In the 40 years I've been going down there I think I've been able to see my feet a couple of times. Usually when there is a light north wind in the Fall and the sea is as flat as a lake for a couple of days. The sand gets a chance to settle out. Mostly the blue water never gets inside the last sand bar, maybe 300 yards offshore.
I can confirm the blue water in Galveston. Did some research and made a couple calls to reliable friends. Gotta be there at the right time, like the blue meth on breaking bad its mysterious.
Nope, it happens several times every year and a lot closer to shore. You have to read the weather and be ready to go. Many times I've been waist-deep in water at Surfside 40 feet from shore and could count the little crabs crawling around on the bottom. "Green" surf, whatever you wanna call it. Great!!! fishing...those are the days I used to swim out to the 3rd bar with a surf rod, cast, swim back and and catch ling, dorado, sharks, reds, all kinds of fun stuff. Topwaters on smaller rigs from b/t the 1st/2nd and 2nd/3rd sandbars would murder the trout, but I did have a shark eat my stringer of fish (that was loosely attached to me) once. Worst 5 second tug-of-war ever. I miss the coast.
it's blue and sometimes clear slightly green at least twice a week. seeweed stops coming in usually around early July.
I had my stringer taken from me once. Thought it was the current. I double limited that day on flounder and trout. I've learned that mesh, and a simple floating tube work well at keeping animals off your butt. After Ike, the fishing hasn't been the same.
An old man called me a communist the other day because I don't fish. We also have not found 1 sharks tooth since Ike and over 50 years we have collected maybe 10,000. Here are some odd things I have seen over the years 1. bio-luminescent waves that glow blue in the moonlight 2 thousands and thousands of Cow Rays all swimming Southwest over maybe 24 hours 3 dudes catching 6' sharks everyday for 3 weeks off a Sea-Doo 4. swarms of diatoms that get in your swim suit and itch like hell 5. thousands of purple Man-o-wars 6. thousands of Cabbage heads 7. 4' redfish swimming inside the first bar 8. massive waves of tar balls 9. water spouts 10. 100 shrimp boats in front of our house at night 11. meteor showers 12. the super Moon of 2013 13 mountains of seaweed 14. water in a tupperware box with a top on it at 11 feet above sea level in our house after Ike 15. swarms of Love bugs so thick you couldn't drive 16. flowering dunes as far as you can see 17. being able to see San Luis Pass (12 miles) to the South and the Pleasure Pier to the East (15 miles) 18. 70 mile per hour gusts come out of a thunderstorm 10. clouds and fog so thick you couldn't see across the street It's a weird and wonderful place.
I think it's difficult (perhaps impossible?) for a Houstonian to truly get to to know Galveston as intimately as Dubious describes. I'm a native Houstonian, and grew up in the big city. My dad never taught me to fish. Growing up, my family never ate seafood. This has bled into my current life. We like to take day-trips to Galveston for a fun family day at the beach, but we don't have enough free days to get to see Galveston at its best. Most of the time, the water is brown and dirty while seaweed covers the beach. And it's sad that it takes special knowledge of timing, weather, currents, and location to catch a rare glimpse of Galveston being momentarily beautiful.
My wife's family built a beach house there in 1961 and we were married in 1974. I say " it's not much of a beach, but it's our beach" I sing this down there and substitute Galveston for Boston. <iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/5apEctKwiD8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Does anybody have any pics of Galveston with non dirty water? I would love to see that. Tried googling but couldn't find anything
Here ya go, someone's random YouTube video. Your welcome https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhDg0iW8ZfQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Everyone talking about Galveston's good days: SHHHHHH! Let haters hate... stay away from our island (and Bolivar) and leave it to those of us who appreciate it! The seaweed is horrible right now, but man... that place is such a gem. Maybe it's just the hours of fond memories I've logged, but I hold Galveston and Bolivar so dear.
How certain are you about when it normally goes away? Was planning on spending a few days the second weekend in August with my wife, she loves walking the beach so Im hoping for a fairly clear beach west of the seawall.
