Texas Mariners Cruising Association
The Largest Boating Club on the Gulf Coast Established 1979
TMCA PO Box 946 Kemah, TX 77565
Cruise to Bayland Marina
(with a morning viewing of some of the Texas Outlaw Challenge “mariners”) (and with an always-fun afternoon “Goose Creek Dinghy Excursion”) (and with an evening dinner at O’Neal’s Sportsbar & Grill)
June 25-27, 2021 This cruise, to watch some of the Texas Outlaw Challenge mariners arrive at Bayland on Saturday morning as one of the stops on their “Gunslinger Poker Run” event (re: https://texasoutlawchallenge.com/), there to pick up their poker card, perhaps fuel up their thirsty gas-guzzling beasts, and then to grab a brewski or two at O’Neal’s, was first run way back in 2012 (when O’Neal’s didn’t even exist!). And an album full of photos from that fun cruise can be seen on my Flickr site by clicking here. Take a look please! Since there is no swimming pool at Bayland, like there is at Harborwalk (another one of the stops), the boats don’t linger at Bayland for very long, but it is great fun to watch while it lasts! The “Goose Creek Dinghy Excursion” part of the day was a cruise feature which I “invented” all the way back in 2001 (hard to believe that it has been twenty years!!!) when there just wasn’t much to do there at Bayland on hot summer afternoons!) I led that fun event every year for the next several years and there was always great participation. The most recent time that it has been done was at a Bayland “Sangria and Sunset” Cinco de Mayo Cruise in 2017 (click here for the photo album), and then before that during a 2015 Bayland “Ice Cream Cruise” (click here). And so it certainly is time to do it again in celebration of twenty years!!! So bring those dinghies and we will spend a couple of hours in the afternoon cruising up this close-by waterway that bisects the city of Baytown. O’Neal’s Sportsbar & Grill (click here) opened in June 2018 and right after it opened we did have a nice cruise to Bayland and this new venue. The food is good, the beer is cold, and the view of passing ships in the HSC, and especially of the Fred Hartman Bridge cannot be beat, especially at sunset! It had been a very long time since Bayland Marina had a venue onsite such as O’Neal’s, where one could go for dinner, and/or just some cold beers at the bar out under the palapa, and I am looking forward to it! TMCA has a very long history of cruising to Bayland, and that is ever since it first opened in the mid-90s! It is a fine weekend destination due to its relatively short (10.5nm) distance from Clear Lake, and with its great docks, plenty of electric plug-ins, clean restrooms, and ship’s store, it is well worth cruising to! The long-awaited dredging of the entrance channel has recently taken place and looking at the tide predictions for the weekend (re: graph below) no one should have any access problems. If you can’t make the trip on Friday just come on Saturday, but the go-fast boats generally come in around mid-to-late morning, and so if you want to see them you need to arrive early!! My “Navigation to Bayland Marina” destinations file, which includes waypoints and other important information is available by clicking here. Slip fees at Bayland are $1.50/ft per night, payable at the ship’s store. Registration for this cruise will soon get underway on the TMCA website and I am hoping for a nice turnout for a fun cruise to Bayland Marina! Philip Kropf s/v Silhouette 713-598-6454 pkropf@flash.net
June 25-27, 2021
This cruise, to watch some of the Texas Outlaw Challenge mariners arrive at Bayland on Saturday morning as one of the stops on their “Gunslinger Poker Run” event (re: https://texasoutlawchallenge.com/), there to pick up their poker card, perhaps fuel up their thirsty gas-guzzling beasts, and then to grab a brewski or two at O’Neal’s, was first run way back in 2012 (when O’Neal’s didn’t even exist!). And an album full of photos from that fun cruise can be seen on my Flickr site by clicking here. Take a look please! Since there is no swimming pool at Bayland, like there is at Harborwalk (another one of the stops), the boats don’t linger at Bayland for very long, but it is great fun to watch while it lasts!
The “Goose Creek Dinghy Excursion” part of the day was a cruise feature which I “invented” all the way back in 2001 (hard to believe that it has been twenty years!!!) when there just wasn’t much to do there at Bayland on hot summer afternoons!) I led that fun event every year for the next several years and there was always great participation. The most recent time that it has been done was at a Bayland “Sangria and Sunset” Cinco de Mayo Cruise in 2017 (click here for the photo album), and then before that during a 2015 Bayland “Ice Cream Cruise” (click here). And so it certainly is time to do it again in celebration of twenty years!!! So bring those dinghies and we will spend a couple of hours in the afternoon cruising up this close-by waterway that bisects the city of Baytown.
O’Neal’s Sportsbar & Grill (click here) opened in June 2018 and right after it opened we did have a nice cruise to Bayland and this new venue. The food is good, the beer is cold, and the view of passing ships in the HSC, and especially of the Fred Hartman Bridge cannot be beat, especially at sunset! It had been a very long time since Bayland Marina had a venue onsite such as O’Neal’s, where one could go for dinner, and/or just some cold beers at the bar out under the palapa, and I am looking forward to it!
TMCA has a very long history of cruising to Bayland, and that is ever since it first opened in the mid-90s! It is a fine weekend destination due to its relatively short (10.5nm) distance from Clear Lake, and with its great docks, plenty of electric plug-ins, clean restrooms, and ship’s store, it is well worth cruising to! The long-awaited dredging of the entrance channel has recently taken place and looking at the tide predictions for the weekend (re: graph below) no one should have any access problems. If you can’t make the trip on Friday just come on Saturday, but the go-fast boats generally come in around mid-to-late morning, and so if you want to see them you need to arrive early!!
My “Navigation to Bayland Marina” destinations file, which includes waypoints and other important information is available by clicking here. Slip fees at Bayland are $1.50/ft per night, payable at the ship’s store.
Registration for this cruise will soon get underway on the TMCA website and I am hoping for a nice turnout for a fun cruise to Bayland Marina!
Philip Kropf
s/v Silhouette
713-598-6454
pkropf@flash.net
