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Click here to download an 1884 chart of Aransas Pass, Aransas Bay and Cedar Bayou (2MB).

Cedar Bayou 6/18/2023 (Photo by Ray Hoese)

Cedar Bayou 6/18/2023 (Photo by Ray Hoese)

Cedar Bayou 6/18/2023 (Photo by Ray Hoese)

Cedar Bayou 6/18/2023 (Photo by Ray Hoese)

Cedar Bayou completely closed 10/2/2018 (Photo from Mark Creighton Video)

Click here to donload a Video of Cedar Bayou completely closed 10/2/2018 (Video courtesy of Mark Creighton)

Cedar Bayou 3/27/2015 (Photo courtesy of Mark Creighton)

Cedar Bayou 3/27/2015 (Photo courtesy of Mark Creighton)

It appears that the new dredged opening to Vinson Slough is nearly closed. It is unlikely to remain open long since Vinson Slough connects with Aransas Bay only at very high tides.

Cedar Bayou 5/17/2012

Cedar Bayou 2/26/2012

Cedar Bayou 10/7/2011

Cedar Bayou 1/6/2011

Note in the next three photos that Vinson Bayou, channel to the left has little or no connection with Aransas Bay. The proponents of opening Cedar Bayou and removing the blockage at the Gulf end of Vinson Bayou expect increased flow through Vinson Bayou in addition to flow through Cedar Bayou to keep the channels open. Except at high tides there is no connection between Vinson Bayou and Aransas Bay and even then it is through very shallow channels. It is unlikely that Vinson Bayou will help much in keeping Cedar Bayou open against the hundreds of thousands of cubic yards of sand moving along the beach. Packery Channel already needs to have over 200,000 cubic yards of sand dredged from the entrance even though it has jetties to keep the channel open and sand out of the entrance. Without jetties the prospect of Cedar Bayou remaining open for long is low.

Cedar Bayou 1/6/2011

Cedar Bayou 1/6/2011

Cedar Bayou 4/8/2010

The very white areas in the washover fan appear to be new salt deposits.

Washover fan on north end of San Jose Island. Cedar Bayou is in foreground. 1/25/2010

Cedar Bayou and the washover fan 1/25/2010

Cedar Bayou 1/25/2010

This is a photo of Cedar Bayou from the bay side and the huge washover fan on the north end of San Jose island.

Cedar Bayou 1/10/2010

Cedar Bayou 1/11/2010

9/14/2009

Several days of light rain and high water levels in Aransas Bay have dissolved the salt deposits shown on 8/8/2009. In addition, the marshes are flooded and the ponds on Matagorda Island are full of water. This first photo shows the huge washover fan on the north end of San Jose Island.

9/14/2009

8/8/2009

Here are some more photos of the salt near Cedar Bayou. I saw no salt further south on San Jose Island or on Mustang Island. There is a pretty large salt pond just inland of Mission Bay in the Mission River delta. Tony Amos just informed me that he measured the salinity in one of the few remaining ponds in Vinson Slough near the Gulf. It was 76ppt. The following commentary is by Dick Hoese, a marine biologist who has been studying this area just about forever.

Not sure about San Jose. In summer, 1955, what is now Harbor Oaks Harbor in Rockport was a salt pan. There were small ones on Harbor Island the summer of 1964. Do not remember any in 1970, but there were some around Baffin, and Celia stopped things. My neighbor on the Johnson Ranch in Lamar found the old salt works on St. Charles Bay and there has been some archeological work there. Since the flats stop somewhere around here I have wondered what the northern limit was because the LaSalle expedition in 1685 reported them. A corrpespondent sent me a historical record of settlers drying salt somewhere around Matagorda Bay, but have not checked it out. We have only had this property for a little over a decade, but what seems unusual is the hot weather from the high pressure during the time of maximum sun azimuth with little clouds. It feels like Mexico. Evaporation rates seem unusual, but have not seen any data.

I started my thesis on Cedar Bayou in 1956 and do not remember any. There were also some aerials taken around then, but do not recall seeing any salt. Will ask the old timers.

We have had unprecented wet weather since then, at least in modern Texas history, so while I hope it rains it will be interesting if we return to an earlier pattern

8/8/2009 This pond is on the south shore of Mesquite Bay.

8/8/2009 The black lines across the pond are cattle tracks.

8/1/2009

The drought and the low lake levels have caused many of the sloughs in the washover fan at the north end of San Jose Island to dry out and become salt pans. I don't recall ever seeing salt pans like this on San Jose Island, or at any location north of Laguna Madre. In the 1800s, this would have been a bonanza for an entrepeneur.

8/1/2009 Washover fan salt pans