Canoeing the Colorado River, from Matagorda Nature Park

Texas's Colorado river is really almost a misnomer here, as the river has been dredged straight and is really just a simple channel allowing access to the Gulf. At one time it was probably pretty wild but now the river is cut by the Intercoastal, before it reaches its mouth.
Still it's channel is used by birds and so we launched the canoe, to spend a day on the water, with a little birding, exploring, and fishing in mind. It was a really easy launch as we were able to put in right at the Matagorda Bay Nature Rv park. We were clear of shrimp boats, (its a busy channel), and in no time we were across and paddling past brown pelicans and Caspian terns.

Turning toward the Gulf we tried not to disturb the birds, partially successful, and headed out to the mouth. soon we were at the mouth and we stopped for a few images before heading back to a landing at the south jetty end. The land here is private and so the trash that washes ashore is left untouched. Walking between the tide ranges, Renita took some pics of a wrecked sailboat from a past storm.
We shelled a bit and soon she found a beautiful gastropod. Schools of mullet swam in the shallows and it would have been simple to cast my net and get all the bait I could possibly use. Crossing the channel to the north side we stopped and fished a bit, but no fish bothered our live shrimp.

We tried another place, to no avail, and watched as a shrimp boat went by, with terns and gulls wheeling in the sky and plunging into the water for the scraps tossed overboard. Heading back across the way we paddled west as Renita took images of birds and shoreline and I simply enjoyed the slack tide.
Before we knew it the day was over and we headed back to the campsite. Renita's shell turned out to have a fiddler crab inside, which we discovered after it crawled out of its rinsing bowl and took off across the floor. She released it back into the mosquito pond, not far from our camper.
It was a nice day with a little birding, fishing but no catching, and simply a pleasant day canoeing the Colorado river at Matagorda Island. Who could ask for more? Clear skies