Tourists flock to Galveston to see blue sea
Unusual phenomenon cleans Texas Gulf Coast, changes hue — for now
An unusual phenomenon in Galveston has led to a boom in beachgoers — clear, blue water stretching down the island’s coastline. “I’ve lived down here for a long time, and that’s the first time I’ve seen it that blue,” says sno-cone vendor Hunter Johnson.
Hunter Johnson has been selling snocones at Stewart Beach in Galveston for five years, shoveling ice out of a large cooler in a small wooden cart, packing it into a paper cone, and coating it in oozy red or blue flavoring. A Galveston native, Johnson typically stays busy post-Memorial Day as Texans and tourists flock to the island to escape the oppressive heat and enjoy the Gulf Coast breezes.
But an unusual phenomenon this past week in Galveston led to a boom in beachgoers that had Johnson’s arms working overtime — clear, blue water stretching down the island’s coastline.
“I’ve lived down here for a long time, and that’s the first time I’ve seen it that
blue,” Johnson said. “It gets green here and there, but it was beautiful. I could walk in the water chest-high and see my feet at the bottom. It was nice; it was a rare thing.”
When most non-natives ask where the clear blue water is along the Texas Gulf Coast, the standard response from locals is “somewhere else.” The water in Galveston is notorious for its murky, brown hue, and while many still brave the lukewarm water temps as a respite from the dank Texas summer, its unappealing appearance is a deterrent for others.
“When it’s nasty, no, we’re not going to swim in this water,” said Jadabeth Herrera, who was visiting from Pasadena on Friday with her 1-year old daughter.
So when Galveston locals started reporting over Memorial Day Weekend that the water near the coast was — gasp! — blue and clear, some on social media joked that the city of Galveston must have dyed the water blue just in time for beach season.
‘Usually so nasty’
“The water’s usually so nasty,” said Diana Aguila, who traveled down to the coast from Cypress with her husband, Pedrito, and three children when they saw the news that the water along Galveston was unusually clear. “Especially since there’s so much news about it being so dirty and the fecal (bacteria) and all that. but they said the water was really clear so we were like, ‘Oh let’s go check it out since (the clear water) hasn’t happened in such a long time.’”
Indeed, whether it was the rumors of clear water or simply a stretch of sunny days with blue skies, the beaches along the Seawall extending out to the East End of Galveston had noticeably more multi-colored umbrellas dotting the shoreline.
Xavier Vincent, a parking lot attendant at Stewart Beach, said that on a Friday during the summer season, they average roughly 500 cars in the lot. On this Friday after Memorial Day weekend, that number ballooned to 800 cars.
“We’ve had over a dozen people at least come in and ask us about the water, they’re probably here just for the water,” Vincent said.
Memorial Day weekend traffic in Galveston was heavier than in previous years, with more than 200,000 vehicles crossing over the Interstate 45 causeway or the Houston Ship Channel via ferry, officials said.
But Kelly de Schaun, the executive director of the Galveston Park Board, doesn’t buy that the clear water was a particularly unique draw this past week.
“The water folks saw last week is not the anomaly folks think it is,” de Schaun said. “The visitation that we’re seeing right now, I correlate that much more closely to the good weather. Galveston does well in the summer when the weather is good. If it’s raining in Houston, it doesn’t even have to be raining in Galveston.”
While the clear water makes for fun headlines, there is a scientific explanation for the suddenly crystalline Texas coastline.
Dr. Tom Linton, a marine biologist at Texas A&M University-Galveston, believes that subtropical storm Alberto off the coast of Alabama late last month helped set up a gyre (a large system of rotating ocean currents) east of the Mississippi River that began moving the water in a counter-clockwise direction. Hurricanes can go in a counter-clockwise direction.
The competing, existing Gulf Stream created a gyre west of the Mississippi moving in a clockwise direction.
“So you got these two gyres acting like floor sweepers, pulling in water from the west and the east,” Linton said.
Much clearer ocean water from the western side of the Gulf Stream, namely the Corpus Christi area and points south, was brought up and began striking the Galveston beach. It all goes to show that a subtropical storm in the Gulf, no matter how big or small, can have a very wide-reaching impact.
“The wind was coming from the southwest when I was out on the beach,” Linton said. “The water was coming farther north than it usually does.”
Linton noted that brown water doesn’t necessarily mean that the water is dirty or dangerous, although there have been isolated cases of swimmers developing flesh-eating infections following exposure to bacteria in salty or brackish waters.
The water along the Galveston coastline is colored by the muddy Mississippi, Trinity and San Jacinto rivers.
‘Enjoy it while you can’
As unappealing as the brown water appears, it is more beneficial than one might think.
“The clear water may be good for pictures and for tourists, but it’s not that good for marine life,” Linton said. “Fishermen love dark water because of the nutrients from the rivers.”
“I would say, enjoy it while you can,” Linton added.
Indeed, by the time people flocked to Galveston on Friday, the water had already begun to return to its usual, brownish state, disappointing some who were hoping to see a picture-perfect blue Gulf.
“Quite frankly I’m not impressed,” said Virgil Roumo, who was walking Stewart Beach with his wife, Lydia, and son, Jonathan. “We were in Jamaica the last couple of years, so that’s probably an unfair benchmark. I will say it’s not as murky as it usually is.”
Lydia Roumo was looking forward to a rare dip in the water if it remained clear. Instead, she said she would keep her distance.
“No thanks,” Roumo said. “I’m not fish bait.”