While looking around for new information on Port Aransas (last post), I happened to check the website of the University of Texas Marine Science Institute. What a wonderful place. Next time we visit Port A, we are going to the Visitor’s Center. Now, if I can get Michael into the idea of Elderhostel, I will be on that barge trip next January.
University of Texas Marine Science Institute
The University of Texas Marine Science Institute (UTMSI) Visitor’s Center has seven aquaria that depict Texas coastal habitats and the organisms that live in them, including Spartina, black mangrove marsh, oyster reef, open bay bottom, rock jetty and offshore artificial reefs.
The planned Wetlands Education Center, known as Windows to the Sea, will occupy over three acres next to the UTMSI Visitors Center and the South Jetty. A marshland pond, planted with sea grasses and surrounded by coastal vegetation, fed by water from the Aransas Pass Ship Channel, will serve as an outdoor exhibit demonstrating the power of wetlands. Visitors may view migratory waterfowl and resident marsh birds from a surrounding boardwalk. Guided tours will penetrate the wetlands on interior boardwalks.
UTMSI sponsors an exciting Elderhostel Adventures Afloat program each January beginning in Galveston. The beautiful hotel barge, R/B River Explorer, navigates the intracoastal waterway through salt marshes including the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, ending in Port Isabel on the southern tip of Texas. Elderhostel programs from November through mid-April include a field trip to the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge to observe and study the endangered whooping cranes. The programs held in Brownsville and McAllen specialize in birding.
Teacher workshops and summer programs at UTSMI are aimed at upgrading the proficiency of classroom teachers at all levels by the introduction of marine science topics and techniques into the curriculum of all subjects, from science to art and history.
Summer camps for kids are learning experiences about science on such topics as: about bays and beaches; seaweed, sea grasses and salt marshes; life as an oceanographer; sea creatures adaptation and ecology.
During the school year, visiting classes are taken board the R/V KATY to develop an understanding of the marine environment through measurement, observation and sampling.
Visit the website Science and the Sea for an understanding of the sea and its myriad life forms. Or the educational and Interactive Beach Debris website.
