ToadDate 0435.12.07.17-TX
We arrived at South Padre Island a few days ago. The campground we are staying in is Isla Blanca Park, which is a county park. The campground is very large, over 600 sites with full hook-ups, and people come here to stay for a day to several months (reservations strongly advised). We stayed here last year, and the experience was so good, that’s why we came back.
The park is on the south end of the island and has lots of beach to walk, swim, fish, surf, or just watch the ships sail by. There is abundant bird life in the area, but you are not allowed to have a feeder at your site. Feeders attract too many birds and they become a nuisance.
As you cross the causeway from Port Isabel to the island, you can spot dolphins and there are warning signs to watch out for pelicans. These large birds are seen everywhere on the island and along the shore of the mainland.
We made a drive to Brownsville (about 15 miles away) and saw a warning sign to watch out for pelicans on the roadway. It seemed like an odd place for the warning, but sure enough there were feathers on the road. That area is on the mainland some distance from the Gulf, the pelicans come up the channels from the Gulf searching for food. Along the bank of the channels we saw lots of people fishing.
It was a full moon the day we arrived. Seeing the moon so large and reflecting on the near still waters of the Gulf of Mexico was breathtaking. There are plenty of stars to see, not as many as we saw in the mountains of Wyoming, but over the Gulf the sky is black.
The park is on the same latitude at Fort Lauderdale, Florida, so it is almost always warm enough for shorts here. The weather has been in the low 80s since we arrived. Perfect weather for strolling in the surf, setting up our site, and checking out the area. The forecast is for some cold weather to come this way, it might even get to freezing at night but back up in the high 40s for the day. Not bad for early December.
Rambling Toad 