Best Texas Coastal Town for Family, Sailing, etc. (San Antonio, Austin: sex offender, school)

[jbtx]

Good answers everyone,,, however, the questioner mentioned sailing. Sailing around CC means pretty much being confined to the ICW, our bays are too shallow to accommodate a sailboat big enough to hold a family with 7 kids.

[texdav]

Originally Posted by lowviolette

corpus christi or the surrounding communities would be your best bet. galveston is a shell of its former self after being hit by the last hurricane. i was recently there.

I was really surprised at how much Galveston has recoved and was just there . But I also think galveston is definitely more funky than Corpus. I just never got any funky feeling in Corpus at all. There is nothinglike the Strand area in Corpus at all that has the funky feel of the old mixed with the new.

[love roses]

Yeah, I'd vote Galveston/Clear Lake and then possibly Rockport. Galveston is no New Orleans in the fact that it won't take them more than 10 years to rebuild. My mom still lives in Clear Lake and I have lots of friends who live there and say Galveston is doing a great job getting back up. It's by no means a shell of its former self. The entire island wasn't wiped off the face of the map or anything.

[lowviolette]

Originally Posted by love roses

Yeah, I'd vote Galveston/Clear Lake and then possibly Rockport. Galveston is no New Orleans in the fact that it won't take them more than 10 years to rebuild. My mom still lives in Clear Lake and I have lots of friends who live there and say Galveston is doing a great job getting back up. It's by no means a shell of its former self. The entire island wasn't wiped off the face of the map or anything.

so then your are saying galveston has always been that 'crappy'?

[DanielWayne]

Originally Posted by kidseven

Hi All,

We've nearly had enough of the mild (cool) climate of the Pacific Northwest and are looking at the Texas coast as a possible new home. Our priorities are as follows:

1. Safe family friendly town
2. Some nautical heritage, sailing community, etc.
3. Moderate cost of living and home prices--hopefully much cheaper than Western Washington.
4. Pefer funky, artsy type towns to strip malls and the like.

We work from our home and can pretty much bring our own jobs with us.

Would really appreciate feedback!

Thanks.

#1 would cancel out the funky part of Galveston. The cool part of Galveston is not known for safety, but there is some neat stuff there. Clear Lake is about 30 mins away from Galveston, though, and there are loads of boating/sailing activities on the bay. Just google "Clear Lake Texas" and I bet you will see lots of pictures of sailboats. I live in Clear Lake, and while I am very happy here, it is very much suburban in nature. If you don't like strip malls and cookie cutter homes.... However, there is a small town in the Clear Lake area called Clear Lake Shores that is a bit quirky. People ride around in golf carts dodging the resident ducks and geese that stroll along the streets. Also people gather at a little park there just to watch the sunset. Just remember that place got worked over bad by Ike because it is right next to the bay.

I haven't been to Corpus in a while, but I loved it there. The little towns northeast of Corpus along the coast are known for being the artsy types you are looking for.

[bgrn198]

South Padre is nice and so is Corpus my parents have a place down at South Padre i've only been to Galveston once and it was only for a few hours in the evening

South Padre Island - Be Yourself South Padre Island, Texas Chamber of Commerce

GALVESTON.COM: Official Website of Galveston Island, Texas Tourism & Marketing

Clear Lake Area Chamber of Commerce

Corpus Christi, TX Travel and Vacation Information | Hotels, Beaches, Attractions | VisitCorpusChristiTX.org Corpus Christi Chamber of Commerce

[OzzyRules]

Originally Posted by jbtx

Good answers everyone,,, however, the questioner mentioned sailing. Sailing around CC means pretty much being confined to the ICW, our bays are too shallow to accommodate a sailboat big enough to hold a family with 7 kids.

I admit I'm very ignorant about boating, but I've been on a fishing boat in CC Bay that held a lot more people than that.

[jbtx]

Ozzy,

Not that it matters, but fishing boats tend to be flat bottomed and somewhat shallow draft, (it spreads the weight over a broad area and doesn't sink very deep in the water). Sailboats OTOH, are slim and have to have a keel, (usually weighted, think of a deep fin underwater), that extends down into the water several feet below the waterline, this provides lateral stability to keep them from being blown sideways when the winds are across the beam, or tipping over in a stiff breeze. Larger sailboats and shallow sandbars don't go well together.

[kidseven]

Thanks everyone. From exploring online I've been keenly interested in Rockport and Aransas Pass, but what is the deal with all of the crime? And the registered sex offenders? If you look at the statistics it's as if 1 in every 300 people in Rockport is a registered offender. Hard to believe, but when I look up the list of offenders the names and crimes are all there. When I do the same search in my town in Washington there are only 2 offenders.

[jbtx]

duh,,, no reasonable reply.

Texans are not more apt to prey on children than any other locality, perhaps we just keep better track of those who do. Hurting a child, or a puppy, in Texas will more often than not get you shot. We don't like that crap.