Exploring the Texas Coast: Port Aransas

Our third week along the Texas Coast

Site D8 at On the Beach RV Park

I had been eyeing Mustang Island as one of our stops along the coast, and based on a reference from Tim's brother-in-law we decided to stay at the On the Beach RV Park.  To get to the island from the North (TX-361), you have to take a short ferry ride. Short as in it takes 5 minutes to cross.  The ferry is free, and depending on the day of the week and the time, the wait to get on the ferry could be over an hour. You can get updates on the status on the Port A Ferry status on Twitter.  Luckily our wait was only about 15 minutes.  It was a little freaky pulling the RV onto the ferry, but it all worked out.   There are trucks much bigger than our little Tacoma and Minnie for sure.  

Rating On the Beach RV Park 

• Weather: Just like our previous two weeks along the coast, daily temps were 64-66, so we experienced slightly lower than average temps.  The wind was slightly less than the first two stops.  We gave the weather here a 7/10.
• Activities:  About a 3 minute walk to the beach, where you could enjoy miles of walking.  As with most beaching, the biking is decent if you stay on the firm sand.  Not many hiking trails nearby, however there are several nature/bird sanctuaries within 10 miles.  We gave Activities a 6/10.
• Cost: The rate is $265/week ($37.97), and $750/month which works out to $25/day.  There are additional fees for electricity, but that would be minimal for a winter stay.  Cost at On the Beach RV Park gets an 8/10.
• Environment:  The Gulf is a 5 min walk to a very expansive beach.   Because we were facing east, not really a sunset, and we never did get up to see a sunrise (it was foggy most mornings).  We gave it 6/10 for Environment.
• VIBE:  Great people and staff, very friendly.  We got several comments about how cute our trailer was, that they liked it a lot, etc. We met people from Texas, Minnesota (both work for UHG, one with some of the same people I worked with 15 years ago). Vibe for On the Beach is a 8/10.
• Site: Gravel sites, very small.  It was surprising some of the rigs that were able to maneuver on the fairly tight roads.  If you get a good site it's just OK, with a picnic table. The site gets a 6/10.
• Food Basics:   A very nice grocery and liquor store (IGA) is less than 2 miles away. There's also an Ace Hardware for the non-food necessities. This results in a score of 9/10.
• Culture:  There were no actual breweries in Port A, but we did find a couple in the area.  Check out our review of Dog'gone Brewery in Rockport and Lorelei Brewing Company in Corpus Christi.  A few spectacular dive bars within a ten minute drive, or a 20 minute walk on the beach.  Plenty of restaurants, and tons of shopping.  9/10.
• View: Need to go to beach to see anything really.  View is 5/10.
• Noise: There was some airport noise and a helicopter once in a while - really not often. Waves quiet down at night. 7/10.

With all of that said, our overall score for RV Park on the Beach based on our long stay criteria is 70.4/100.  Again you can see how that stands up against the first two places we visited along the coast.

Images and Video

Here are some of the images we captured during our stay - the bird sanctuaries are amazing!

Here's a short video Tim made of the area.

Overall, we really enjoyed our time in Port A and would definitely visit again and stay at On the Beach RV Park.  Next up - Exploring the Texas Coast: South Padre Island.

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Have you been to Port Aransas or Mustang Island?  Where did you stay and what do you think of the area?  Leave your comments below!  Enjoyed this post? Never miss out on future posts by following us.