Not really a 5 star experience
Written: Apr 04 '05
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Pros: Unlimited camping sites on the beach, sunsets, and the ability to get away from Houston.
Cons: Fisherman every few hundred feet for at least 30 miles, garbage strewn beach
The Bottom Line: I'd avoid it. Camping was not a solitary experience. The beach was kind of disgusting. And sand that blew everywhere made for a lengthy clean up.
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| gdinero's Full Review: Padre Island National Seashore |
When I planned my trip to Padre Island last September, I was pretty excited about it. Where else can you drive on a beach to whatever point you want, put up a camp, and enjoy the solitude of a private oasis?
I love the outdoors. I like hiking, camping, scrambling, climbing, rafting, and pretty much everything else. I did not enjoy my night out on Padre. In fact, my two day, one night experience was almost entirely negative.
Some background
By air, the Padre Island North Seashore is located just north of the popular spring break getaway South Padre Island. By car, the only way to enter the seashore is by road at the northern end of the island, connecting the barrier reef to Corpus Christi.
There is a visitor center at the entrance, with a store, restrooms and showers, and for-fee RV camping. It's $10 to enter the park, or free with a National Park pass.
There are a couple of options from the entrance, including going to Bird Island which is known for the wind surfing. Most people just drive on to the beach of the island. The beach is one way, and you exit through the same gate you come through; and therefore the traffic should get more sparse the further away from the entrance you travel.
I also got the impression from reading other reviews that you can drive along the width of the island as well as the length; but this is false. There are grassy dunes just 50 yards away from the gulf, and you are really limited to the strip of beach for at least the first 30 miles of the 55 mile island (which is as far as we had ventured). As such, and with mile markers every 5 miles, there's no need for a map when visiting.
The Premise: Camping alone on the beach
We spent over an hour driving 30 miles from the entrance to the some of the more remote parts of the southern/western island. And we never got out more than 200 feet from the fisherman that use the beach to make a living. During most of the day hours, locals making a living netting ocean wildlife are coming or going or just fishing in the gulf. And the 30 miles of beach we went through (on a Saturday) were dotted with these guys. This is fine; I don't mean to imply I think the beach should be reserved for me. But I was surprised and it wasn't the backdrop I expected.
The Premise: Swimming in the soothing waters during the hot summer days
The beach was littered with garbage and the corpses of jelly fish. And people, I am not a picky guy. But I wasn't comfortable going swimming in the water. We went in as far as knee deep, and then went back out. There is old refuse all along the beach left as presents from past visitors. And I drove for 30 miles to find a nice remote part of the island before giving up.
The Premise: Camping on the beach will be a relaxing getaway
This is the only part that's kind of true. It was kind of nice to setup camp only a few feet from the soothing sound of the surf breaking on the beach. But, the wind was blowing enough to get sand EVERYWHERE. We brought in a grill, and all of our food was gritty with the stuff. It took us two hours to clean out our truck at the end of the weekend. It was just too much; unpleasantly so. And this was not my only camping on the beach experience. I also camped on the beach in Oahu Hawaii, and I loved that place. I tell all my friends how they're missing out if they get a hotel in Hawaii instead of camping. But Padre... get a hotel.
The other part of this I didn't like was that there is an active oil drill off the coast of the island (directly in your line of sight while sitting on the beach and looking at the gulf), and trucks going to the end of the island for what I presume are deliveries to some oil rig ship were to be heard every couple of hours through a decent part of the night.
The Premise: Wildlife viewing
I wanted to address this, but to be honest, can't do a sufficient job. While there were various birds around, I'm not a birder and didn't really notice how exotic or not these birds were. And we didn't really see any crazy wild life. So it might be worth the trip for some people that are looking for abundant indigenous wildlife. I just don't know.
Summary
So, what can I say. This wasn't an enjoyable camping trip for me. Hot humid whether that's not condusive to hiking (not that you're allowed to walk on the protected dunes), garbage strewn beach, oil drilling in the sunset views, and constant sight of people was not what I had in mind.
I don't know where all these other reviewers went, but I wish I had experienced the same positive things they describe. Feel free to go, and I just hope you have a better time than I did.
Recommended:
No
Best time to go: Never
Recommended for: Familes
Review Topic: Campgrounds & Lodging
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Epinions.com ID:
gdinero
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Reviews written: 40
Trusted by: 2 members
About Me:
Travel addict. Love speed, gadgets, and sometimes my PS2.
38 Countries and counting...
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