Jones Bay Paddle
Oct 16th, 2014
by Dave Kitson
Natalie Wiest and I decided to do a weekday paddle around her neck of the woods (Galveston) so she suggested Jones Bay near the Tiki Island area. She had fond memories of a paddle she had done here years ago so we would check things out and see what had changed. We met at her place on Thursday Oct 16 and, after checking out the “Rat Cage” she is building to protect her garden, we headed to the put-in. Coming from Houston on the Gulf Freeway it is located at exit 4, Tiki Island; just take the exit and make the more or less hard u-turn to the right then follow the road north to an excellent public boat ramp.
We had a perfect day for an open water paddle with cool temperatures, nearly cloudless skies and light winds. We set out to the west and paddled a couple of miles with the houses of Tiki Island to the left and then a little later the various islands around North Deer Island and eventually came to an area to the north that was beach on this day but looks like it spends at least a little time underwater. I have attached a photo of some of the red glassworts that were all over the place.
We then headed back to the east to an artificial channel which runs north. Stopping after a couple hundred yards we got out and made our way to the top of the 15’ tall spoil bank (Watching for snakes in the low brush) which has a beautiful 360 degree view. Here we ate our lunch and admired the view. Natalie remembered having lunch at this same spot years ago.
After lunch we explored a little ways up the channel and then turned around to check out Basfort Bayou next door. It is mostly salt grass which is about 3’ tall in this area and had a fair number of birds, mostly Tri Colored Herons. We wiggled our way back and forth until eventually we ran out of water.
By now it was time to head back so we finished our day at 11 miles and 6 hours. I have added photos to the club photo page so check them out, here: Photo Album. As an after note, I thought the put-in was so good and the area very promising that I brought my sailing kayak to the same spot and spent Friday sailing around the place. I tried to sail around to the south side of Tiki and over to North Deer Island but it was so shallow that I was constantly dragging the dagger board so I had to give up and sailed more north and to the west.
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| The author, Dave Kitson |