< Previous10 COASTMONTHLY.COM / February 2017From the EditorIt was a chilly, gray December day when the Coast Monthly crew set out with Fred Diamond in a flat-bottomed boat aimed toward his fish camp on Christmas Bay.As we motored through the chop, I couldn’t help but remember how much warmer I had been months before when the journey to Christmas Bay began. I had been enjoying barbecue with family in Austin when I’d first heard about Diamond’s fish camp.Some among those assembled Hill Country kin at that August dinner party are avid anglers and hunters. I had casually mentioned I was in search of authentic fish camps and cabins for a feature I had been turning around in my mind for some time.One of the party told me about Diamond and his very rustic cabin in Christmas Bay. This was a place without flourish or frill, meant for the serious angler. I was intrigued.Diamond and his three sons built the cabin raised high in the bay. It’s theirs exclusively to use, but it doesn’t belong to them. The family is allowed use of it through a highly restricted Texas General Land Office lease.Diamond on that cold December after-noon was a gracious host and guide. It was apparent as he spread out photos of family, guests and their catches, many happy mem-ories had been made there.Such rustic camps are becoming rare as storms wipe them out and more people opt for luxurious properties to spend their leisure time. But it’s good to know that Diamond’s camp is still standing and that no matter how much fish camps and cabins evolve, they’re all places to relax and enjoy the Texas Coast.LAURA ELDERCoast Monthly editorThe lure of fish campsSPECIAL THANKSCoast Monthly would like to thank our young cover model, Landon Johnston, 6, for helping us to capture the pure joy of fishing for this edition.We’d also like to thank his parents, Shane and Shannon Johnston of League City, for driving Landon to Sports-man road on Galveston on a Saturday morning when it was 29 F, with wind chill far south of that.Landon, who has been fishing since he was 4, was a good sport. In fact, it was clear he was more interested in fishing than photographs.His favorite fish to catch? “bass. because they’re big.”We’d also like to thank Sand ‘N Sea Properties and owners of Tranquility Bay Cottage, 12010 Sportsman road, for use of the house as the backdrop for the cover photo. The home has panoramic bay and wetland views and a private T-head fishing pier.Photo by Stuart VillanuevaFred Diamond motors up to his fishing cabin in Christmas Bay. Read more about Diamond on Page 14.CONSISTENTLY RANKED AMONG THE TOP TWO PRODUCERS ON GALVESTON ISLAND FOR DOLLAR VOLUME & NUMBER OF CLOSED TRANSACTIONS• Honored 6 times by the Houston Business Journal for Closed Transactions• Honored by H Texas Magazine• Honored by Heritage Texas Properties as 2013 - 2015 Top Producer• Nationally recognized as a Real Trends Top 250 Real Estate Professional for Closed TransactionsSUE JOHNSONSUE JOHNSON | Broker Associate | 409.682.9050 | sue@heritagetexas.com | heritagetexas.comwww.suejohnsongalveston.com409.682.9050SEA ISLE21721 GUADALUPE | $565,000INDIAN BEACH18710 W. DE VACA | $699,000SEA ISLE21921 ZACHARY | $280,000SANDHILL SHORES20703 E. SAND HILL | $925,000SEA ISLE22110 DEAF P SMITH | $425,000ISLA DEL SOL3909 ISLA DEL SOL | $435,000INDIAN BEACH18902 SHAMAN | $415,000SEA ISLE21815 GUADALUPE | $379,000TERRAMAR23133 GULF | $359,900POINTE WEST3935 EVENING PRIMROSE | $649,999PORT AUX PRINCE CONDO7049 N HOLIDAY | $103,000SEA ISLE21319 GULF | $369,900PIRATES BEACH4207 FIDDLER CRAB LN. | $499,000BAYOU VISTA577 WARSAW | $359,900SEA ISLE21717 ZACHARY | $350,000OSTERMEYER2728 HOMER | $494,00012 COASTMONTHLY.COM / February 2017ShorelinesWe asked on Facebook: What’s the one thing you must have when you go fishing, besides a rod and reel?Fried chicken livers, catsup and hot sauce always worked for me.– Tom WooldridgeM&M’s. I won’t even get on the boat without them.– Jennifer CaswellA damn good story when you get home!– Chris John MalliosShiner and frozen Snickers bars.– Mike JanotaBeer and at least two Baptist friends, so they won’t drink it.– Eric FroeschnerA beautiful sunrise. It gives you a peaceful moment before the first strike.– Janice PiersonGummy worms! A must.– Carla Wills-BrandonBig Nasty Bait, of course.– Debbie Greene FlanaganLive finger mullet!– Dale WilliamsAn iPod loaded with great Texas music, like Kevin Fowler, Pat Green or Johnny Bush!– Jim GuidryBeer and limes. Beer to drink, limes for ceviche from your catch.– Laura Trout GoalenMusic and boat drinks, in that order.– Magen M. OrtizReally good music and Hollywood smut magazines in case there’s nothing biting or it’s boring.– Eliza Thomas QuigleyAdult beverages.– David BloomBeer. And I don’t even like beer. But it’s a must.– Graham GemoetsBloody Marys. Lots and lots.– J. Roy HallDinner reservations, since my hubby is a fisherman, not catcherman!– Kathy Van DewalliPhoto by Stuart VillanuevaIn the January edition, correspondent Marsha Canright reported about efforts by Lisa Halili, vice president of Prestige Oysters, to fight Clean Harbors San Leon Inc.’s plans to dump up to 105,000 gallons a day of treated indus-trial wastewater from oil and petroleum into a tributary flowing into Dickinson Bayou.To the editor:I wish to kindly comment on “Accidental Activist,” and the Clean Harbors issue.First, I want to thank Mrs. Halili and Pres-tige Oysters in San Leon for their efforts into helping stop Clean Harbors from dumping into Dickinson Bayou. Many, many thanks. It’s probably Mrs. Halili and her business that will have enough clout to stop this, if anyone can.But others have been fighting this for a long time, and your article seemed to fail to mention this. This has not been a one-person effort. So, I would also like to kindly thank all the rest of the folks in this area, Steve Hoyland Sr. and the Seabreeze newspaper, and especially all the rest of the citizens of sunny San Leon, Bacliff and sur-rounding areas who have also been fighting this permit for Clean Harbors to dump into Dickinson Bayou and bay. Others have been going to hearings, taking time to write to the (Texas Commission on Environmental Quali-ty) TCEQ; some even paid for water samples of their own, and contacting state officials and such to try and stop this permit.So, to those fine folks, my hat’s off to you. I say thank you in a big way.– Terry S. Singeltary Sr.At Houston Methodist St. John Hospital, physicians in our Spine Program collaborate across specialties to diagnose and treat common to complex spinal disorders. With innovative and advanced treatment options, we provide the most comprehensive care close to home.Our team of physicians treats a variety of disorders, including• Neck, mid-back and low-back pain• Degenerative disc disease • Disc protrusions• Spinal stenosis• Sciatica• Scoliosis• Spondylosis and radiculopathy• Spine trauma• Vertebral fractures• Sacroiliac joint dysfunction For more information on our spine services, visit houstonmethodist.org/stjohn-spine, or to schedule an appointment, call 281.523.3355.BACK AND NECK PAIN — TREATED IN THE BAY AREA. 14 COASTMONTHLY.COM / February 2017The once humble fish camp has a long history on the Texas Coast Story by Leslie WattsFrom shack to chicFish camps have long been ubiquitous features on the Texas Gulf Coast. But those camps have come to vary from time-worn, shabby shacks to new cabins built with an eye to sustainability.Thousands of years ago, Native Americans would make special ex-cursions to the coast for fishing and hunting. Their shelters during such excursions likely weren’t much more than a few branches propped up against one another.And it wasn’t so long ago that anglers would gather found materials, pick a “good” spot and build a tempo-rary shelter.“We were essentially squatters,” said Fred Diamond, recalling his early days of fishing with his father in isolated Photos by Stuart VillanuevaA row of colorfully painted fish shacks line a bayou near San Luis Pass. Fish camps and cabins are an old tradition in the region.Fred Diamond and his sons built a 20-by-24-foot raised cabin on land he leases from the state in Christmas Bay.16 COASTMONTHLY.COM / February 2017Featurescoastal spots. “These were tidelands and certainly did not belong to us, but we would just put together a temporary shack out of whatever we could find lying around and carry whatever else we needed into the area.”Today, Diamond, who splits his time between Montgomery County and Galveston Island, proudly displays the official docu-ments that allow him access to and desig-nated use of one of the few highly restricted Texas General Land Office leases on — or rather in — Christmas Bay.“We still don’t own it, however,” he said, referring to the high, raised cabin he and his three sons have built there. “It is ours exclusively to use, but it doesn’t belong to us — all we have is the lease of the land, and once we build on it, whatever we have built becomes the property of the state.”Later, as Diamond carefully threads a well-used flat-bottomed boat along the bay’s uneven shoals, a cold wind whips his words away, but the distant destination is clear — a weathered box on stilts on a narrow nub of land marking the confluence of Christmas and Bastrop bays.‘STILL STANDING’“This little shell spit is what is left along one of the fingers of the Titlum-Tatlum Bay-ou,” said Diamond, as he arrived at the cabin and tied up his boat alongside the dock. “Long ago, it was part of a major commercial route, but today it may be the most desolate area within 50 miles of Houston.”The cabin isn’t the first Diamond has owned on this remote spot. One that had weathered hurricanes and floods finally suc-cumbed to a direct lightning strike about 10 years ago, burning to the ground. Today, its charred foundation piers still jut from the wa-ter, just inside the foundation of the current cabin, a rough-finished but sturdy 20-by-24-foot rectangle, surrounded by an open deck.Inside, lanterns hang from open ceiling rafters, above which extra cots and sleeping bags are stored. Two large trundle beds low to the cabin floor provide sleeping for eight, but Diamond often hosts many more. There’s also a kitchen area and an abundance of fishing gear, crab traps and other supplies.Diamond talks proudly of the good fishing and duck hunting he has enjoyed there.“We don’t go after tremendously large amounts of fish, but anytime you want to, Photos by Stuart VillanuevaFred Diamond’s cabin in Christmas Bay is the prop-erty of the state. He leases the land from the Texas General Land Office. The rustic structure, which is only accessible by boat, contains humorous signs on the walls, a small kitchen area with a hot plate and lanterns hanging from the open ceiling rafters. COASTMONTHLY.COM / February 2017 17you can catch yourself a meal,” he said.Diamond also is justifiably proud that his cabin was the only such structure in the area to survive Hurricane Ike, which struck in September 2008.“Immediately after the storm, one of the Black Hawk helicopter reconnaissance crews spotted this place still standing among the devastation and radioed it in,” he said. “The news eventually made its way to me — ‘Your cabin is the only one left’ — it was hard to believe.”BUILT TO LASTResidential designer Chula Ross Sanchez and her husband, Ramon Sanchez, didn’t receive such good news after the storm. They were completing a renovation of three fishing camps on the family’s Offatts Bayou property even as the storm was blowing in.“All three structures were totally de-stroyed,” she said. But they did find one recognizable piece of a roof in the bayou, she said.Although the loss from the storm was devastating, the three replacement cabins the couple built marked a bold departure from the way fish camps are usually constructed. Incorporating a high level of cutting-edge, sustainable and “green” building practices, they are today recognized as the first buildings on the island to have been completed as part of the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED for Homes program. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.Known as Las Casitas, the camp com-pound serves as a centralized location in which the couple hosts their adult children and young grandchildren. Although each of the diminutive 760-square-foot structures has a slightly different interior and furnishings, all are designed according to a central plan.To minimize energy requirements, each camp was positioned to make the most of both winter sun and what Chula Sanchez calls “nature’s air conditioning,” otherwise known as the bayou’s prevailing southeast breeze.The couple used repurposed materials wherever possible, and all wood was Amer-ican-sourced, free from formaldehyde. Walls are made of pickled pine plank siding, and the East Texas pine structural flooring serves also as the finish flooring in uncarpeted areas.Kitchen appliances are energy efficient, and countertops are of “paper stone,” a 18 COASTMONTHLY.COM / February 2017Featuressturdy, hard-surfaced product made from combining compressed paper with a non-toxic resin. A LEED-approved wood-burning stove provides heat on cool days. Utilities have been bundled and run underground to the framing footprint where they enter the structure in a centralized core.Many of the furnishings in the cabin used by Sanchez and her husband are from the estate of the late Dr. E. Burke Evans, a close friend and former faculty member at the Uni-versity of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston.The main focus in the Las Casitas rebuild-ing project, however, was durability.“They are designed beyond code and really over-engineered, but my goal was that they be durable, stay put and not be lost,” she said.Photos by Jennifer Reynolds(Clockwise from top) Chula Ross Sanchez and her husband, Ramon Sanchez, built three fishing camps on Offatts Bayou in Galveston using sustainable and “green” building practices. Old photos of the fish camps before they were renovated. A screened-in, covered porch in one of the camps provides a place for visitors to enjoy the views and the breeze. In one of the fish camps, the kitchen island was built with reclaimed wood from a historic East End home. COASTMONTHLY.COM / February 2017 19RE/MAX LEAding EdgE409-744-33003616 7 Mile Rd., Galveston, TX 77554The Tom and Gerri Team409-789-1672The Sincox Team281-413-0222Kelly Kelley281-794-9463Frank Burgy 409-771-4773Ryan Moody409-599-1818Linda Landrum409-599-8214Nicki Huprich409-599-0490Susanna Mayberry409-234-6618Brad South713-702-3318SELLING OR BUYING? ContACt youR LoCAL REAL EstAtE EXpERts foR A fREE MARkEt EvALuAtionSteve & Robyn Shepheard409-771-8840Next >