South Padre Island – North

ToadDate 0442.12.15.17-TX

The south end of South Padre Island is where you find lots to do and places to stay. We are camped in the Isla Blanca park but outside the park you find many hotels and condos available. There are many homes and businesses at this end of the island, but if you go 12 miles north on the main road it is another story.

Here are the South Padre Sand Dunes and not much of anything else. The dunes along the roadway are taller than cars so you cannot see the ocean when driving through them. There is a vine that grows on the sand dunes that is a very aggressive vine. The vines and other plants that make the dunes their home help to stabilize the dunes from being blown away. When the storms come, the dunes are reshaped and the vines start their work all over.

There are places where you can drive out onto the beach, but we have seen more than one vehicle stuck in the soft sand and didn’t try it. Once you get over the dunes, there is firm beach sand to drive on. The beach is littered with shells, far more than you find on the south end of the island.

The sand dunes cover the road creating a barrier you can’t cross in a car. It is a reminder that there are parts of the world that haven’t been tamed by man, and some of them are beautiful.

We returned to the Laguna Atascosa Wildlife Refuge to take a walk in the woods. The refuge is on the mainland west and slightly north of Port Isabel. Here the link to our earlier blog about this park.

Today we were there to see the birds, in particular a beautiful green jay. This park is about as far north as the birds live and they are in abundance. They can be seen all over the wooded areas of the park, there are feeders in some areas where you can see them easily. Walking in the woods watching the birds is a great way to spend a sunny afternoon.