South Padre Island In The Offseason

South Padre Island in the offseason is one of the best travel values in Texas. With low hotel rates, no crowds or traffic, and the best beach in the state to yourself, what’s not to love!? Then you add perfect mild temperatures and the delicious fresh gulf coast seafood that’s served up daily, well, as we say in Spanish, ¿Qué más quieres? (what more do you want).

SPI in October

We had a week off in mid-October and wanted to spend some time relaxing and decompressing at a nice beach that wasn’t crowded, expensive, or far away. SPI checked all the boxes. The year before we spent our fall break in Cancun and this year we wanted to be closer to home so road trip it was! Now you can certainly fly to South Padre Island but we prefer to drive as it’s only a 6 hour drive from Houston and my wife and I love to get on the road.

Our reservations were from Sunday – Wednesday at the La Quinta by Wyndham South Padre Island Beach property, however, we took off on Saturday afternoon because our oldest daughter was celebrating her 21st birthday at our house with her college friends. We knew we wouldn’t be getting any sleep. Combine her friends with our son’s (22) and the cousins around the same age and we wanted no part of it 🤣.

At 3 p.m. we hit the road. The plan was to get there close to 10pm, get some rest, and catch the sunrise in the morning. We made the mandatory stop at Buc-ee’s for food and snacks and to buy our 4th pair of Tumblers for the beach! That is not a typo or exaggeration, we have forgotten our damn tumblers that many times on road trips. We then turned our Waze app on to get the downlow on where the cops and speed traps were and had a smooth ride in. Until….

Last minute reservation

I had not made a reservation for Saturday night! I figured we would wing it and find some last minute cancellation for cheap. Now if you’re thinking that you’ve read that somewhere before on my blog, well it’s because you have (see New Orleans post) and I’m hard headed apparently, lol. Surely my hotel tonight app wouldn’t let me down 2 times would it? I turned it on once we passed Victoria, TX and began monitoring the hotel prices.

About 30 minutes from the Queen Isabella Causeway I got a rate I could live with. The hotel was on the island, on the bayside, and only a few minutes from the La Quinta where we had reservations at the following day. I looked over at my wife like a conquering hero. Yes, that is how I feel when I land a great deal damn it! Let me have my travel victories.

The room was nothing to write home about but it did meet our objectives. It was on the island, cheap, clean, and quiet. We were tired and wanted to get up early to enjoy the sunrise on the beach, so after a quick shower it was lights out.

Day one – Sand Sculptures and Reading

We woke up to weather in the 70’s and made our way to the beach to the catch the sunrise and it was just perfect. As you can see in my pictures above, it was a very tranquil and picturesque setting. We couldn’t have asked for a better beginning to our Fall getaway. After finishing our coffees on the beach and enjoying the peaceful sounds of the waves, it was time to eat.

We finished our breakfast and checked out of our hotel but needed to kill some time before trying to check into our next hotel. We headed to a bookstore we accidently found while driving around the strip. Karma Coffee & Books is a nice cozy store with a decent selection of books for a small establishment. If you forgot your beach reading books at home, you can pick something up here.

La Quinta by Wyndham South Padre Island Beach

It was barely 10:30 a.m. when we tried checking in and they gave us the whole “we don’t have any rooms ready yet, check in time is “blah blah blah” spew. They took our information down and asked me to check back with them later. I asked if they could text me when my room was ready and they stated they couldn’t. Which got me wondering, why don’t hotels give you those restaurant pagers that alert you when your table is ready? No biggie. We went to our vehicle, changed clothes with door open (hoping nobody snuck a peek), grabbed our umbrella, chairs, ice chest, and headed to the beach.

The beauty of South Padre Island in the offseason is that picking a spot is so much easier during this time. Without the spring break or summer crowds, you have your pick of locations to post up. But please bring your own chairs and umbrella (those that drive there obviously). Umbrella and chair rentals range from $30 – $45 per day! If your party consists of more than you and your wife it will add up quick.

With our location staked out and umbrella and chairs setup, we settled in nicely. Our ice chest was full of cold beer, vodka, rum, and mixers. We were set and it wasn’t long before the beautiful combination of 85 degree sun, ocean mist, soft rolling waves, and the drinks I was mixing up had us feeling just right. We put our books down and decided to take a walk.

Sand Castle Days

Our Sunday Funday coincided with the ending of SPI’s Sand Castle Days event. This free family-fun event is held in front of Clayton’s Beach Bar and has grown from a local celebration to a major qualifying event in sand sculpting. We were lucky to catch the ending and got to admire these sand works of art. If you can schedule your visit around this event, I would highly recommend it. Have a look at some of these beauties.

Night one dinner – Sea Ranch Restaurant

This place does everything well but above all else, it’s the Oysters Rockefeller! When I say nothing hits the spot better after a day at the beach day drinking, I freaking mean it. You need to order a couple of orders as appetizers (no joke). Hell, my wife says to order this as the main course, they are that good. Here is a link to their website, I highly recommend this place. Sea Ranch Restaurant located on the south side of the island.

Day 2 – More Beach, Siesta, and Argentina Steakhouse

Day 2 started with us out on the hotel deck facing the Gulf of Mexico and enjoying our coffee while watching the sunrise. There is something soul reviving about sunrises on the beach. We sat in silence watching the sun make it’s slow climb over the horizon. All while listening to the rhymical ocean waves and the occasional squawk from sea gulls nearby. I snapped the pic below and posted it on twitter and some tv station asked if they could use it in their morning broadcast. Have at it was my response.

When I say we came out here to relax and decompress, we came here to seriously chill. We loved the spot from yesterday so we setup in the same area. We took our books out and settled in for another day of relaxation. After a few hours it was time for a stroll and you can’t go wrong walking in any direction. You’ll have the beaches practically to yourself, no joke.

Courtyard by Marriott

On the other side of Clayton’s Beach Bar is one of the newer hotels on the island. The Courtyard by Marriott is a property I want to stay on our next visit so we decided to stroll in and have a sneak peek. The place did not disappoint. From their great outdoor sports bar (Bar Louie) to it’s pool area, to it’s main indoor bar with live music nightly, it had everything. We will definitely be staying here on the next trip to SPI.

Siesta and evening plans

Falling asleep while laying on a beach chair is undefeated. As long as you’re completely under a big umbrella or else it could be trouble 😨. At best you will have a weird tan in some funny spots and at worst you will look like Malin Akerman in The Heartbreak Kid (Ben Stiller movie, not the original from the 70’s). Anyway, once I woke up I decided to text a friend who lived in Brownsville (about 40 minutes away) to let them know we were close by and if they had dinner plans. They were game so we wrapped it up at the beach to get ready.

Night two dinner – La Pampa Argentinean Steakhouse

La Pampa Argentinean steakhouse is one of my favorite restaurants in all of Brownsville. I was first introduced to this place about 10 years ago and it has become a must stop every time I am in these neck of the woods. The various cuts of beef are all made to perfection and they also have a decent wine selection to boot. Order the CHAMPIÑONES DON RAFAEL (Mushrooms With Prosciutto And Bacon) as an appetizer and the Lomo Alto (Grilled Ribeye steak) for the main course. My mouth is watering just typing that.

Once our friends arrived, the red wine started to flow, and the mood was set for the rest of the evening. It was great catching up on such short notice and the stories and laughs just made the night even more enjoyable. After a bit, the conversation turned to fishing and my friends’ new boat that they had recently purchased. It was just our luck that they were actually planning on fishing the bay the next day and invited us to join them. Of course we said yes!

Day 3 – South Padre Island Bay Fishing

This morning started off just as the others did (enjoying coffee on the beach at sunrise, followed by a big breakfast). Our friends had asked us to meet them at the boat dock by the Painted Marlin restaurant. Prior to arriving, we made a pit stop at the liquor store to buy the captain his favorite IPA beer. With plenty of refreshments and snacks in hand, we were ready to head out to the water to drop our lines.

The weather more than cooperated with us and we had the ideal conditions to be out on the water. Speaking of which, I had no idea how shallow the water was on this side of the island. It couldn’t have been more than 3 feet deep in large areas! This was a major relief to my wife as she always thinks that whatever boat we are on, it will capsize and we’ll get attacked by hungry sharks. Too much shark week and titanic tv viewing 🤣.

Captain Skye

Our captain made sure we got a good tour of the bay and took us to some his favorite fishing spots. We dropped our lines in several spots and had a great time throughout. The main fisherman with all the luck was my friend Fari (captain’s wife), she caught the biggest fish of us four. It was her birthday so we were happy for her. As for my wife, she didn’t fish but cheered me on as I tried to catch dinner for us. After a few hours of fishing, we had caught enough to eat for later that evening and our attention turned to sight seeing.

Skye gave us a nice scenic tour of the bay and showed us points of interest. We even saw the dolphins that live in these parts. He had various quirky facts to share and sounded like a professional tour guide so I mentioned to him that he should take visitors out for a living. Well it turns out that he has already started the process to do exactly just that. If it becomes official, I will come back to edit this post and add his contact info.

Night three dinner – Painted Marlin Grille

If you’re looking for a spot that will cook your catch the same day, this is where you need to be. Of course you have to gut and filet your fish first. Don’t be showing up all ghetto with your fish on a line because they will refuse. We pulled into the dock and Skye cleaned our fish and put the filets in a bag. He then proceeded to park the boat right in front of the restaurant. We gave cooking instructions to the waitress and ordered the drinks and sides. It was a perfect way to cap off what had been a fun filled day out on the water.

Day four – SpaceX

You can’t visit South Padre Island without at least taking a drive to see the SpaceX rockets! I mean, you can literally see them on the launch pad at the SpaceX Boca Chica site from the island. It is only a 55 minute drive from island and well worth the visit. There are no public tours available but you will be able see the rockets incredibly up close.

Besides getting up-close views of the rockets, there is also a nice empty beach that you could relax on. The road to SpaceX dead-ends at the beach and it’s pretty much empty in each direction. A word of caution though to those that want to see the rockets and visit the beach. There is only one single road that leads in or out and there is a mandatory checkpoint on that road with immigration and drug dogs. So don’t go taking your vice over there because then you’ll have another view with bars to look forward to 🤣.

And that’s a wrap! Hope you enjoyed reading about our 4 day adventure visiting South Padre Island in the offseason. FYI, the offseason generally starts after Labor Day and ends March 1st.