South Padre Island is a town in Cameron County, Texas, United States. The population was 2,422 at the 2000 census. The town is located on South Padre Island, a barrier island along the Texas Gulf coast assessible via a causeway from the town of Port Isabel. South Padre Island is named after José Nicolás Ballí (Padre Ballí), a Catholic priest and settler.
South Padre Island Golf Club offers a 18-hole championship golf course and is situated across the Laguna Madre Bay, a short 10 minute drive from South Padre Island. This par-72 course is home of the Texas Senior Open and presents an absolutely beautiful lateral view of the Island. Decidedly different with rolling green hills and “wildlife corridors” of native brush, these grounds offer an oasis, a wildlife refuge and golfer’s paradise all rolled into one. Golf packages are offered by several of the Island’s top resort hotels and condominiums.
Laguna Vista is a short twenty minute drive west of South Padre Island on State Highway 100 and Farm Road 510. It lies five miles northwest of Port Isabel overlooking the Laguna Madre. Mexican salt traders were the first to walk the shores of the Laguna Madre and it was their stories of a delta-land full of fish and game that inspired settlers to follow. One of the first ranches was known as Los Mogotes, or wooded hills, because of the dense chaparral. Another ranch, known as Buena Vista, (named for the old Spanish land grant of the same name) first established in the 1800s, was operated through the early 1900s.
Port Isabel is a thriving community with many unique shops, restaurants, historic hotels, and museums that make up this historic and colorful area. Spend a day discovering Port Isabel, and take advantage of the many places that are within walking distance of each other. We hope you enjoy your visit to Port Isabel.
South Padre is home to many watersport activities with PWC rental and dolphin watches being the most popular. Other favorites are horseback riding adventures on the beach and ecological tours that explore Padre Island National Seashore.
Fishing is also popular. Also, every year the Texas International Fishing Tournament is held in late summer with winnings totalling almost a quarter million. Along with many other fishing tournaments such as Ladies Kingfish Tournament, Hooters Tournament, Redfish Rodeo just to name a few.
The island is a popular spring break destination for high school and college students.
Texas Forest Service is sending nearly 50 emergency responders to South Texas in preparation for Tropical Storm Alex, which is expected to make landfall as a hurricane early Wednesday morning.
Resaca de la Palma State Park — Texas’ newest state park and the eighth link in the World Birding Center chain stretching the breadth of the Rio Grande Valley — will host a grand opening celebration on Saturday, Dec. 6 in this border city.
he following are excerpts from recent Texas Parks and Wildlife Department law enforcement reports.
Rodeo in Sonora: On Nov. 30, a Sutton County Game warden received a call about two buck deer attached at the antlers by a large entanglement of wire. One of the deer was alive and the other was dead after being gored by a third buck deer. The location of the call was in the town of Sonora and several spectators were at the scene when the game warden arrived. A plan was developed and the necessary equipment, two ropes and wire cutters, were obtained. With help from a Sonora police department officer, who managed to rope the head of the deer while the game warden roped the back feet, the deer was stretched out in true rodeo head and healer fashion and the wire was cut from the bucks’ heads. The surviving buck was last seen jumping a fence and leaving town at a high rate of speed.
The World Birding Center, a network of nine Rio Grande Valley parks and nature centers dedicated to avian conservation and education, has won national recognition from the Society of American Travel Writers for promoting eco-friendly travel.
Stick another feather in the cap of the Lower Rio Grande Valley to boost its already sizable reputation as one of the nation’s hottest birding spots.
A team of Rio Grande Valley birders at Estero Llano Grande State Park recently learned they placed first in the state and second in the United States in Birdwatcher’s Digest magazine’s Big Sit! competition held over a 24-hour period in October at locations throughout the world. It was the first time a team from the state park, which is one of the state’s nine World Birding Center sites, had competed in the Big Sit!
The Texas General Land Office has been sending this message across the state for twenty-two years, and Texans have responded. Since the first cleanup in 1986, more than 382,000 Texas Adopt-A-Beach volunteers have picked up more than 7,300 tons of trash from the Texas coast.
South Padre Island is a town in Cameron County, Texas, United States. The population was 2,422 at the 2000 census. The town is located on South Padre Island, a barrier island along the Texas Gulf coast assessible via a causeway from the town of Port Isabel. South Padre Island is named after José Nicolás Ballí (Padre Ballí), a Catholic priest and settler.
