IT AIN'T A SLOW BOAT TO CHINA, BUT IT ACTUALLY WORKS

(Ed.'s Note: We always thought that the pirate ship replica moored at Port Isabel was just for show and for kids to clamber aboard and fantasize an say words like "Arf! Arf!" But one of our loyal seven readers sent us this photo of the thing actually moving along at a nice clip in the Laguna Madre. A look at their website confirms that the vessel is seaworthy and actually is a modern boat under the water line.

The website says: "The Black Dragon is a modern day replica of an 17th Century Galleon. Below the water line, she is a modern sea worthy vessel with the latest marine technology, but above the water, she is a trip back into time, to a place where the likes of Jean Lafitte sailed the waters of the Gulf of Mexico and the Laguna Madre making port right here in Port Isabel.

Legend has it that Lafitte took refuge in this area and dug a well in Laguna Vista. Local ranchers formed business alliances with pirates who sailed their contraband between the Rio Grande and Corpus Christi. Now you can sail the same waters with Black Dragon Cruises."