be leaving such good friends!

We loved that our friends came out to see us off, it made for a happy but bittersweet occasion as we waved our goodbyes.

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay at the Rockport Marina. Everything you need is walking distance: Walmart, HEB, banks, churches, the beach, shops and a few restaurants. If you can lay out your plans 24 hrs in advance you can schedule a shuttle for a small fee, all the way to Aransas Pass or Corpus Christi, but unfortunately there are not any public buses. Another thing that Rockport doesn't seem to have are Amazon lockers or pickup locations. But we were able to have our courtesy flags and updated charts delivered to the marina office.

The marina isn’t fancy, but it’s well protected, the rates are reasonable and there are hot showers and two laundry machines. There is a bank across the street if you need quarters. And there's lots of friendly people here!

While here we watched the Rockport Yacht Club’s Sunfish Races. We saw Kitesurfers, sailboarders and something called wing foiling where the board uses a hydrofoil causing it to hover over the water as it glides along. Very back to the future-istic looking and a sport we have not seen before. I didn't get a picture but if you're interested you could Google it!

Wings Rescue Center did a presentation with their ambassador birds. We walked 2 miles to meet them. It was humid and I felt like a half-drowned rat by the time we reached the sanctuary. I must have looked like one too. I did my best with hand wipes and a hairbrush to look presentable, but it still made me nervous to be sitting so close to raptors that seemed to be eyeballing me as if I were prey.

All the birds were impressive, and we loved learning about them and hearing the stories of how they came to be at the sanctuary, but my favorite bird was a barred owl named Bella. You can read about her and the other birds here.

On our last trip through this area, I saw people throwing fish carcasses to the hungry pelicans waiting at the fish cleaning stations. I was miffed at the one guy who wasn't, thinking him uncaring, but as it turns out he was being kind. The sharp fish bones easily rip the pelican's pouches causing them to starve to death. Something I was unaware of and learned at Wings Rescue Center. Also a good self-reminder to not be quick to judge other people's actions or intentions!

Don’t hate on me Texans, I’m not dissing your brand, but I have never understood all the fuss people make about Blue Bell ice-cream. That is, until I tried the sinfully irresistible, frozen masterpiece known as Southern Blackberry Cobbler. Twice. YUM! I don’t know what else to say, just YUM!

We wandered the tents at the Rockport-Fulton Trade days and watched the Kites flying on a very overcast Kite Festival day at Rockport Beach. And I think that about wrap up our stay!

An evening out at Rockport Little Theater with Frank and Annette was entertaining, primarily due to the company we were in; not to knock the one act plays but Annette's 'Elaine' dance could give them a run for their money!

The food here is drool-worthy. A very popular spot as you can see from the line of people waiting to order in the background.

Beautiful days for a walk on the beach. From the boat to the end of the pier and back makes for a pleasant 2.5 mile stroll.

Thanks for taking the time to read our blog, and we really appreciate it when you take the time to comment. It makes us feel connected! We will catch up with y’all again when we get to Gulfport. May God Bless you and keep you healthy and safe!

The two most common beach sightings during our stay...Jen and jellyfish!

Jen cooking up some fish she caught. Our first homecooked meal in quite a while!

This lady loves the sport of fishing so much that the day after she had her leg stitched up due to a shark bite, she was right back out there with her rod and reel. That Jen is one tough cookie!

Just some last thoughts: