If you were going to head down to the coast for the weekend from Aggieland, and wanted to keep the drive around 3-3.5 hours, where would you go?

Understand that I have searched past threads on this board regarding this topic and do understand that sand everywhere and mosquitoes are possibilities.

I'm looking at doing some fishing and won't be using a boat or kayak. Strictly from the beach or a pier.

Your suggestions? Any idea of the oil (kerosene?) spill from Galveston will make it as far down as Sargent or Matagorda in the next couple of weeks?

One point of note on searching old threads:

Most people never came back and shared their experiences. They never said "we went to _______ and it was great/it sucked, the fishing was great/terrible, we ditched the camping and got a room, we caught mostly ________ fish using _______ tackle".

A little disappointing to not hear what the results were after they asked for advice.

I have camped one night on Mustang island while in school. Probably would just spend the extra 100 bucks to stay at a hotel if I were to do it again. I didn't fish though. It was more of a get out of town and do something quick trip. And yes, sand gets everywhere...you, your car, your tent....everything. It was cool from the standpoint of I'm camping on the beach, but having an air conditioned room with a hot shower is nice too.

I think Matagorda is your best bet. It has plenty of beach to get away from people. The fishing can be really good as well, although it is usually better in the fall.

I would never recommend more than two nights on the beach for even the most hardcore of tent campers. Besides temperature extremes, you will likely never find a more unpleasant camping experience, especially if the mosquitoes are hungry. Have fun.

Look at Quintana beach, reasonable, and with facilities.

http://www.brazoria-county.com/parks/Quintana/

Matagorda is nice and isolated and pristine, especially the further down the beach you drive, but toilets are only back at the beach entrance.

Surfside/Freeport is similar, in places at least.

Galveston island state park will be much more crowded, but has facilities.

Mustang island is pretty isolated once you get out there.

Goose island is more for fishing.

Anything else is way more than 3.5 hours.

I'd go with Matagorda beach, especially if you have a 4x4 and can go down 2-3 miles away from the crowds.

Beach camping is a bear, especially after 2-3 days, but there are some things that make it more tolerable:

1. Shelter from the sun and wind. A good tent or small light camper.
2. Dry clothes and a dry, clean place to sleep at night.
3. Something like a mat or grate or something that drains you can stand on that you can put on the sand, plus sevreal gallons of fresh water to rinse off with a little when it is time to get clean.
4. Your favorite monkey butt prevention. I use the crude but effective and waterproof petroleum jelly. Sexual jokes aside, it works, and it's nice to be able to walk normally on day 3 instead of dealing with RA.
5. Mosquito repellant, just in case there is an offshore wind that blows some skeeters out of the bay marsh.
6. A jacket and something warmer to sleep in at night. Even in warmer weather, you will get chilled at night on the beach.
7. WATER to drink. Keep hydrated.
8. A shovel
9. some TP
10. A 5 gallon bucket. Useful for many things, not the least of which is getting some water to put under your tires if you get stuck in the sand.

To freshen up, hit the showers.....

http://www.lcra.org/parks/developed-parks/Pages/matagorda-bay-nature-park.aspx

Would someone please explain to me why anyone would want to camp on a beach?

Used to do it all the time at Cedar Bayou. Fishing there could be awesome at sunrise and sunset. Sleeping could be impossible if the wind was 30 mph or 0 mph. ...you take the good with the bad.

MA

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Would someone please explain to me why anyone would want to camp on a beach?

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There's nothing like having all the idiots leave once the sun starts going down and you have miles of beach all to yourselves.

It's pretty damn awesome.

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[This message has been edited by p_bubel (edited 3/29/2014 6:03p).]

I have pulled my trailer down to Padre Island National Seashore a few times in spring and fall and had a great time. Miles of beach to yourself.

Mosquitos

Almost all outdoors folks camp on the beach once, then think better of it.

Rent a beach house

My wife, my 3 teenage boys and I camped for about 5 days a couple years ago and learned quite a bit.

Be prepared at all times for high winds to kick up and rain storms can come in almost unannounced and can be pretty brutal.

3 separate nights, we went to bed with clear radar and were awakened in the middle of the night by fierce storms that blew our tents down. Once your bedding gets wet and sandy, you're done.

The takeaway was if you're dead set on camping on the beach, take or rent an RV. Pretty hard to enjoy it in a tent to be honest.

I camp on the beach more often then I'd like to. Starting now through summer ill spend a lot of time from Bolivar to Freeport catching shark. I never bring a tent because they are just sand pits. Get a good canopy and a cot or just sleep in a lawn chair or your truck. Seen people throw an air mattress in the bed of a truck. Keep it as simple as you can no matter what you decide. The more simple the less sand you deal with. You gotta take the good with the bad as mentioned above, catch fish have a good time but have terrible sleeping conditions and sand everywhere. Baby powder was my friend until I started whering spandex work out underwear. Wont step foot on a beach without them now.

My dad and I used to beach camp sever times a year at Mustang Island State park. Brought sleeping bags to lay on and slept in the bed of the truck under the stars. Was perfectly fine. Get up early to go fish and drive home later that day. If you need a rinse just use one of the freshwater showers at the park.

Honestly we never had issues with mosquitoes or getting sand everywhere, we would just fish, not play in the sand.

Now we tent camped at Indianola once, that was terrible. Literal cloud of mosquitoes at night.

Kind surprised by the responses on an "outdoors" board about this.

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4. Your favorite monkey butt prevention. I use the crude but effective and waterproof petroleum jelly. Sexual jokes aside, it works, and it's nice to be able to walk normally on day 3 instead of dealing with RA.

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[This message has been edited by El Chupacabra (edited 3/30/2014 1:36p).]

I camp on the beach a couple times each year. Usually PINS or Matagorda.

2 things which help- don't try to get too ambitious with camp cooking. Just keep it simple because trying to cook in the wind and sand can really suck and cleanup sucks too.

And don't mess with a ground tent. A tent cot or air mattress in the bed of your truck so you're off the sand. I like a tent cot set up on top of old pallets with a small tub of water to rinse off the sand before turning in.

I guess not everyone gets chafed after 2-3 days in the salt and sand, but I sometimes do. That's the only real problem I have. Once you adapt to the humidity and have a strategy to keep your sleeping area relatively sand free and get yourself clean before you go to sleep, camping on the beach isn't too bad.

The problem with most tents is the breeze blows sand up the wind side of the tent and then it sifts through the mesh part up on the top under the fly and falls on you all nite. You need to use a tarp or fly or something to block the sand from the direction of the wind, at least to keep it from blowing up under the fly. A good plastic grate or similar at the entrance to the tent helps keep sand out.

I've done padre a couple times. I have a good size 10x14 tent that we reinforce pretty well. Also bring a 10x10 canopy with 6' table and generator, TV w/DIRECTV and small AC if it's summer time. We use pallets and a bucket of water to keep sand out of tents and bring lots of firewood. Good times but you have to like camping.

Good thread with good advice.

My entire reason for beach camping is for fishing. If I didn't love fishing I'd rarely camp on the beach.

We have done Matagorda the last 2 years for Spring Break. I don't think it's the same place as some of you other guys, no vehicles here. We pay a guide to ferry us over from POC to the bay side of Sunday Beach. I have a 10x14 tent that I dead head with 15" auger stakes. We camp in the dunes, so not hard to find relief from wind. At this time of year, early March, it is usually too cold for snakes or mosquitos. The investment is considerable- 7 hr drive (from Dallas), 2-3 hours set up / tear down of camp, no facilities. The reward is almost complete solitude, no other people on the beach as far as you can see, in either direction. For me, it's a photography trip. No way to shoot in the 'golden hours' other than to stay there (most people won't run the bays without daylight.) For my wife and daughter, it's all about the shells.

I did meet some like-minded people who were 'boat camping'. Stop at Sunday Beach, camp for the day, move down the coast the next day. Maybe a better way to do it.