Passport to Texas

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Sport Fish Restoration Program

Think popping a cold one on a hot summer day aboard a boat won’t affect you the same as if you were behind the wheel of car? Think again.

Alcohol has three times the effect on water that it has on dry ground.

Boating Safety Educator, Jack Dyess, says combining alcohol with the movement of a boat on water and the flickering light on the water’s surface makes for a potentially dangerous combination.

Because the constant motion that most of us are not accustomed to on a normal basis…and any changes to our environment, when we add alcohol to it, it’s going to have a greater effect. I think anyone with reasonable intelligence that gives any serious thought to the subject understands that boating and drinking is dangerous.

Operating a boat while intoxicated could result in a fine of up to 2-thousand dollars and up to 180 days in jail. A second conviction and the fine goes up to 4-thousand dollars and up to a year in jail. While third-time offenders get hit with a fine up to 10 grand and up to 10 years in jail. Coming up on tomorrow’s show…

Everyone on the water needs to obey the boating laws…and the only way to know the law is take the boater education class.

That’s our show for today….with support form the Sport Fish Restoration Program…working to increase fishing and boating opportunities in Texas…

For Texas Parks and Wildlife, I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Sport Fish Restoration Program

Think popping a cold one on a hot summer day aboard a boat won’t affect you the same as if you were behind the wheel of car? Think again.

Alcohol has three times the effect on water that it has on dry ground.

Boating Safety Educator, Jack Dyess, says combining alcohol with the movement of a boat on water and the flickering light on the water’s surface makes for a potentially dangerous combination.

Because the constant motion that most of us are not accustomed to on a normal basis…and any changes to our environment, when we add alcohol to it, it’s going to have a greater effect. I think anyone with reasonable intelligence that gives any serious thought to the subject understands that boating and drinking is dangerous.

Operating a boat while intoxicated could result in a fine of up to 2-thousand dollars and up to 180 days in jail. A second conviction and the fine goes up to 4-thousand dollars and up to a year in jail. While third-time offenders get hit with a fine up to 10 grand and up to 10 years in jail. Coming up on tomorrow’s show…

Everyone on the water needs to obey the boating laws…and the only way to know the law is take the boater education class.

That’s our show for today….with support form the Sport Fish Restoration Program…working to increase fishing and boating opportunities in Texas…

For Texas Parks and Wildlife, I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Drinking & Boating Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Sport Fish Restoration Program

When it comes to excuses why people don’t wear life jackets, Boating Safety Educator, Jack Dyess, says he’s heard ‘em all.

They are too uncomfortable, or they are too hot, or they aren’t stylish….

Leave your excuses on shore — life jackets save lives.

Over 95% of the drowning victims are not wearing life jackets. I’ve been in the boating safety business for a long time, I have yet to recover a drowning victim wearing a life jacket.

Life jackets are only required for children under 13 years of age, riding in motorboats under 26 feet in length. But Dyess suggests all family members wear them to encourage water safety practices that last a lifetime.

There are so many different types of life jackets on the market now, including little inflatable belts, the suspenders are inflatable and all of these are automatic so if you fall into the water, they automatically inflate. Most of them have twice the flotation as a normal life jacket and those who wear them forget that they are even wearing the thing.

Pack the life jackets on the boat, but leave the six-pack on shore.

One beer on a boat will affect a person the same as three beers on the ground.

That’s tomorrow…. Learn more about boater safety at passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show for today. With support from the Sport Fish Restoration program working to increase fishing and boating opportunities in Texas…For Texas Parks and Wildlife, I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

Only a handful of historic lighthouses remain standing; among them — the 155 year old Port Isabel Lighthouse on the Lower Laguna Madre. Perhaps you’ve been there… and as you climbed the spiral staircase to the top… wondered about the people who tread those same steps… more than a hundred years ago.

The lighthouse was used during the Civil War by the Confederate and the Union soldiers back in 1866.

Port Isabel lighthouse keeper, Gabriel Gildinas.

During the war, the light had been removed. The soldiers could use it as a lookout tower. The Confederate soldiers would be stationed upstairs and they would make sure none of the Union soldiers were moving into this area.

Removing the light wasn’t the only modification made to the lighthouse during the Civil War. The handrail was moved to the right of the staircase. Doing so gave occupying forces at the top… an advantage over those climbing the stairs.

The soldiers that would be upstairs, when they’re coming down, they want to be able to use their right hand [to shoot their guns], so if any soldiers [enemy forces] are going up to the top of the lighthouse, they’d be forced to have to use their left hand. It gave the soldiers that were stationed inside the lighthouse an advantage.

Of course, this assumes all soldiers were right handed.

Find a link to more information about the Port Isabel Lighthouse State Historic Site at passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show for today…with research and writing help from Loren Seeger…

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

For most of its 155 year history, the Port Isabel Lighthouse, like a lonely sentry, kept silent watch over ships that ventured into the shallow gulf waters of the lower Laguna Madre. One of sixteen lighthouses serving the state, this renovated structure is evocative of a bygone era; one that continues to capture the imagination of visitors.

A lot of people are fascinated with lighthouses.

Gabriel Gildinas is Port Isabel’s lighthouse keeper.

A lot of the visitors that we have are inland, so seeing a lighthouse is like finding treasure to them. It’s just an unbelievable site that they want to come, they want to experience this. It brings a lot to their imaginations. You just see the children. They’re just unbelievably fascinated with it. They just want to run up the stairs.

New technologies have made the need for lighthouses obsolete. But at one time – they were lifesavers.

Well, in the past, the use of this lighthouse was mainly to help the ships in this area. At the time, this was one of the largest shipping ports in the entire world. The lighthouses, they really don’t serve much of a purpose nowadays because of the GPS- global positioning system, but back in that time, lighthouses were like the GPS. The only way you could navigate and knows what’s in front of you is by knowing there’s a lighthouse right there.

Find a link to more information about the Port Isabel Lighthouse at passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show for today…with research and writing help from Loren Seeger…For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti

Port Isabel Lighthouse Play Now | Play in Popup | Download