Waves crash on the beach, lulling me into a sleepy daze. I tuck a loose tendril of hair under my sun hat but it’s a fruitless gesture. Wind whips my hair free again and threatens to blow over the beach umbrella that I set up halfheartedly an hour ago. It’s not a bad spot to enjoy a lazy South Padre Island vacation.
Curled up on a sandy blanket, I resume reading the romance paperback that I borrowed from the condo’s laundry room facility. The book is called called The Duchess by Danielle Steele and the plot is so ridiculous that I can’t help but laugh out loud periodically. Thankfully, the beach is fairly deserted today and no one is near enough to hear. It’s a great place to enjoy the outdoors in a responsible socially-distanced manner.
Suddenly a man jogs up out of nowhere, yelling and gesticulating towards the blanket where I’m seated. After an awkward moment passes, I realize that our umbrella is about to take flight and launch itself into the air. I grab onto the naughty umbrella before it can escape and sheepishly thank my helpful neighbor.
My view of the beach from our blanket
The naughty umbrella before it blew over
Table of Contents
Welcome to South Padre Island
South Padre Island is a long narrow strip of land on a barrier island that is lined with condos and hotels. My husband Daniel and I arrived on South Padre Island in mid-November 2020. We’d been traveling more-or-less nonstop in our motorhome across the United States for the past four months on our Great American Road Trip.
But it was time for a break. A surge of Coronavirus cases was sweeping the country and it didn’t seem like a good time to be traveling.
So we drove south from San Antonio to South Padre Island, Texas – one of the best Texas beach towns and also just about the southernmost point in the state. We found a great deal on a condo with an ocean view and booked it for an entire month.
While I love our RV (which is called “Appa”), it is an awfully small space for two people to live in continuously. Our motorhome is great for traveling around in but it is only 21-feet long and it is not tall enough for Daniel to stand up all the way (unless he’s positioned under the skylight). The condo was a refreshing change of pace for our vacation on South Padre Island.
The view from our condo patio at sunrise
A nice place to sit in the morning and contemplate life. By 11:00 am the deck is covered with shade.
View of the beach from the deck.
The living room in the condo that we rented for our South Padre Island vacation
Condo has a beachy feel. This place is a lot more comfortable than living in our RV.
A Great Place to Go When You’re Feeling Tired
There’s not a lot to do on South Padre Island (during the height of the pandemic anyway) and that suited me just fine. I was tired and didn’t really have the energy to do much anyway. I still feel fatigued sometimes due to my bout with Coronavirus in March 2020. I didn’t even feel like blogging, which is unusual for me. So I decided to just lean into it and take a South Padre Island vacation.
We had a lovely view of the beach from our patio. I loved leaving the door on our patio open and letting the ocean breezes sweep through the apartment. If we had to lay low because of the Coronavirus, this seemed like a good way to go about it.
Why leave the condo when you can see the beach from the deck?
Beach Strolling – the Preferred South Padre Island Vacation Activity
Daniel and I didn’t leave the condo very often during our visit to South Padre Island because of the pandemic. When we did go out, our primary activity was strolling the beach.
On our first evening, we took off our shoes and rushed to dip our feet into the water. It was so good to feel sand under our toes again! We noticed some gelatinous purply-bluish creatures strewn all over the beach but didn’t think very much of them.
We later learned that these creatures are Portuguese man o’ war – which are highly venomous. Daniel and I stayed out of the water after that.
Walking the short path from the condo to the beach
We have arrived at the beach!
Daniel dips his toes in the ocean
A Portuguese man o’ war. We stayed out of the water after learning how venomous these guys are.
Sand crab! These little guys are everywhere and very hard to see.
Fishing is a favorite activity along the beach.
Daniel contemplates life
Moonrise on the beach at South Padre Island
The End of the Road
On one of the few times that Daniel and I left the apartment, we drove to the End of the Road. The town of South Padre Island actually only occupies the southern-most tip the entire island. Most of the island (and Padre Island to the north) is undeveloped. So we drove north along the island’s main road until we ran out of pavement and parked next to a sand dune
This area is affectionately known as “The End of the Road” and is a popular place to visit. There are no buildings or businesses here – nothing but miles of sand and ocean. Driving on the beach is also allowed here (it’s not allowed on the city’s main beach except by lifeguards and other city officials).
The end of the road on South Padre island
Appa parked at the End of the Road
Cheesing it up
Walking along the beach at the End of the Road
Cars are allowed on the beach along in this area
Beach selfie!
An odd spot for a chair
Isla Blanca Park and SpaceX Starship Launch
Daniel and I visited Isla Blanca Park on the southern-most tip of the island a few times in an attempt to watch the Space-X SN8 rocket launch. More details about our experience watching the rocket launch are available in the following blog post: Mars or Bust: Watching the SpaceX Starship Launch from South Padre Island.
El Cristo de los Pescadores (Christ of the fishermen) memorial on Isla Blanca Park
Daniel strolls along the beach at Isla Blanca Park
More Information and Resources
Planning your own trip to South Padre Island? Check out the following books for more inspiration:
- Explorer’s Guide: Galveston, South Padre Island & the Texas Gulf Coast by Alex Wukman
- Moon Guide: Houston & the Texas Gulf Coast by Andy Rhodes
Where are we now?
We are in South Padre Island, Texas!
Dates: November 15-December 15, 2020
Great American Road Trip Status: Days 134-164
Starting Location: San Antonio, Texas
Ending Location: South Padre Island, Texas
Miles Traveled: 287.9
Total Trip Mileage: 9073.4
For more details on our Great America (Socially Distanced) Road Trip, see my previous posts:
- Days 129-133: Visiting San Antonio: The Alamo, River Walk and Mission San José
- Days 117-128: Keeping Austin Weird: Fun things to do in Austin
- Days 115 & 116: Marilynn’s Place, Hurricane Zeta and other Adventures
- Days 113 & 114: Visiting Hot Springs Arkansas, America’s First National Park
- Day 112: Touring Graceland during the COVID-19 Pandemic
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