Gulf of Mexico

Hunker Down: The Hurricane Forecasts Are Out. Five Things to Keep in Mind

It's that time again. No, not hurricane season, it's hurricane predictin' season, partner. So, get out yer slide rule and a room full of super computers. Grab the nerdiest guy you can find and shelter in place because this is going to be a wild ride. Every year in April, the forecasters begin layin ... More >>

State Seeking To Close Rollover Pass After Almost 60 Years, To Residents' Regret

Back in the rum-smuggling days, runners used to head for the narrowest, shallowest spit of land blocking the Gulf of Mexico from entering Galveston Bay. They're roll their barrels over the land, which became known as Rollover Pass. In 1955 the state dredged the site in order to improve fishing and ... More >>

Warning: The Aggies Have Drones & Are Prepared To Use Them

All you teasippers out there, be on the lookout. Cougars, keep your head on a swivel. Baylor Bears, pray to your God. The Aggies have drones, and they're launching them. As far as we know, the drones are unarmed. As far as we know. We are not saying you should ease up on your surveillance, but t ... More >>

Weather Week: Beautiful Weather For Your Spring Break

A blustery, overcast and even somewhat rainy weekend has given way to a seriously beautiful week, which should warm up nicely as we continue into this coming weekend, perfect for all you spring break maniacs. But, if you started your party this past weekend, it might have been a minor bummer, dude, ... More >>

Texas' Forgotten Artificial Reefs: Six Great Photographs

For the past 30 years, the Texas Artificial Reef program has been adding reef sites throughout the state's waters, with 68 reef sites in the Gulf of Mexico ranging from 40 to 360 acres in size. The Texas Parks & Wildlife Department realizes most people haven't heard of the program. "The Texas Artif ... More >>

The Top 10 Eating...Our Words Posts of 2012

Last week, we began wrapping up the year in review. We looked at the most notable restaurant closings of 2012, the restaurants we're most excited about for 2013 and our most popular Top 10 lists of the year. This week, we're looking at the best new restaurants of 2012 and -- today -- the 10 most po ... More >>

Hurricane Season is Over for Houston!! (According To Our Bold Prediction); Cooler Weather On the Way, God's In His Heaven, Etc., Etc.

Yeah, you heard me. It might sound like a bold prediction, but it's actually safer than you think. I've often told my friends that my favorite day of the year is October 1. The reason for this is that football season has started, basketball training camp is about to open, the holidays are on the wa ... More >>

Uh-Oh, Texas: Why You Shouldn't Ignore Tropical Storm Isaac Just Yet

With all the advances in computer modeling and meteorological technology, ultimately, weather is just sometimes difficult to predict. Case in point: current Tropical Storm Isaac, floating along in the Caribbean Sea worrying the crap out of people all along the Gulf Coast. For the past couple of day ... More >>

Coast Guard Seized $100,000 Worth of Illegal Shrimp Last Week

Only a couple of weeks prior to the Gulf of Mexico commercial shrimp season opening, the Coast Guard has been busy seizing thousands of pounds of illegally harvested shrimp in Texas waters. Last Monday, the Coast Guard Cutter Heron caught two shrimping boats hauling up their catches in closed water ... More >>

Debby Does Houston? Disturbance in the Gulf Bears Watching

The images you see above are recent model runs from two of the major weather forecasting models, both predicting a large hurricane -- which would bear the name Debby -- along the Texas coast middle of next week. And you thought the only supplies you'd be stocking up on next week were fireworks for J ... More >>

Payback

"Gulf of America"? Don't Stop There! Five More Equally Sane Name Changes Needed

A Mississippi lawmaker has completely and utterly disgraced Texas politicians by being the first to introduce legislation to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. And not because, as Stephen Colbert once put it when he made the same suggestion, "we broke it, we bought it." ... More >>

Invasive Black Tiger Shrimp On the Rise in the Gulf of Mexico

Black tiger shrimp are monsters, the kind of creatures that make you think that maybe "jumbo shrimp" isn't such an oxymoron after all. The distinctive black-and-orange-striped shrimp can grow to more than a foot in length and over a pound in weight. And according to the Galveston Daily News, they're ... More >>

The Great Gulf

Readers discuss The Fish That Got Away

Exxon's New Giant Oil Find Could Meet World Needs For....A Couple of Months

Fighting with the feds over who gets that sweet, sweet oil​The energy world is marveling today at news that ExxonMobil's recent discovery in the Gulf of Mexico could contain up to a billion barrels of oil. "The only thing that surprised the energy industry more than Exxon Mobil Corp.'s mammot ... More >>

The Fish That Got Away

The Gulf of Mexico produces some of the world's most delicious seafood, but we're not processing it for sushi. What gives?

The Art of Ike Jime: How to Properly Kill a Sushi-Grade Fish

In this week's cover story, I examine the many reasons that sushi-grade fish isn't pulled from the Gulf of Mexico. When it comes to sushi, you can pretty much forget about SLGT'ing in Houston -- or the rest of Texas, for that matter. One of the most significant reasons that Gulf fish can't be con ... More >>

How to Ike Jime a Fish, and Why You'd Want To

In this week's cover story, we examine the many reasons that sushi-grade fish isn't pulled from the Gulf of Mexico. When it comes to sushi, you can pretty much forget about "eating local" in Houston -- or the rest of Texas, for that matter. One of the most significant reasons that Gulf fish can't ... More >>

55 Pounds of Coke? Six Other Things Found on Galveston Beaches, Ranked from Worst to Best

Whales, gold rings, messages in bottle, coke​A jogger found 55 pounds of cocaine on the beach in Galveston this morning, a bigger haul than the 37 pounds someone else found there a year ago. In both cases, they turned it over to the cops instead of going all low-rent Breaking Bad. Of course, ... More >>

TS Don: And Then, Depression Set In -- Tropical Storm Could Bear Down on Texas by Friday (Updated)

Courtesy National Hurricane CenterLittle Donnie is getting bigger.​The National Hurricane Center reconnaissance plane found winds strong enough in Invest 90 to declare it the fourth tropical depression tropical storm of the 2011 hurricane season -- their next full report is at 6 p.m. As we m ... More >>

Last Night: Steve Earle At House Of Blues

Photos by Jason Wolter​Steve Earle & the Dukes and Duchesses House of Blues July 6, 2011 During her sublime set at Verizon a couple of weeks ago, Emmylou Harris mentioned how she thought Barack Obama was pretty okay, and how she hoped his election meant our society had evolved beyond the even ... More >>

Fly, Little Turtle! Fly To Freedom! (Or At Least Dive)

Bryan FrazierAnother rehabbed turtle gets set free​Look at that green sea turtle -- dude is flapping his flippers with joy as he's released out of rehab and sent back to his (or her) warm, inviting Gulf of Mexico home. The turtle was one of three released today in South Padre by the texas Par ... More >>

BP? Maybe Not - Five Other Possible Summer Fest Sponsors

Jermaine Rogers​Today is not only 4/20 and whatever the name for the Wednesday of Holy Week is - sorry, it's been a while since Rocks Off has been to church - it's the one-year anniversary of the BP blowout in the Gulf of Mexico. It's also the latest April Fool's Day in history, because earlie ... More >>

Drilling Ban Lifted: Five (Possible) New Federal Mandates

The Obama administration has lifted the ban on deepwater oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, but it is also enforcing steps to make sure a disaster such as the Deepwater Horizon leak never, ever happens again.Don't worry, we have a plan​The feds have outlined a bunch of tough new regulations and g ... More >>

Great Gulf Dinner: What Oil Spill?

​You may or may not have heard about this little thing that happened recently in the Gulf of Mexico. Some assholes were drilling for oil without following safety precautions and -- oops! -- nearly wrecked an enormous portion of the ocean for generations to come. Dicks. The good news is that t ... More >>

Game Time: Tiger Woods -- Divorce, It Does A Body Good

Tammy Wynette never addressed the golf angle​Sometimes bad things happen to good people. Oil spills, hurricanes, divorce. Compassionate human beings don't wish any of these things upon their fellow man.That said, we live in a capitalist society. Financial Darwinism, survival of the fittest, wha ... More >>

Dr. John & the Lower 911

Where The Hurricanes At? Weather Guys Say They Are Coming

Despite predictions, 2010 is no 2005 for hurricanes.​Each year we are treated to a barrage of predictions from noted hurricane experts about how active a hurricane season we will have in the Atlantic basin which includes the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. This year, the predictions were rat ... More >>

Local Oil Spill 'Action Group' To Host Mock Funeral At City Hall

orcoo.orgCome equipped​It took nearly three months to stop oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion from spewing into the Gulf of Mexico. By the time the well was "capped," it is estimated that over 4.9 million barrels of crude oil flowed into the ocean, killing marine life and destroying ... More >>

Keaton Prescott: Live From Tropical Storm Alex

​Rocks Off was not happy to wake up Monday morning and find out that we would have to begin each day this week by tracking another potentially home-wrecking storm. Tropical Storm Alex is expected to cross through the southern part of the Gulf of Mexico and hit somewhere near the mouth of the Rio G ... More >>

Houston Chronicle Readers Aren't Buying The Latest Bit Of Desperation

Next up for the Chron: "Tits or GTFO"​The Houston Chronicle, in its bid to get as many clicks and eyeballs and whatevers on its website, has made many errors in judgment. There's the sex column Girl Dick. There's the plan to give every person who asks their very own personal blog.And there's the " ... More >>

Secret of the Sea: Lolliguncula Brevis

​The sparkling enope squid, which is found in the Western Pacific Ocean, is a seasonal delicacy that is found in sushi bars between the months of March and May. They're also known as "firefly squid" (hotaru ika in Japanese) because each tentacle contains a photophore that flashes a luminescent ... More >>

Top 10 Restaurants in Galveston

​I don't know if it's the hot weather or the recent atrocity befalling the Gulf of Mexico or what, but lately I've found myself taking any and every excuse to make the trek down I-45 to visit our island neighbor to the south. Now, I'm not claiming to be a local who knows every great little und ... More >>

Rick Perry Blames God For Gulf Oil Spill

The alleged culprit, giving the order to blow Deepwater Horizon​A lot of people are quick to blame BP, or the people who put together the oil rig that is currently spewing black gold into the Gulf of Mexico, but Rick Perry -- the only governor we have at the moment -- knows better.Speaking at a Wa ... More >>

Clearing Out the Pantry

​Occasionally, there are days when you don't have the funds, energy or motivation to make it to the grocery store. You probably need milk, coffee, eggs or other staples found in even the barest refrigerators and pantries, but the thought of heading anywhere but home after the workday seems mor ... More >>

SWEET MOTHER OF GOD!!!

​ We know, we know. Freaky, huh? That ain't an April Fool's joke either - it's real. When a friend emailed us that picture Wednesday, Rocks Off knew we had to share it with you, but it took a while for us to come up with the proper musical context. Although that... thing... is actually a jacked-up ... More >>

If You Can't Text and Drive in Galveston, What Can You Do?

​In the City That Was Supposed to be Houston, famed for its throwback seaside kitsch and relentless resilience in the face of crippling natural disasters, the technology tide has turned. More accurately, the City Council transformed itself into progress-hatin' Dementors last night, entering y ... More >>

Southwest To Make Guinea Pigs Out Of Passengers, All In The Name Of The Environment

​We've heard of test pilots, but Southwest Airlines is offering the chance to be a test passenger.The airline is introducing a new "Green Plane," one where the materials used on a lot of things are lighter, resulting in a plane that uses less fuel to fly.If it works.One aircraft will be outfitted ... More >>

Ken Rogerson

Web exclusive!

Rare Giant Squid Found Near Houston!

A rare giant squid -- a squid with elbows -- has been sighted in the Houston area.It's called the Megapinna squid and even the stoic National Geographic says it's "alien-like."Again, this strange and mysterious animal has been sighted a mere 201-and-a-half miles from downtown Houston.Fortunately, on ... More >>

Requiem for the Balinese Room

Maybe the East Germans Can Help

Going Coastal

Sparkling Waters

Houston's heating up, but there are plenty of ways to cool down

Best Seafood Restaurant

Goode Co. Texas Seafood

Best Indian Restaurant

Restaurant Indika

Best Bird-Watching

High Island

Wet World

Texas Master Naturalists give kids a peek at life in the gulf

Fishing Trip

Bring your shrimps to the gulf

Fish Stories

Speaking off the toque: John Zotos