DIFFERENT TIDES

Have you ever wondered why at times you can see land along the causeway on the island side for a couple of hundred yards. These are very low tides but they don’t happen all the time. There is a formula of the sun and moon in a certain phase to cause these which is too complicated to explain here, but basically when the moon is the closest to the earth (at perigee) the tides will be at it’s greatest ranges. This is when it gets very low. Conversely, when the moon is farthest from the earth (at apogee) the tide range is at the least. On the other hand, when the moon earth and sun are all lined up, it is called a spring tide and tides will higher than normal and lower than normal.
On these very low tides, be very careful in shallow shoals and edges of channels. A lower end can be very costly. Checking the tides before going out in the bay, especially south bay, is strongly recommended. A yearly tidal chart can be copied from the Internet, which I carry on my boat all the time. Go to N.O.A.A. and look through their site for it.
As always, be safe and see ya on the water.

Written by Captain Alan Stewart of the Laguna Madre Maritime Training Center
For Information on the Laguna Madre Maritime Training Center please call 956-639-8697

Lots of changes are appearing up and down the border of Mexico and the United States. One that really hits home in this area is The Border Patrol. They have been gobbled up by The Homeland Security. Not only did they take them over, they took over the United States Coast Guard as well. If you think about it, they are doing kind of the same jobs, but just on different elements.
Jimmy Lawson, owner of Baymaster Boats is an important contractor for the Border Patrol. He has been making custom boats for them for some time and trains them on how to maneuver and make best of what they got with these boats.
Learning techniques on jumping waves, reversing and steering while throtteling can be difficult especially when you are under fire. I have seen some of these boats that are brought in for repairs. One that I inspected was riddled with holes from a high powered rifle. This is a very serious business on the border and you need the best equipment you can get. One of the problems they encounter is barbed wire about neck level stretched across the river. When the boats go by they used to get torn up or even worse, have injuries to the upper body from these deadly deterrents. Jimmy came up with a solution by running a stronger guy wire from the bow on both the stern and port sides up to the t-top where there is a very sharp cutting device where it severs these wires. Clever.
This is the war that is going on just a few miles from our house and The Border Patrol is doing an excellent job to keep us safe and free. Next time you see one of these guys, give them thanks for what they are doing and buy them lunch or something.
As always, be safe and see you on the water.

Written by Captain Alan Stewart of the Laguna Madre Maritime Training Center
For Information on the Laguna Madre Maritime Training Center please call 956-639-8697

A NEW REEF

I love to go snorkeling and swim in the bay with my clients all summer long. Someday soon, I am going to get certified to scuba dive by my friend Bill Lawrence and for good cause. Sometime in the first of the year a new reef will appear below the surface approx. 17 miles due east of the Santiago pass Jetties. Well not just that simple. This was something that I had written about a couple of years ago and it never materialized, but now it has. The Texas Parks and Wildlife has completed some meetings with folks about sinking a vessel out just east of us. Remember the hype when they were gonna do this a while back? Well, it is really gonna happen this time. The Texas Clipper was a 473-foot former WWII troop transport ship, and was also used recently as a cruise liner and a trainer for the Texas A&M University Maritime Academy and it will be our new artificial reef. It will leave to go to ESCO Marine’s facility in Brownsville where they will clean all non desirable elements from it before taking it out and blowing a hole in it. It will become a really cool artificial reef for diving and fishing. Another cool thing is that, as they usually do, announce it’s sinking and people can go out and watch it go down. You can probably call Murphy’s Law and get a ride with them to see this one of a kind spectacle. This is part of the Ships-To-Reefs program who have sunk several ships with the efforts of the Texas Coastal and Marine Council.
As always, be safe and see you on the water.

Written by Captain Alan Stewart of the Laguna Madre Maritime Training Center
For Information on the Laguna Madre Maritime Training Center please call 956-639-8697

To see archived articles by Captain Alan Stewart please click the link below:

January 2006 articles
February 2006 articles
August 2006 articles
September 2006 articles
January 2007 articles
April 2007 articles
December 2007 articles
Texas Clipper Article

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