“Any of you boys seen an aircraft carrier around here?” Maverick’s movie line came to mind as we tried to figure out when to see the biggest ship we’d probably ever witness coming through the Brownsville Ship Channel, which starts at the southern tip of SPI.

The rumor mills were alive and well at Isla Blanca Park when news hit last week that the former USS JFK aircraft carrier was making its way to Brownsville, having been sold for one cent as scrap metal to International Shipbreaking Limited. Many postings on Facebook purported to have the arrival time facts from the gate attendants, front office, or websites that show positions of ships around the world.

Small crowds showed up Saturday morning with binoculars and cameras and chairs, but left mid-morning to return in much larger numbers the next day as reports became more accurate. The local marina passenger boats were selling tickets to watch this transit from the water. We figured they had to have accurate information and used their Sunday morning times and updates on Marinetraffic for the best arrival time estimation.

We were full of anticipation as we waited for a couple of hours on the beach to sight the ship as it approached the channel. It was a beautiful day, and exploring the sand and surf and soaking up sunshine is always time well spent.

The massive tug, the Laney Chouest, was colorful with red and yellow paint in comparison to the “gun-metal” gray of aircraft carrier it was towing. Dozens of sightseeing boats were kept back at safe distances by the busy coast guard vessels, and the hardest-working ship had to be the local tug (we watched it head out earlier) at the back that was constantly making course corrections to maneuver this huge ship down the channel.

The USS JFK was commissioned in September 1968 and served as an attack aircraft carrier around the world until it was retired on March 23, 2007. Modern nuclear-powered carriers are cheaper to operate, and the Kennedy namesake will be passed on to a new $11 billion aircraft carrier expected to be delivered to the Navy this summer that will hold 75 aircraft, measure 1092 feet in length, and be powered by two nuclear reactors.