10.5.2011 Tour of Houston ship channel

Today we went on a boat tour of the Houston Ship Channel. When we arrived we could see these cranes unloading a nearby ship.


This is a photo before we boarded the "Sam Houston" - the boat which took us on the channel tour. Thanks to Homeland Security, we were not able to take any photos on the tour.


Since we weren't able to take photos on the tour, here is a photo of the boat from the Port of Houston website....

On our way home, we crossed the ship channel on I-610 and here is partial view.

A summary and photo from the Port of Houston's website:
The Port of Houston is a 25-mile-long complex of diversified public and private facilities located just a few hours' sailing time from the Gulf of Mexico. The port is ranked first in the United States in foreign waterborne tonnage (14 consecutive years); first in U.S. imports (19 consecutive years); second in U.S. export tonnage and second in the U.S. in total tonnage (19 consecutive years).

Info from the website about the bay:
Galveston Bay is an irregularly shaped, shallow body of water, approximately 30 miles long (26 n.m./48 km) in a general north-northeast and south-southwest direction, about 17 miles (14.8 n.m. or 21 km) in width at its widest part and generally about 7 to 9 feet (2.1 to 2.7 m) deep.
After the tour we stopped for dinner in Kemah on the boardwalk.
These photos were taken from our table looking out into Galveston Bay. In the above photo, a freighter is making its way across Galveston Bay heading toward the shipping channel. Notice the pelicans on the pilings.

The restaurant was located right at the entrance to a sailboat marina so boats kept passing while we enjoyed our dinner.