We were well aware of the damage caused by Ike when we visited Houston in January 2009. We drove through the Crystal Beach area east of Galveston when we visited Houston during Christmas Vacation 2008 and saw the incredible devastation.
Last Friday when we visited the beach I was amazed how clean the beach and water were even though the water color was a sandy brown. There are several geological reasons for this . Part of this brown color is runoff from the Mississippi River carried by strong Gulf currents plus nearby rivers. The Galveston area is very shallow water and the wave action churns up sand and sediment. Apparently, shallow water in the Galveston area has been brownish for several thousand years. Once you go out several hundred yards into deeper water, the water color is as blue as Florida or California.
This Friday was totally different and disappointing. The brewing tropical storm “Bonnie” seemed to blow in brown Sargassum seaweed from the open ocean. It was everywhere on the beach and in the water. The waves were much larger than the week before but with the seaweed in the water it wasn’t the same as the prior week.
Below are comparison photos of the beach looking eastward from last Friday and today.
Last week, ever so clean.
This week, so much seaweed.
Even still, the boys managed to have fun digging in the sand which they enjoy most of all and playing on rafts in rough water. Notice the level of wave action from the two different weeks.
Last week.
This week.
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