We journeyed out to Lockhart State Park for two nights to see the Perseid showers. I thought we would have better luck out in the country than close to San Marcos where we live.

However, I did not count on the city lights of Lockhart being so bright, nor did I consider that the airport would have a rotating search light shining up at the sky all night long. There were just enough clouds that when the light hit them, they glowed and blocked night vision except for directly overhead.

Despite the lights, we did see a great many Perseid meteors at about 4 am on Monday morning. Not as many as I would have liked, but they were beautiful. Streaking across the sky, sometimes two at once, we were “ooohing and aaahing” for hours.

On Tuesday morning, the meteor count was less, but still amazing. Mars was bright red and rose with the meteor shower. I was hoping for the meteor- a-minute that a dark sky would show, but it was not to be.

Next time, I will just have to go west into the desert.

Tags: Perseid meteors, Mars rising, city lights, Lockhart State Park

The Texas Clipper

Texas Parks and Wildlife will reef the USTS Texas Clipper in August 2007. She will lie seventeen miles east of the South Padre Island jetties in 134 feet of water. The wheel house and cabins will reach to the 50-70 feet depth.

Commissioned as the USS Queens in 1944, the ship served as a troop transport during World War II, and was decommissioned in 1946. From 1965 to 1996, the USTS Texas Clippper served students and sea cadets at Texas A&M University at Galveston.

This will be a fitting end to a fine ship. Scuba divers will be there when it goes down and back again within months to check on it. In time, barnacles, corals, sponges and clams will cover the ship surfaces. Then small fish and crabs will appear. Soon the larger fish will appear as the ship becomes a world class artificial reef.

Dive the Legend – The Texas Clipper – Dive the Legend

Tags: artificial reef, Texas Clipper reef, Gulf of New Mexico

Picture from WakeWorldMay 11–13

5th Annual Cablestock Festival
Texas Ski Ranch, 6700 N. I-35, New Braunfels
830-627-2843

The first stop on the World Wakeboard Association (WWA) Wake Park Series presented by Ten-80 will be held at the Texas Ski Ranch (TSR) on May 11 through 13, 2007. There will be boat and cable wakeboarding competitions in three divisions (Pro Men, Juniors, Women).

The cableway at TSR tows up to 6 wakeboarders, skiers, or kneeboarders at the same time with ropes attached to a circulating cable that is high above the water. Three days of sun, live music and professional wakeboarding! General admission $10 or 3-day cable wakeboard and skatepark pass $49.95.

Tags: Cablestock Festival, World Wakeboarding Association, Texas Ski Ranch