Padre Island National Seashore

Friday, March 22, 2024 

Hi Blog!

After our time at Betty's RV Park in Abbeville, LA, we made our way over to Galveston Island, Texas. Dave spent much of the time back in Philadelphia puppy sitting for our daughter, while I visited with an old childhood friend, Jan, who happens to have a house in Galveston. Once Dave returned, we both got a chance to catch up with our RV friends, Don and Janis. The weather in Galveston was some of the worst we experienced. There wasn't much opportunity for outdoor adventures to blog about.

On Wednesday, we made our way from Galveston to Mathis, Texas. We are just an hour away from Corpus Christi and Padre Island. While Thursday was pretty much another wash out, Friday promised to be clear and sunny. After some morning fog, we made the drive to Padre Island National Seashore Visitor's Center.

Once you pass the entrance, it is a five mile drive to the Malaquite Visitor Center. The park embraces 70 miles of sand beaches, windswept dunes, grasslands and tidal flats. Kathy happened to spot a coyote marking his territory by the side of the road. By the time we got the camera out, the coyote trotted off into the grass. If you look in the lower right hand corner, you can just see the tip of its ears and the back of its head.

Just down the road from the coyote was a pair of Crested Caracara, also known as the Mexican eagle. This bird of prey is actually a falcon. It is found throughout Central and South America but has been found as far north as Texas and Arizona. Crested Caracaras are not shy or reclusive and are generally easy to spot in the open landscapes they inhabit. 

Once we arrived at the Visitor Center, we confirmed with the park volunteer that it was a coyote and not a fox that we had seen along the road. Apparently, there are no foxes on Padre Island but lots and lots of coyotes. Based on the number of bikinis we saw, Dave would disagreed with that statement. Ranger Dave is always on the lookout for foxes:

While the Visitor Center was small, it did have a gift shop, small museum and large deck to sit and enjoy the view.

Powder-soft beaches line Padre Island's sun-soaked shores, and gentle, shallow waves of the Gulf of Mexico tumble onto land. This postcard-perfect setting has helped Padre gain fame as a prime year-round beach haven.

Sun, sand and surf... what a perfect combination.

Meet the newest member of our stuffed menagerie...Padre the Octopus!

Look out Padre! The sand piper is coming in for a closer look.

Before we started our beach walk, we made sure to note the location of the Visitor Center. 

Sand blowing off the Gulf beaches forms the dunes lining the island's eastern shore. These are known as the “fore-island dunes.” Their existence is critical to the island because they form a natural dike, which prevents storm tides from inundating and consequently destroying the grasslands.

While Padre Island as a whole is not as crowded as Galveston, we did encounter other visitors on the beach. The surf was a bit rough today because of the wind, so, building sand castles seemed to be a favorite activity. We stopped to admire "Castle Dolph."

We spent several hours just strolling along, enjoying the sun and looking for beach treasures or photo ops. Pictured below is Feather In Sand.

Another artistic interpretation... Pen Shell Perspective!

While we knew there were certain beaches on Galveston Island that you could drive on, we didn't realize that all Texas beaches are public highways! The National Seashore prohibits vehicles for a one miles section in front of the Visitor Center. However, the remaining 60 miles of beach are open to driving and primitive camping.

Always on the lookout for beach treasure, we thought we scored a pair of aviators! Arrgh matey, there seems to be a lens missing!

While the SUVs, pickup trucks and small RVs made their way down the beach, we managed to catch these oyster catchers.

While bringing an RV onto a beach that most likely will flood at high tide isn't our idea of a good idea, we couldn't help but admire how cute this little purple combo looked highlighted against the dunes.

At first, we thought this campsite was abandoned by spring breakers who decided to leave their tents behind. We later learned thatthey only went into town to do some shopping. The wind had picked up when they were gone and flattened their camp. Beach camping is not for the faint of heart.

After a couple miles, we decided to head back to the "no vehicles allowed" section of the beach. We leave you with a laughing gull. 

We finished our foray onto Padre Island with a little grocery shopping and some "American" Thai food. The weather the next couple of days looks good. We hope to get our kayaks out tomorrow. Stay tuned.