AN AFTERNOON DRIVE TO BOCA; ENJOY IT WHILE YOU CAN

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

At about 4 p.m. Saturday we decided to take a drive to Boca Chica Beach and leave behind sights like the homeless man living in a rear door entrance to the annex to the Immaculate Conception Cathedral aside for a little while. Locals remember Boca Chica as the last undeveloped and pristine beach in just about the whole state of Texas.

In our high school days some of us would take off on a Saturday and stay around a campfire the entire night marveling at the sky that looked like God turned a bowl of stars upside down on the earth.

The first thing you see after starting out on Highway 4 with the Port of Brownsville channel to the left and the condominiums of South Padre Island farther north is the Border Patrol checkpoint on the way. There are no inspections on the way to the beach. The questioning for citizenship is on the way back.

And there, at a distance, stands the SpaceX craft  Mk1 which exploded when it was put through a pressurization test. 

The SpaceX craft and its buildings lie just a short distance from Kopernik Shores (Boca Chica Village), a problem that billionaire Elon Musk is trying to solve by outright buying the homes from the residents, hinting at a future eminent domain effort by the Cameron County Space Port Development Corporation on behalf of SpaceX.

The original property owners there were lured by developers who didn't tell the purchasers (mainly retired Polish residents of Chicago, Ill.) that there was no running water and that some of the lots were under the waters of adjoining South Bay.

The village is also nowhere near the beach, with the Gulf of Mexico a short mile or two beyond the sand dunes to the east. Devout Catholics, they erected a grotto to the Virgin on the development's north side which lies in a stand of trees and maguey-like plants.

Just as you're getting to the dune line, you pass the famous "Hopper" which Musk says will be on the rocket that goes to Mars. So far, that is the only craft that has  lifted off from the SpaceX complex since it brought is business down here. They are not impressive sights, but remind one of tinfoil prototypes.

After the "Hopper" is left on the right side of Highway 4, it's fence perimeter lies right against the dune line in the wetlands abutting the dunes.

The sight of the blue water just past the end of the pavement and through the tricky entrance of loose sand, incites silent wonder just as it did decades ago when we were high school and college students staying overnight on weekends.

Couples pick up shells on the shore and fishermen try their luck at surf fishing. Some organizations (like the BPOA) and politicians hold fishing fundraisers here every summer with categories of numerous species for their prizes.

Once on the beach, you are struck with the diversity of life on the shoreline and in the dunes. Herons wade on the shore line and flocks of pelicans fly low over the water and land in flocks beyond the breaking waves.


Inside the dunes, numerous holes indicate that there is a plethora of life within the sand. And the bright yellow hues and fragile detail of the flowering plants in the dunes fill one with wonder.

Tracks left on the sand attest to the diversity of the critters that live there and come out after dark to forage.

Campers, meanwhile, are setting up and getting the bonfire started. There has always been plenty of driftwood washed up on the dune line to start a nice fire using rolled up newspapers as kindling. Not only does it provide warmth, but also keeps the swarms of mosquitoes at bay.

The dunes are massiveand impressive. They stretch south to the Rio Grande and north to the port channel jetties. Occasionally, a vehicle gets stuck at the entrance and helpful beachgoers help them out of the sand.

But it is the vegetated dunes that give the barrier islands their value. They not only protect the erosion of the beach, but during a hurricane, they lose some  of their bottom sand that exposes the root systems which holds them together. The sand that is washed into the beach forms a berm just inside the water that blunts the storm surge.

The fire is put out and the chairs are put away as night falls on Boca Chica. Toward the west, the sun is setting over the dune ridges signalling the end of the day.

But there is something different in the view from the dune ridge line. Off in the distance is Musk's low-budget rocket test ground and the silver shape of his Mk1. Tomorrow (Monday) the beach will again be closed for yet another test and no one - except Kopernik Shores residents - will be able to go past his gates. So if you want to visit the people's beach, make sure that he will allow you a pass.

But the wonders of a drive to Boca Chica are not over. As we head west on Highway 4, we spot a buck standing seemingly staring passively at traffic on the left shoulder of the road. It has an impressive rack that we estimate at eight or ten-points. It is a fitting end to a magic drive that may become part of the past experience for Brownsville residents that our children may never know. Visit our pristine beach while you can.