Outdoor Recreation & Nature

Beach : SeaGlass

Lucinda — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 21:49:42 GMT

hi everyone,

Im not a tourism but neither am I a well local but rather a regular beach goer. (I live about an hour & 25 mins away from the beach)

My friends & family go down to the beach on a regular summer day trip each yr.

We all go to the Galveston Island State Beach Park. Is it possible to find sea glass at this beach??? & what are some good tips on finding sea glass??? Has anyone found seaglass on this beach??

Thanks

~Beach Girl~

Gorgeous sunset

Dixie — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 23:39:47 GMT

pretty in pink!

I woke at sunrise this morning , it was breathtaking as well!

Beach Activity

Lucinda — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:42:46 GMT

Hi Everyone,

What are some fun things to do on the beach besides sea shell hunting/ building a sand castle/ tanning?

Beach : SeaWall

Lucinda — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 19:37:18 GMT

Hi Everyone,

Im coming down the day after thanksgiving if the weather is nice. I know what all the other state beachs are closed right now. BUt i was wondering which parts of the seawall is still being worked on ? ( Im talking about the and moving) & which parts of the seawall is still open.

Thanks

Beach Girl

hummington birds and moths/butterflys

Dixie — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 00:30:09 GMT

has anyone else noticed the hummingbirds perching in their yards? Old dawg and I both have had a few of them. also ,last week i noticed a bunch of either ok looking butterflies , or beautiful moths thats were washing up in the shoreline. are they migraters?

Beaches

connie — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 02:40:48 GMT

I'm coming to Galveston from North Texas in June. I want to relax and spread some tourism dollars around. I've been to Galveston many times so I know what the beaches are usually like. How are they now?

Beach Advise

vgolfman — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 03:31:12 GMT

Hello. My wife and I will be visiting Galveston for the first time this weekend (Aug. 15-17) to celebrate our 15th anniversary and would like some advise on which beach or beaches to visit. If possible, we are looking for two different places...

1. A fun beach with people, easy to get to and generally a good time.

2. A quiet, romantic semi-secluded beach that will be a true "get away".

If those exist, your suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!!

August 12 meteor shower

Dixie — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 04:38:04 GMT

2009 Meteor Showers and Viewing Tips

Quadrantids on January 4
-->The next meteor shower is the Perseids on August 12, 2009. The shower peaks early afternoon on the 12th, so the morning of the 12th (midnight to dawn) and late evening are the best times to watch from the U.S.

Great places to catch the sunset over the water

Dream — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 01:16:37 GMT

I am looking for a great location to view the sunset that is private over the water.. I was told that crystal beach was the most private and the prettiests. Do, the locals on the board agree or disagree and if so, where would you recommend.. Its for a photoshoot.. Thank you

Dream V.

Dallas, TX

need help!!!

REY — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:36:18 GMT

I lost my id on 7/2. i rented a jetski from a guy right by the old flag ship hotel. if any happens to be by there and see a guy renting jet ski, can you please get the number off the truck and e-mail to me. Thanks

Friday Evening Cycling

kandy — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 20:55:18 GMT

Does the Friday evening bike ride still happen? If so, are all welcome? Where to meet and what to bring besides a bike? Thanks

The Board Room

Galveston.com — Wed, 13 May 2009 16:59:15 GMT

Galveston.com has just launched The Board Room, a special group for surfers within our community which features its own Forum, Blog, & Media Gallery. Take a look!

crabbing

beaches — Thu, 07 May 2009 04:07:13 GMT

Hello to everyone!!Have enjoyed reading this site for many years.My question is where is the best place to go crabbing,would truly love to do this my next visit to my favorite vacation town!!!This is my very first post,hope i put it in the right spot.

SEA CAMP !

Bottle Rocket — Thu, 07 May 2009 23:23:00 GMT

SEA CAMP If you have little ones, this looks like it would be alot of fun for them. Too bad the prices are a tad high for me, I'd love to send my kid on the 6 day coastal camping. but definately worth looking into.

http://www.tamug.edu/seacamp/

http://www.tamug.edu/seacamp/newweb/schedule.html

BIRDS

Lurker — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 19:08:48 GMT

My photography has led me to an interest in birds. From my porch, I got some goodshots of a scarlett tanager, and a badly underexposed shot of a cardinal. Here is another bad shot of a bird that I think may be a Baltimore oriole. tell me what you think.

http://i552.photobucket.com/albums/jj357/imagician_bucket/IMG_1083.jpg

jellyfish stings and insect bites

Dixie — Tue, 27 May 2008 00:53:06 GMT

courtesy of UTMB

GALVESTON, Texas - What do gas prices, insects and jellyfish have in common? They all can sting beachgoers and warm-weather revelers throughout the summer.

As Memorial Day weekend approaches, Jon Thompson, director of the Southeast Texas Poison Center at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, suggests several ways to lessen the burn of stings from jellyfish and insects. (more)

Thompson, who has more than 28 years of experience with insect and jellyfish stings, says, “Common household products combined with some quick and smart thinking can go a long way to provide relief and can help families avoid having to cut short a fun afternoon outing.”

INSECTS

Scrape out the stinger. Don’t squeeze the skin or use tweezers to remove stingers left behind from insects like bees. Squeezing and pulling can compress the venom sac and cause more venom to be released.
Use diluted bleach for pain. Burning and itching from insects bites - including wasps and fire ants - can be eased with a solution of 10 teaspoons of water and one teaspoon of household liquid chlorine bleach. Thompson recommends mixing the solution and putting it in a well-sealed container ahead of time; the solution should be effective for up to two weeks.
Keep baking soda on hand. Thompson says he has found sprinkling baking soda on the sting site to be much more effective as a pain reliever than meat tenderizer.

JELLYFISH

Safety first. Before treating a sting, Thompson advises helping the swimmer out of the water first and using a towel to avoid coming into contact with cnidocytes, the stinging cells of the jellyfish.
A splash of vinegar. Ordinary household white vinegar is the most effective treatment for jellyfish stings, says Thompson. It can be splashed on or applied to the skin with a paper towel or some other compress to deactivate the stinging cells. Thompson warns not to rub vinegar - or any other liquid - on the skin as this may further activate the stinging cells. Thompson adds that rubbing alcohol plus unseasoned meat tenderizer or baking soda, the 1:10 dilution of bleach, and even lime or lemon juice can also be used. But forget the common myth - urinating on a jellyfish sting doesn’t work.
Tentacle scraping. After the stinging cells are deactivated with vinegar, apply a paste of baking soda or sand and scrape off the visible tentacles lengthwise, like shaving hair. Use a credit card or anything with a straight edge to scrape the skin lightly. Once clean, splash the affected area again with vinegar to deactivate any remaining stinging cells.

No matter what type of sting, Thompson says, it is important to watch for signs of a severe allergic reaction that might include difficulty breathing or generalized hives. If a severe allergic reaction is suspected, the person should immediately receive professional medical care. This also holds true for very young children with large sting areas or those with pre-existing health conditions.

Anyone with a question about poisons may call the national toll-free hotline at (800) 222-1222 to reach nurses, pharmacists, paramedics and physicians who have extensive education, training and expertise in the field of clinical toxicology or poisoning. The American Association of Poison Control Centers operates the hotline. It works similar to 911 in that all calls are directed to the nearest poison center, which is available 24 hours a day and has the capability to translate calls from a variety of other languages, including Spanish.

Category:

News Releases

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 22nd, 2008 at 12:38 pm and is filed under News Releases. RSS 2.0 feed. -->

Copyright © The University of Texas Medical Branch. Please review our privacy policy and Internet guidelines. Send mail to UTMB Public Affairs with questions or comments about this site.

Comments are closed.

Sharks in swimming areas

bgsnmky — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 12:33:23 GMT

My niece asked me the other day "there aren't sharks in galveston are there"? Now what was I going to say. No of course.

As I am searching and planning for the family of 10 - I see lots of fishing in Galveston for sharks. I am sure the guides know where to take you etc, but I was just curious if anyone had any insight on this subject (so I feel better about my answer to her)!!

One person told me that sharks shouldn't come up to people anyway and especially if there are groups of people swimming etc.

We are staying at Terramar Beach in a house on the beach. I am sure one day we want to just hang out at our home and relax, swim, boogie board etc. My guess is it won't be crowded and it could just be us.

Has anyone heard of/seen etc sharks in the west end?? Where are they normally that the fish guides take you to them?

Basically is there anything to worry about?

Bicycle Awareness

Dixie — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 14:49:09 GMT

Got this from Island Bicycle's Myspace page...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7jWbpZpHU4

For Beachcombers

mojo boogie — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 19:56:00 GMT

An interesting web site for odd finds:

http://beachcombersalert.org

More info on the researcher that runs the site:

http://www.seattleweekly.com/2008-12-10/news/where-the-feet-have-no-name/

New Beach

Arlington Male Human — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 14:19:10 GMT

Was looking at the webcams. Much more sand now. My fishing jetty barely had any water around it this morning. Is it that way everywhere?

Squirrel on a pole

Lurker — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 21:43:47 GMT

Shot from my porch with Canon EOS 40D, EF300f/4L lens, and a Kenko 1.5x teleconverter. Oops. The pole got cropped out. The squirrel is looking around the pole.

Red-tail hawk

Lurker — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 17:59:23 GMT

Susan's "office" window overlooks the alley. Yesterday, she saw a red tail hawk on the ground on the other side of the alley. As I put my long lens on the camera, she said, "it took off."

I went outside and got down to the street as it took off again. It landed in a pecan tree about a third of a block away. I raised my camera to take a shot, but saw only black. I had forgotten to remove the lens cap. By the time I got it off, the bird was gone.

It was the largest red tail I had ever seen, and I saw a lot of them in the Big Bend.

weather there

Lynniebell — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 16:22:39 GMT

OK, have some threads disappeared or is it my imagination?

By looking at the webcams, just want to say how gorgeous the weather looks on the island. Wish I was there.

As Jimmy Buffet says, "The weather is here, wish you were beautiful."

Wildlife displaced by Ike

Lynniebell — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 16:53:30 GMT

Dawg has something to say about the coyotes.

birds

Lynniebell — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 00:05:01 GMT

Don't want to sound trivial after Ike and all but many hummingbirds are looking for their blown away flowers, so if you haven't put out your feeder, do so. Plus some species that are not normally found here have been blown off course and you may have some rare sightings. All the birds out here are just gobbling up the food.

Beach Conditions

Dixie — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 18:50:16 GMT

Wow it's windy out there!

It's kicking up the sand so much , I was able to fill in the pot holes in the alley with the sand I got from my ears alone.

The dog was happy to get in the shower when we got home... his face was white with sand poor thing.

Not complaining , cause it sure felt good out there.

Yesterday the beach had it's share of seaweed , they either raked it this morning.... or Robin was in town

Ken Hoffman on beach fees.

69 Chevy — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 05:12:17 GMT

Something to think about.

• I went on vacation last week to the New Jersey shore — where my family used to take me when I was a kid.

It was the most fun ever. Then and now. I stayed in Ocean Grove, a small village crowded with bed-and-breakfasts and ice cream parlors and pretty sidewalk cafes. I walked along the beach in Ocean Grove, Asbury Park, Point Pleasant and Bradley Beach. I ate hot dogs at the Windmill.

I played miniature golf on the boardwalk in Point Pleasant and won junk that I didn't want and didn't even pack to come home.

I checked out the Stone Pony rock club on Ocean Avenue in Asbury Park.

That's where Bruce Springsteen and Bon Jovi played before making it huge and where Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes were the house band in the '70s. Southside Johnny played there again last week, only this time on the big outdoor stage.

The thing that struck me the most was — how clean everything was. Especially the beaches. There wasn't an empty beer bottle or full diaper or smushed cigarette butt anywhere. There were lifeguard stands with lifeguards blowing their whistles, motioning kids on boogie boards to stay within the ropes.

These lifeguards are strict. Rules are posted, and beach goers follow them.

I wondered, what is it about the Jersey Shore that makes everybody want to keep the place clean?

It's not my nature to complain or tell people how to do their job, but I know some places where people treat the beach like a sandy garbage dump.

The difference? Towns on the Jersey Shore charge people to get on the beach.

In Ocean Grove, I had to pay $5 a day. In Asbury Park it was $4 a day. You get a little badge and a safety pin, which you have to show security guards at entry points. Children younger than 12 get on the beach for free.

I think that's the difference. When you pay for something, it has value, and you take better care of it.

Paying a daily entrance fee gives people a sense of ownership. You want to keep the beach clean, and you expect everybody else to follow the rules, too.

If the beach is free, you may feel free to leave your beer bottles in the sand.

If you have to pay to get on a beach, the city has money to pay for top lifeguards and cleaning equipment. It feels like a safer environment.

Now, I'm not saying that towns in Texas should charge people to get on their beaches ...

But ...

ken.hoffman@chron.com

Question for Islanders

gulfbreeze — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 20:39:19 GMT

I'm a huge Galveston fan, I live about 3 hrs. north up 45, and am in Galveston every chance I get(4 to 6 times a year). I constantly toy with the idea of permanently moving. Are there any good paying jobs on the island, or do most residents work elsewhere? Must note, I'm not a Dr., lawyer, or real estate agent! Thanks yall!

Yes, not paying attention...should have posted this in the "employment" section! My Bad!

sunny beaches

webbhead — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 15:26:54 GMT

We will be visiting Galveston Island next week and were wondering which beach is the cleanest and safest.

Would also be interested in any other travel tips while on the island.

Thanks

Webbhead

Night Fishing

bgsnmky — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 02:23:56 GMT

We will be staying in the west end but can come into town.

Where would you say is the best place to night fish. We will have 10 of us. 5 adults, and 5 teenagers.

We may not have lawn chairs or anything like that.

I did read about Seawolf park being nice for night time fishing....and we could go there earlier in case any of the kids want to tour the sub etc. Bring dinner with us and hang out and fish.

What other suggestions do you have?

Is the 61st pier open too? Just looking for at least 1 night of night fishing that we would be willing to drive too. (other days we might stay closer to home to night fish).