We were on South Padre Island, Texas for the two weeks. We left this past Wednesday. South Padre Island is a barrier island on the gulf coast of Texas and is very far south, close to Mexico. We did not like it as much as Mustang Island. South Padre is more populated (lots of hotels and skyscrapers) and the beaches in many places are full of trash (very sad).
We were there during Spring Break Week and we had been told by numerous people that the Island would be overrun with college students and we would not be able to drive anyplace due to gridlocked traffic. When we arrived at our campground some of the neighbors said they were leaving early to avoid the Spring Break “chaos”. We did see a number of college students and a slight increase in traffic but probably would not even have noticed if we did not hear the dire warnings from friends.
We were hoping to do some 4-wheeling on the beach as we did on Mustang Island and Padre Island National Seashore, but the tides and weather were against us. On the beaches where 4-wheeling is normally done the water was so high it almost touched the dunes – even at low tide. The sand that was uncovered was soft and deep – easy to get stuck. So we did not drive on the beach but we found other things to do.
Nature Center
We visited the South Padre Island Birding and Nature Center.
Dolphins & Doggy
We went on a dolphin tour. The tour was on a small pontoon boat with a great skipper and a small dog who communicates with the dolphins. It was a beautiful day for a boat ride and we saw lots of dolphins.
ISLA BLANCA STATE PARK
We stayed in the Isla Blanca State Park Campground. We had a site close to the beach.
Happy Birthday
And we celebrated Bill’s birthday.
