Drinkies and Tiki Touring

Our delightful hosts from Namibia entertained us on the foredeck of their boat, out of the sun, at 6pm. This is possible because they are docked under cover. and the front of the boat is pointed forward towards the walkway. They inhabit a 42ft, 1977 Hatteras. They have lived aboard for the past two years, being childless, like us. They did own a home on the other side of Houston, for 14 years, while their two sons were at High School and then College, upstate. It is interesting to hear the stories of why people are living aboard...all very similar, really!

Boats under cover

We enjoyed their company for a couple of hours before the worms started biting (we got hungry!) and decided to try out one of the local restaurants, Outrigger. We know they take last orders around 9pm, so we made our way there quick smart with just 15mins to spare. The parking lot was full so we couldnt find a car park. We decided to go back towards Clear Lake and find something easy on NASA Pkwy. As luck would have it, we found a nice little Chinese restaurant not far from Hwy 146, and enjoyed Mixed seafood w/veg and fried chinese noodles...containing lots of shrimp, scallops, crab etc, and Colonel Tso's chicken..which had a bit of a 'kick':). It came with egg fried rice for two...with leftovers.
There is enough for our 4th of July dinner tonight. Nothing like leftovers to celebrate Independence Day. So, $21 later, we had enough food for two good sized meals. In NZ we would have paid at least $35 for the same thing.
I dont think we will be eating a whole lot of food like that again, at 9pm-ish. We have become so used to eating salads, fruit and small meat/protein, each day.

Tiki Tours...
As I said, we had to try out the dinghy motor at some stage, and this morning dawned beautiful and clear with cooler temps. Perfect!
Leaving the big boat at around 9.30am, we decided to tour some of the side canals off Clear Creek, which leads into Clear Lake. It is a  No Wake zone, which suits us fine. We sauntered up the first canal and loved the large trees shading homes, the docks alongside, birds fishing, people putting bunting out for 4th of July, watering their gardens et al. Boats of many different sizes sat at peace on their home docks. Some looked like they hadnt seen much service lately or for many a year.

Looking back down the canal to our boat from Clear Creek.

 

The first canal we ventured down.

A Typical home with dock outside, on the canal...

 

 
...and another...with bunting (US flags et al)

 This sign outside a corner canal front home indicates that the fishermen who fish outside their home should make sure they take away their tackle instead of leaving it on the front lawn. This manatee is concrete...but you dont find the real thing in these parts.

A lovely young White Heron

this 'boat garage' isnt big enough for us, but the home it is attached to is big enough for several families!

This lady and her pooch have style:) Love the lights!!

These dogs are in heaven. very relaxed and obviously enjoying being with their human mates

I took over 100 photos...some better than others. It is a bit challenging taking them from a moving dinghy, I am finding:) That's my excuse, anyway!

Home for lunch...Tuna and egg salad with lots of goodies in it. Yum! Time for a nap, read a book and then prepare for the mayhem that the evening will bring. It IS 4th of July, after all. We are told it is crazy street out on the water ways, so we are staying put and will take video and photos of the Fireworks planned for 9.30pm, at Kemah Boardwalk.
I will give you a preview of them in the next post. Warren took some good ones on Friday night, sitting on the flydeck of the boat.