Roxie & Don's Place

10/02/2025

WISHING Rocksand Franks A HEAVENLY BIRTHDAY!

07/22/2025

Slow down and appreciate the good in life 💚

07/22/2025

Step into a sweet escape at Grandma B’s Sweet Treats in Rockport, Texas! This bright yellow ice cream shop isn’t just pretty on the outside; it's packed with over 30 delicious ice cream flavors, all made even better with our homemade waffle cones. Whether you're a fan of classic chocolate chip or you're in the mood to try our wild Blue Monster flavor, we’ve got a treat for every taste bud! Plus, our spacious grassy area is perfect for enjoying your ice cream near me with friends and family. Swing by and discover why our ice cream shop is the go-to spot for sweet moments in Rockport. Indulge yourself today.

06/18/2025

"The Big Tree" in Rockport may have been alive 2000 years ago and was certainly an old tree in 1492 at the time of Christopher Columbus' "discovery" of America. It's pretty awesome to be there and look at it and consider that most of what we call western civilization has transpired during the time it's been alive.

06/16/2025

06/12/2025

Raul Puente, Cynthia Puente

A little Island history
Baffin Rocks!

Editor’s note: Bobbie Kimbrell has lived in Flour Bluff since 1942 and was a commercial fisherman until his retirement a few years ago.
By Bobbie Kimbrell

Unbeknown to a lot of fishermen or boat enthusiasts there are two “Points of Rocks” in the Laguna Madre. One of the points of rocks is the reef that runs out about 100 yards or so north of Penascal Point where Baffin Bay meets the Laguna Madre. The other Point of Rocks, as is shown incorrectly on the Padre Island National Seashore National Geographic Maps, is located where the mot northern par of Baffin Bay meets the Laguna Madre a few feet east of the Intracoastal Canal. Those rocks are covered over with dredge mud now.

The “Mail Box” a marker made of three cedar stakes jabbed into the sand bottom of a sand reef extending east of the Intracoastal Canal and tied together at the top with a wooden arrow pointing to the east, was the marker where, \heading south you turned east to avoid hitting the point of rocks, from there heading south was piling markers on the east side where the shallow water ended and the deeper water started.

Those markers extended all the way across the mouth of Baffin Bay down toward the lower end of the Lagoon, (before the Intracoastal Canal was completed in the late 1040s). After completion of the Canal, which resulted in the Laguna Madre not being as salty, the sea worms ate the pilings up and they ceased to exist

Starting w2here the Laguna Madre meets Baffin Bay there is a large mass of rocks that extends out into Baffin Bay. Most of the rocks are in shallow water one to two feet deep with a lot of separate rocks in the deeper water. Some of the rocks were flat and 20 to 30 feet across and were visible on the extremely low summer or winter low tide.

Most of the time all the rocks are underwater. When the Intracoastal Canal was dug it went right though most of the rocks where the Laguna Madre crosses the mouth of Baffin Bay and it destroyed a lot of the good fishing grounds in that area because the dredge spoil created large spoil dumps on the east side of the Canal and the Canal itself eliminated a lot of the rocks.

Most of the big trout and redfish that are caught in Baffin Bay are from around and nearby rocks. Every time the canal is re-dredged because of silt, more rocks are covered up and more fishing grounds are covered up with dredge mud.

The same goes for the rest of the Lagoon as well, even where there are no rocks. In places where the dredge spoil was dumped between existing spoil dumps that caused some areas to become dead areas because of no water circulation, cuts had to be remade between the spoil dumps. In other places the seagrass is so thick, you cannot navigate a boat between the dumps and it kills water circulation as well.

In the past, when fishing in and around the rocks with trotlines baited with cut mullet, it was a haven for catching redfish, redfish and trout being the choice that the housewives bought at the markets. Not so today since trout and redfish are now regulated for sport fishing only and million-dollar redfish tournaments.

Also, in the past nearly every rock that posed a hazard for navigation was marked with an iron pipe. They were all marked in the same manner so that even a novice could determine where the rocks were. Some of the pipes were put up in the 1930s and were replaced if they rusted out or if hurricane debris did them in. to the best of my remembrances none of the pipes are there today due to fishermen tying on to them to rod and reel fish in rough weather which broke them off, especially of they were getting rusty.

If the weather is rough and windy the rocks are easily detected by the waves turning white and foamy as they break over the rocks. Some of the biggest speckled trout every caught were caught on the rock reef a few hundred feet from the shoreline of East Kleberg Point in Baffin Bay. Most of the bigger trout, “sow trout,” are caught near the King Ranch shoreline south of the Pure Oil Channel all the way south to Baffin Bay and from there all the way to Starvation Point at the mouth of Alazan Bay. At times a few big trout are caught between Pita Island and the Pure Oil Channel.
it’s still possible to navigate a shallow draft outboard boat, on plane, all the way from Flour Bluff, hugging a few feet from the west shoreline of the Laguna Madre, down to Baffin Bay and then all the way to Starvation Point in Baffin Bay. There is also a rock-free area about two or three miles long about one mile west of Compurta Pass down to East Kleberg Point with \a sand bar built up between the edge of the deep water and where the shallow water starts toward the shoreline.

Most of the rocks in the Laguna Madre south of Baffin Bay on the west side are on the bottom and don’t pose a hazard to navigation. Until you get down to Rocky Slough where the water is shallower. There are a few rocks on the east side of the Intracoastal Canal at the mouth of Baffin Bay as well as some rocks between the spoil dumps where the Yarborough Channel runs into the Intracoastal Canal. There are numerous rock reefs all along the south shore of Baffin Bay in Kennedy County, starting at the Penascal Point and then west down to Niebaur Point toward Lyola Beach and Rivera Beach. That coastline is also navigable with a shallow draft outboard boat. There is one rock about 50 yards out from the west shoreline of the Laguna Madre about two miles north of Baffin Bay that has been hit by just about every boat that travels the west shore in that area and it is hit only in a real low summer or winter low tide.

Many a lower unit and propeller has been damaged hitting that rock and I am surprised that some organization like the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department or the Redfish Sportsman Association hasn’t removed the small rock with dynamite or with some type of jackhammer. That rock has left thousands of boats throughout the years stranded and disabled. There are no rocks on the east side of the Intracoastal Canal all the way from Flour Bluff to the mouth of Baffin Bay.

Most of the rocks look to be made of lava but according to scientists they were made by rock worms millions and millions of years ago.

Fishing a rocks throw from the rocks will usually put fish in your creel, or as it is commonly called, a Jax Box.

04/09/2025

"DON'S Tamales"
Taking orders from today to EASTER, dont wait, booking up!
Call 210 718 4443DON'S TAMALES
Rockport tx. 210-718 4443
Homemade " Specialty Tamales" CUSTOM MADE - MADE-TO-ORDER. Choose from our many menu options or creste your own ! From the steamers to you. Free deluvery in Rockport/ Fulton , delivery area : Lamar, Holiday beach, Aransas Pass , Ingelside, Portland. Pick - up, meet, or deliver. Veteran owned and operated ! Prices are by the dozen , tax incl.

MENU :
PORK -
REGULAR - $24 / SPICY - $ 25
VERDE - $26
GREEN CHILI - $ 26
"LOCO LEW" - pork, chorizo, fire roasted jalapenos $ 28
ADD $3 EACH TO ADD - Poblano's, Green Chili's, Cream cheese, Bean

BEEF -
Regular - $27 / SPICY - $ 28
BEEF / PORK - $ 29
"LONEY BEEF" - $ 31, Beef, cream cheese, fire roasted jalapenos!
ADD $3 EACH TO ADD - Poblano's, Green Chili's, Cream cheese, Bean

CHICKEN -
REGULAR - $ 24 / SPICY $ 25
ADD $3 EACH TO ADD - Poblano's, Green Chili's, Cream cheese, Bean
"CHICKEN BOMB'S" - Chicken , Cream Cheese, Bacon, Fire roasted jalapenos! $ 30
" Gary Billy " - CHICKEN MOLE - $ 28
"MANGO HABENERO" - $ 30
"BUFFALO" - $ 30

BEAN -
Regular - $ 24 / Spicy - $ 25
Add $ 3 each to add - Mexican blend cheese, cream cheese , bacon , chorizo
" J.T. LOADED BEAN" - Beans, chorizo, bacob, cheese, optional fire roasted jalapenos - $ 30

SHRIMP -
"DON'S SHRIMP POPPERS "- Fresh local shrimp,
Ceam cheese , Bacon , Cream cheese , fire roasted jalapenos - $ 35
" Rockport Pirate " SHRIMP SPINACH CREAM CHEESE - $ 32

CREAM CHEESE -
ADD $ 3 EACH - Spinach , jalapenos , Bacon, salsa verde , poblanos , green chilis .

Please call to place order or if you have any questions. 210- 718 4443 . If i dont reply to your
texts its because im in the kitchen , but i do answer phone . Thank you !

04/05/2025

02/06/2025

If you need anything done in or around your home at all . W***y Adkison is dependable, fair , honest
From repairs to fence installs
Or just things you haven't had time to do . Capable of so many various odd jobs just ask.