Back to the Beach!

 3/30/21 - 3/31/21 Bulverde, TX to Kingsville, TX - Stayed at Nature’s Own RV Resort for one night, $40

3/31/21 - 4/30/21 Kingsville, TX to South Padre Island, TX - stayed at South Padre Holiday KOA for one month, $999

Back to the beach

If you’ve read any of my posts, you know that the beach is my happy place. Bill and I have been coming to South Padre Island, TX almost every year since 2002, when we bought our first RV. The thing I love about SPI, besides the fact that it’s the best beach on the Texas gulf coast, is that it’s not too commercial. Maybe it’s just too far south for some people to bother. Don’t get me wrong, there are still some high-rise hotels and lots of kitschy souvenir shops, but there are also some great mom and pop places to discover. 

We spent the month of April 2021, shoulder season, at the KOA Holiday RV Park. It was windier and foggier than other stays, but, except for the holiday and weekends, it wasn’t nearly as crowded.

Every morning I walked 3-4 miles in a circuit beginning at the KOA, through the Isla Blanca County park, stopping at the jetty, along the beach, to the Holiday Inn board walk, and back to KOA.  You don’t have to pay to walk or bike through the County Park.  Just stay on the sidewalk to the left of the guard shack and walk on through. If you follow the loop road to the right around the park, you will find their performing arts/concert hall, a statue of Jesus, and a bait shop before you get to the jetty.  

If you go left, you’ll get to the beach faster. Isla Blanca has built some really nice day-use facilities in the past few years, which you can use for $12.00 a carload. There are two covered pavilions with picnic tables, grills and snack bars that have not been open since COVID began, but I bet they’ll be operating again this summer, and lots of benches from which to enjoy the view along the boardwalk. 

Either way, follow the beach down to the jetty. This was my favorite place to stop and watch wildlife. April is nesting season for Kemp’s Ridley sea turtles, and I saw quite a few in the water, as well as pelicans, cranes, and dolphins leaping from the waves. They like to follow the shrimping boats, because the wake disturbs the fish and makes for good eating!  

From the jetty, you can see across the Laguna Madre shipping channel to Boca Chica beach and, if the day is clear, the high bay complex and launch pad for SpaceX. We were in SPI for a month, mind you, and didn’t get to see a launch. We heard two engine burns that sounded like loud roars of thunder, but left four days too early to see SN-15 go up. Ugh!  It is an extra cool thing to do while at the beach. You can also drive to Brownsville and explore the area on you own on the days that the roads are not closed for testing. Check the internet before you go.

Shelling is best near the jetty, after a storm on a low tide morning.  The waves wash up small to medium-sized shells, lots of oyster shells, and some sand dollar fragments.  If you want big, hearty shells, drive to the north end of the island, as far as the road will go before the dunes overtake it.  Park on the side and walk across the dunes to the beach. There are lots of interesting finds along the way. Be sure to wear shoes and sunscreen or a long-sleeve shirt.  The dunes get REALLY hot.  

Besides fishing (get a free pass for the large pier at Pirate’s Landing when you stay at KOA) and building sand castles on the beach, you gotta visit Sea Turtles, Inc. When we first started going, they were housed in a tiny shack and worked on a shoe-string budget with the help of college interns, and volunteers like us. Now, they have a great complex with lots of educational opportunities and turtle patients to see.  Their mission is to rescue, rehab, and release injured turtles and hatch and release as many Kemps Ridley turtles back into the wild as they can. Summertime hatchling releases are thrilling!  Hundreds of babies swim back into the gulf while onlookers wish them luck. You can find out when they’re happening by calling the Sea Turtles, Inc hotline or their website.  Say hi to my favorite, Fred the loggerhead turtle, a permanent guest who’s lost too many flippers to return to the wild.

 Now for the food!  Fresh seafood and lots of it!  We always start at Dirty Al’s for the fried shrimp botanas platter for two enjoyed on the patio overlooking the marina. Watch out for the seagulls who will snatch a bite right off the table.  Pier 19 also has great fried shrimp and the best onion rings, AND Texas cinnamon rolls for breakfast!  Call ahead to make sure they still have some. Ceviche, Ceviche is relatively new.  They have a small storefront on SPI and Port Isabel serving super-fresh, you guessed it, ceviches. I go to Senor Donkey for blackened fish tacos (Mexicana taquitos) at least once during our visit.   We found a new-to-us, hole-in-the-wall, awesome, authentic Mexican food place called Chilito Pikin. They have different lunch specials every day.  Their enchiladas were particularly yummy. And, I love the addition of the food trucks on the island. We tried two of them that were parked at the Green on South Padre Island and boardwalk near Laguna Bobs.  Bill tried the street tacos at Breaking Bread.  I had a burrito and the cup of elote(Mexican corn) with butter, Mayo, chili, garlic and cortina cheese, YUM!  We also enjoyed the sunset, burgers and some adult beverages along the bay side at a tiki bar called Coconut Jacks, then walked over to the Gravity Park, where you can play putt-putt golf, ride go-karts, or try several rides that swing or fling you in the air. It was lots of fun just to watch. 

One thing I’m not thrilled about is the abundance of rentable, street-legal golf carts that can hold up to 10 people. Thankfully the speed limit is only 35 mph on the main strip, but you know how people get on vacation :(. At least they’re not scooters; they don’t work so well in the sand. I do also appreciate that SPI has numerous public access points, many handicap accessible, and free parking near the beach. Many beaches we’ve been to around the country allow large resorts to snap up the beachfront and you have to be a guest or pay to park to get near it. One of the many reasons we love SPI, and we’ll be back, again and again.