Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Texas > Austin
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 06-11-2009, 10:56 AM
 
Location: Austin TX
959 posts, read 4,482,509 times
Reputation: 467

Advertisements

I keep hearing mixed reports about whether or not there is seaweed covering the beaches at Port Aransas, though everyone seems to agree there are a lot of jellyfish in the water. Has anyone gone recently for a few days or more that can tell me how unpleasant/pervasive this seaweed and jellyfish situation is? I've read reviews of the beach on travel sites where people deeply regret having gone there.

So we're considering driving further to South Padre Island for the nicer beaches (but ouch on the extra 2 1/2 hrs) - are the beaches and water that much nicer? Does one or the other island have more fun things for small children to do?

We have four children 8 and under so they're going to want to wade around in the shallow water and build sand castles and I'm picturing them tripping over seaweed and being stung by jellyfish at every turn

Have to make a decision about where to go today so please advise!

TIA!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 06-11-2009, 11:35 AM
 
Location: Austin, TX
16,787 posts, read 48,814,423 times
Reputation: 9477
We go to Rockport and Port Aransas at least once a year. You can see some of my photos here:

Rockport / Port Aransas, TX Photo Gallery by cptinrn at pbase.com

rockport Photo Gallery by cptinrn at pbase.com

The amount of seaweed and jelly fish and tarballs on the beaches vary from day to day, sometimes there is little, sometimes a lot. Port A periodically cleans it off. There never was a time though when we couldn't find relatively clean beach areas to play or hang out.

We have been to South Padre twice. The hotels are built closer to the water, bad for the ecology, but and they keep the beaches cleaner in the areas close to them. It is a heck of a lot longer drive and in my mind isn't worth it. It seemed more commercial, touristy. I felt like there was lots more to see and do in the Rockport Port Aransas area.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-11-2009, 11:36 AM
 
Location: RR
225 posts, read 847,969 times
Reputation: 63
I have been to both and definitely would go to South Padre for sure.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-11-2009, 01:23 PM
 
Location: Hutto, Tx
9,249 posts, read 26,579,993 times
Reputation: 2851
I like both personally. I just had some friends come back from Port A and they didn't mention jellyfish problems, but from their pics I did notice some seaweed, but not tons. Another friend went to Galveston and did say there were lots of jellyfish.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-11-2009, 03:47 PM
 
Location: somewhere in Texas
535 posts, read 1,284,891 times
Reputation: 527
We just got back from Port Aransus/Corpus Christi a couple of weeks ago. We are from the Alabama/Florida Gulf Coast and this is the first time we had ever been on the Texas coast. I was impressed. There was a little seaweed...but not much more than what you see on the Florida beaches. As far as jelly fish.....we saw none. Alabama/Florida beaches are covered in jelly fish.

No, the water was not a green or clear as the water on the Al/Fl coast but in my opinion it is much more swimmable.

But as the other poster said, beaches change from day to day so you never know what it will be like the day you go.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-11-2009, 05:11 PM
 
1,534 posts, read 2,751,574 times
Reputation: 3588
You are much more likely to find blue clear water and clean beaches at South Padre. The silt from the Mississippi is carried into the Western gulf, but usually does not makes it as far south as South Padre. I have only ever seen blue water once in Port Aransas and there is always seaweed on the beach. The dolphins however are really cool!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-11-2009, 11:46 PM
 
7,742 posts, read 15,030,602 times
Reputation: 4295
Quote:
Originally Posted by Indigoblue View Post
I keep hearing mixed reports about whether or not there is seaweed covering the beaches at Port Aransas, though everyone seems to agree there are a lot of jellyfish in the water. Has anyone gone recently for a few days or more that can tell me how unpleasant/pervasive this seaweed and jellyfish situation is? I've read reviews of the beach on travel sites where people deeply regret having gone there.

So we're considering driving further to South Padre Island for the nicer beaches (but ouch on the extra 2 1/2 hrs) - are the beaches and water that much nicer? Does one or the other island have more fun things for small children to do?

We have four children 8 and under so they're going to want to wade around in the shallow water and build sand castles and I'm picturing them tripping over seaweed and being stung by jellyfish at every turn

Have to make a decision about where to go today so please advise!

TIA!

We were just in corpus may 29th weekend. There were a ton of jellyfish in corpus christi bay (I got stung - first time ever and didnt hurt that bad). One little girl got stung pretty badly the day before and her parents took her to the emergency room. She was showing me all the marks. No seaweed though.

Also went to bird island basin, no jelly fish there. We had a great time and 18 month old daughter played in the water a ton.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-12-2009, 01:45 AM
 
Location: Hutto, Tx
9,249 posts, read 26,579,993 times
Reputation: 2851
My grandfather lived in Corpus Christi for a while and he used to take us to the seawall. It seems like there are always a lot of jellyfish in the bay, but not so much elsewhere.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-12-2009, 07:32 AM
 
7,742 posts, read 15,030,602 times
Reputation: 4295
Quote:
Originally Posted by CptnRn View Post
We go to Rockport and Port Aransas at least once a year. You can see some of my photos here:

Rockport / Port Aransas, TX Photo Gallery by cptinrn at pbase.com

rockport Photo Gallery by cptinrn at pbase.com

The amount of seaweed and jelly fish and tarballs on the beaches vary from day to day, sometimes there is little, sometimes a lot. Port A periodically cleans it off. There never was a time though when we couldn't find relatively clean beach areas to play or hang out.

We have been to South Padre twice. The hotels are built closer to the water, bad for the ecology, but and they keep the beaches cleaner in the areas close to them. It is a heck of a lot longer drive and in my mind isn't worth it. It seemed more commercial, touristy. I felt like there was lots more to see and do in the Rockport Port Aransas area.
North padre island, mustang island and port aransas beaches are great. Really nice powdery sand. The water wasnt clear but it wasnt murky brown either. I dont think the drive to south padre is worth it when corpus is around 3.5 hours away. Port A is prob around 4 hours.

Port A is a cute beach town where south padre is all giant condos.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-12-2009, 07:35 AM
 
Location: Austin, TX
15,232 posts, read 35,410,327 times
Reputation: 8566
Jellyfish vary day to day based on wind and water conditions. I am sure that there are some people down on the coast that can look at a tide chart and the wind and tell you how bad they will be in a particular place (in the bay or on the beach), but I am not one of them . We go down to Port A annually, and have never seen more than one or two in a single trip. The 'fun' part is when you are trying to swim away from one w/o sticking your legs toward it to kick away .

Seaweed and be pretty bad, but the City of Port A does clean it up on a regular basis (every few days, I think), but it can get pretty thick an stinky on the last day before they clean it up.

Texas beaches are nothing like Fl beaches. All things being equal, I would love to go to a white sand/clear water beach. OTOH, the lack of crowds and the really casual 'Jimmy Buffet' feel along some stretchs of Port A. is really nice.....
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Texas > Austin
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top