Best beaches near Houston? (Dallas, Austin: houses, living, restaurants)

[artsyguy]

What are the best beaches near the Houston and Galveston area?
Is surfside and freeport worthwhile?

[Thaskateguy]

Malibu, is about the closest nice beach.---any where here, we must beware of toxic waste, and "flesh eating bacteria", which claimed a good friends calf muscle, and nearly his life, last season.

[westres1]

Galveston beaches are better IMO than Surfside. If you have kids I recommend Stewart, if you dont like crowds go West towards one of the pocket parks or beach access points. The water is really nice this time of year! enjoy!

[Thaskateguy]

Just don't dig, or get water in any scratches, or wounds. Digging down about 18" inches will expose a black putrid layer of who knows what. It is about 8" thick. It is not in just one location. It is everywhere, from crystal beach, to West Beach. I'm sure it won't hurt you, unless your grand kids need a third eye. Last season they posted the "dead Zones" in the gulf, where nothin could live due to no oxygen in the water. Galveston and Freeport were central on that list. ---In my surin days, we almost lived there. then all the oil rigs went in, and it has not been the same sence. It started with tar balls, we couldn't get off of us, or our surf boards. "People are like a virus, we move into an area, use up all the natural resources, then move on, only to repeat the process"--the Matrix.

[artsyguy]

It sounds like the beaches there are horrible from what you all described of them.

[tstone]

Originally Posted by Thaskateguy

Malibu, is about the closest nice beach.---any where here, we must beware of toxic waste, and "flesh eating bacteria", which claimed a good friends calf muscle, and nearly his life, last season.

Destin is closer than Malibu.

[Thaskateguy]

Originally Posted by artsyguy

It sounds like the beaches there are horrible from what you all described of them.

True, and I do love the beach, and the Ocean. Neither My two Sons, nor myself, sill set foot in the Gulf again. It smells of everything bad and foul. Not to mention the seaweed piled up to rot, mixed with the used pampers, dead sea gulls, and used syringes. When I do get a Vacation I head somewhere that has clean water. The one thing I really miss about Houston, is there is no clean water, anywhere. There are very few public pools even. The City pools are so full of rules and regulations, they are no fun at all. "No splashing" what kind of rule is that? It's a swimming pool.

[irishlover]

Wait. Did someone say Malibu was a "nice" beach? Really? Hmm...I wonder how many times I saw warning signs posted along the beach that it wasn't "safe" to swim because all the **** from the LA basin was washing into the ocean with the first rain in 7 months and bacteria levels were to high? Granted the hills surrounding Malibu make for a nicer setting than flat plain but come on, get your facts straight. The water there nearly always has a funny smell, something I've never experienced on a Texas beach. Think about it for a minute...LA is a metro area with 10 million + RIGHT ON the water...all of the crap on the streets, highways, factories etc washes right into the ocean. At least the majority of the houston metro is 40 miles away from the GOM and less apt to contaminate to the extent and concentration the LA area is.

Enough of my soapbox...artsyguy...don't let anyone deceive you. There are plenty of NICE beaches with fun/hip towns on the Texas coast. My favorite would probably have to be Port Aransas..about 3 hours from Houston. That town rocks...we spent Memorial day there this year...great fun bars, clubs, restaurants, coffee shops right on the water. The water there is less "muddy" than the waters near Galveston...it looked blue enough to us on Memorial day. It's a great place to spend a weekend or longer...especially in the winter when the water and air temperatures are still relatively warm.

In terms of a nice day drive beach from Houston...I'd have to say Matagorda or Palacios are worth looking at. They are primarily fishing towns but they are still a fun place to road trip down for a nice lunch or dinner on any day and to take a walk along the beach. And, if you are into fishing there are several outfitters in those towns that can take you out for a deep sea trip.

Bottom line...if I want a worldclass beach I'm not heading to Malibu or Destin...I'll hop on a flight to Grand Cayman (2 hours from Houston). Other than that I'm perfectly satisfied with the choices in our great state.

[AK123]

Originally Posted by artsyguy

It sounds like the beaches there are horrible ...

No!

http://www.city-data.com/forum/houst...-pictures.html

It's fine for a weekend or day trip. The water has its okay days and not so good days. The beaches themselves are fine.

I kind of doubt Coastal Living would have chosen Galveston for its 2008 Idea Home location if it were such a terrible place...
Idea House 2008, Galveston - CoastalLiving.com

Also remember, the appeal of Galveston isn't just in the beaches. It has the historic Strand district and some great seafood restaurants.

There are also a lot of residents from Dallas and Austin who have bought the old Victorian homes, renovated them and run them as bed-and-breakfasts.

Dead fish etc. is not just a Galveston problem. A group of guys here had plans to go fishing in Padre/Corpus this weekend, but apparently those beaches are full of dead fish right now from red tide. So they're moving the location up the coast to Port A.

Anyway... For my family, Galveston is a great day or weekend trip. Winters are great... hang out on the beach, no swimming anyway because it's cold. When we want to do the week-long "tropical" kind of vacations with lots of swimming, we drive to the Florida panhandle or hop on a plane to Mexico or the Caribbean.

[westres1]

The beaches and water in Galveston are great! I dont know what is up with thaksaguy or whoever he is. I dont think he has been to Galveston in years. You can get flesh eating bacteria anywhere and the ater in CA is too cold! Plus you could get eaten by a shark there! I'll take my one hour trip to Galveston any day!