I arrived at the ferry to Matagorda Island about 8:30 Monday morning only to find that the ferry only runs Thurs-Sun. The weather was gorgeous and the area looked promising, so I set out to explore the islands of the channel. There isn�t a place to launch at the ferry, but found one down the road at Clark�s �it�s a muddy slope between the old pier and junk, but it�s the only access I could get permission to use. I paddled down the coast for a couple of miles enjoying the weather and the many shrimp boats docked along the shore. I paddled around several of the islands, and as I lunched on one of them, I wished I had an extra day to paddle out to Matagorda Island State Park. The paddle was so peaceful-not another soul in sight.
I found out later that day that the coast was shut down to shipping because the army was shipping out equipment from Port Lavaca. This would be an excellent place to spend several days exploring as the many islands are protected from the ocean waves and one could island hop for days. The park ranger said many people have the ferry haul their boats out to Matagorda Island and they paddle back-about an 8 mile trip. But the trip would be a lot easier if you paddled from island to island-the ferry makes a big swing that is out of the way. This is definitely a place worth further exploration!
Directions:
Clarks' Marina is at the end of 7th street off Tx 185 in Port O'Conner.
