kestrelkitty

Hi! All. Hope everyone having a wonderful day. Heres what I'm needing some help with. Me and my husband are always camping, but we have never camped on the beach. We're thinking of going next month before the crowds of people show up in swarms. We like it sorta out away from tourist traps and that sorta thing. Were thinking about South Padre Island Seashore. Is this a good place to camp. It can be pretty primitive but we don't have a 4 wheel drive so it can't be that primitive. And any info. on camping on the beach that we need to do differently than we would normally do camping. Stuff like do we need to build our own fire ring, do we need different tent stakes.And this is a really silly sounding question, ( i"ve never been to the beach so please bear with me) but can you catch stuff like crabs and shrimp from land and cook them on a fire yourself. We do all our cooking on an open fire when camping. We have everything including the dutch oven thats cast iron which is a must for a pot of beans or home made chili. Anyway I'd appreciate any help or info. anyone can give on this.



Thaks, And I hope everyone has a wonderful day filled
with sunshine and smiles

Shannon

FYI: It's Padre Island National Seashore. South Padre is a town that's not accessible from anywhere near the National Seashore, and is often confused with it. There's camping on the 4x4 and non-4x4 sections of the Gulf-side beach, as well as a developed campground (Malaquite Beach campground) if you need power, water, etc. You can build your own fire ring on the beach, but need to use what's provided in the Malaquite Beach campground.

I haven't fished or such there, but you'll probably need a current permit for whatever you plan to catch. You can wade pretty far out in some sections and the water's always warm (well, everytime I've been). There are Port-o-Potties set up in a few areas and if you don't camp on the 4x4 area it's not a long drive back to the Visitor Center/Park HQ for showers, vending, and restrooms.

Hope this helps.

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ploddinTod

My first piece of advice would be to bring plenty of fresh water. Depending how far away you are from the visitors center, you could always replenish there. My guess is that, yes, you'll have to build your own fire ring. Perhaps you could sink the bottom of an old charcoal grill into the sand or cut off a barrel bottom. Just remove when ya'll leave.
Your regular tent stakes will probably work fine but I would pack up some landscaping rocks or bricks from around your garden to put on top of your stakes if needed. (Buffalo chips from Buffalo Gap would work too ). That's all I can think of for the moment. Maybe others can add more.

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Shannon

For stakes, we usually end up packing those fat/thick plastic tent stakes instead of our skinny supplied-with-our-tent metal stakes. Never have had the tent blow away, though in the evening we tend to park our pickup directly in front of the tent, between the tent and the gulf. We do this mostly for visibility, since we're camping on the 4x4 section and the last thing we want to wake up to is a half asleep fisherman's pickup barrelling directly at our tent. This used to be more important when we had a tent with no reflective material on it; our newish Sierra Designs Meteor Light CD's rain fly has strategically placed reflective material. Parking our vehicle in this manner can spoil the view, but you're asleep in the tent so it doesn't matter, and it does have the added benefit of blocking some of the winds.

BTW: It's been at least a year and a half to two years since we last camped on the beach there, but things down there work at "Padre Time" -- nothing changes that fast (unless there's a hurricane en-route!)

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kestrelkitty

Thanks for the tips, Now I have another question . Is Feb. A good time to go. We like it when there aren't crowds of people. I take nature photos and have found the fewer people the better photo opportunities I get. And does anyone know anything about catching crabs and such, what sorta permit and how to cook them on a fire. And do we need to bring our own wood or is there somewhere we can get it there?


I'd appreciate any help you all can give me.

Hope everyone has a wonderful day filled with sunshine and smiles.

Kay

Greg

For anchoring tent and sun canopy, I use cedar fence pickets cut about a foot long with a 1" hole drilled through them. Tie off guy lines to the pickets, and bury in about 8 inches of sand. Will hold up to VERY strong winds.

If you can make it down-island, I'd highly recommend it. My last outing to PINS began last Memorial day weekend. First five miles of beach were elbow-to-elbow campers. We drove down to Big Shell beach, and didn't have another campsite visible in either direction. Five days of total isolation, other than the intermittently passing vehicle.

When setting up camp, I like to park the truck on the windward side. Set up tent and canopy on the leeward side of the truck, build fire-ring on downwind side of the tent. I use a couple of the cheap little reflectors-on-a-stick to mark off my site on the tent side of the truck to be visible from vehicles at night.

Also recommend you bring a medium-sized shallow basin to keep full of water outside your tent. Use to rinse all the sand off your feet before entering tent. Sea water works fine for this.

You may want to bring in firewood. Collecting driftwood can be spotty at best.

Never been to PINS in the winter, so can't give advice there.

Happy camping!
Greg

kestrelkitty

Thanks Greg, Your info. was a help. Do you or anyone else know anything about catching crabs from shore(if you can from shore) or if its ok to bring my metal detector and use it on the beach or do they have restrictions about using a metal detector their? Its sort of a small hobby of mine. I'd appreciate any in put anyone can give. It looks like our trip is going to be the end of this month.
Thank s for all your information so far.
May everyones day be filled with smiles and sunshine.

Greg

Metal detectors are prohibited on PINS. I think it mentions it on the official website somewhere. I'm pretty sure you need a permit from the state for crabbing (with traps). Cast nets and surf fishing are legal with a fishing license and a saltwater stamp. The only crabs I've seen there are little ghost crabs that my kids love to catch and release, but they're too small for dinner. You can get all the TX fishing laws at the TPWD website here:
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/

A couple more things: It hasn't been specifically mentioned, but bring some sort of sun canopy to pitch for shade. There are no trees or other shade sources on the island. Insects aren't very bad, because the constant breeze keeps them at bay. If the wind dies down, you'll need bug dope.

Also bring plenty of dry clothes. Nothing you hang up will stay dry, and anything dry you hang up will soon be impregnated with moist sand. You mentioned bringing a cast-iron pot. If you don't keep it well-oiled the entire time you're there, you'll have a very rusty pot very quickly. I'd go w/ stainless or aluminum.

Everything you bring (including your dinner) will get sand in it, no matter how careful you are. Have a sense of humor about it, or it'll ruin your trip.

Bring more water than you thought you'd need.

There are a lot of medium-sized sharks in the surf areas where there are a lot of fish. The water is murky, too. Never heard of a shark attack on a human there, but be aware of it--especially if you have kids along.

Have fun. As soon as you get back, you'll probably start planning your next trip.

Greg

gguerra3

Just to clear up some confusion:

The PINS runs from just south of Corpus to the Port Mansfield Channel. There is a similar camping area on South Padre Island which runs from The Mansfield Channel south to just north of the city of South Padre Island (approx 30 miles). The only difference between the PINS (North Padre Island) and the area south is that of course PINS is a federally protected seashore. I have enjoyed camping on South Padre Island all of my life (I live in the Rio Grande Valley). Generally from Andy Bowie park which is just north of the city of South Padre the beach is maintained/cleaned for about 6 or 7 miles. Once you get past the last beach access road (off of hwy 100) you will find much more debris and such and a 4x4 vehicle is recommended. I know the original post on this thread was sometime back but just thought this would help other readers out.

As for insects, mosquitos can be a problem the further away you get from the gulf, especially at night and away from the breeze. Take plenty of insect repellent with you just in case.

Unregistered

You can buy "sand anchors"... sometimes they are also called "snow anchors" they are like a pocket that you put the sand in and then "stake" to your tent

Txslowpoke

Here is my advice- setup camp above the hi tide line,( it will be the line of debree you see on the beach, cant miss it, be wood,trash,weeds etc.) nothing more rude than being awakened by water been there done that. Before I made our PINS stakes I used a 1' 4x4 with an eye bolt bolted in the center, then buried it with a Sharpshooter the depth of the blade and attached the rope to tents stake out eyes, pulled tight, tye a knot. Basically like Gregs method. Then I would have DW or kids get in tent and step on most outer edges of tent while I use the sharpshooter to bank sand up on outer edges,keeps the wind from going under tent floor. Personally I face tent door towards dunes. I too use a dish pan half filled with water to wash feet at tent door.
I would take a pair a of jumper cables, fix a flat, tire plug kit, extra fuel, tow strap and hardware needed to hook up 2 vehicles, extra water, fuel, hoses for vehicle, belts for vehicle, emergency 1st aid kit if past the 4x4 sign . Typically its a 1000.00 plus for a tow truck down there. Also I use the DOT triangle kits to mark out our camp site.
I have traveled there in winter months, bring your own wood for cooking and collect what you can for campfires. Sometimes its plentiful other time not, something to cut wood a must. Metal detectors, not sure of legalities, but I have no probs using one. They do check fishing license ALOT. Crabs--- cant help there. You should have the beach to yourselves in Febuary, even in the 2wd section, just bring warm clothes and equal camping gear, 40-60 degree with a 30mph wind is purty nippy, atleast for me it is.
Personally I park my vehicle on the traffic side of camp, just for protection from some one not paying attention.
Good luck and have fun, go prepared its alot of fun.

jrashley1066

As a first time primitive beach camper, I was pleasantly surprised how well I did. The best tip I had was not to use regular tent stakes to keep your canopy or tent attached to the ground. What worked well for me was to cut some 4x4 lumber into 18" lengths then screw an eye-bolt in the end. Use a sharp shooter shovel to dig holes in the sand and sink your boards as far into the ground as you can leaving only the eye bolts at ground level. Then tie your ropes to these. Due to the wind I had to use at least two of these per pole, but nothing fell over the three days I was on the beach.