When I awoke this morning, the first sound I heard was the wind howling.  “Those are gale-force winds,” I thought in dismay. I opened the drapes and looked out: the sky was overcast and a light drizzle had dampened the tennis courts. No one was in any of the pools, even the heated one.  “We’re hunkering down today,” my sister announced, and I gave my whole-hearted assent.

But by 10:30 we were already stir-crazy, so we decided to venture out.  Located at 600 Padre Boulevard, barely a block from our condo, is the South Padre Island Visitor’s Center, so we stopped in to pick up brochures and a coupon book. The famous sand castle is the first thing you see when you step inside.  Built and maintained by the Sons of the Beach Sand Castle Wizards, this sculpture currently features a winter holiday theme:

Our next stop was the SPI Birding Center where we’d spent some time yesterday afternoon; my sister wanted to add our sightings to their eBird kiosk.  Developed by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society, this Internet application has enabled citizen scientists to contribute their observations to a central database which is used to track the abundance and distribution of bird species in the United States and even internationally.

Back at the condo, I re-read the SPI Chamber of Commerce’s Guide to South Padre Island and realized there was another indoor activity that was available to us for the afternoon.  Located a few blocks south of us in Isla Blanca State Park is the University of Texas Pan American Coastal Studies Laboratory.  It’s an academic research station, but the building also houses exhibits on marine life, including live specimens, which means it’s an indoor aquarium.  “It opens at 1:30 and we’re going,” I said to my sister.  It cost $4 to get in to the Park, but we could drive right up to the North Pavilion and park at the marine lab.  Inside, it was warm and dry.

This is not a commercial attraction, so there weren’t a lot of fish exhibits, but there were skeletons of marine animals, cases of rare and beautiful sea shells, and in one tank, this wonderful octopus.

Octopi are indeed fascinating creatures, and I can only hope that Paul of World Cup fame (may he rest in peace) demonstrated for the general public some of their amazing abilities.

In one of the classrooms, a video about the flora and fauna of South Padre Island and the Lower Laguna Madre was playing, so we rewound to the beginning and watched the hour-long program.  It wasn’t a Hollywood production but held my interest nevertheless.