South Padre Island makes many lists of the top beaches
By SARAH ADAMS
Island Breeze
June 13, 2005 — Steve and Sandy Teter drive five hours from San Antonio to South Padre Island each summer.
"This is the best kept secret," Sandy Teter said. "The beach is so pretty and so clean. I really believe it is safe also."
The secret may be out. South Padre Island beaches recently garnered accolades from msn.com’s CitySearch and the American Shore and Beach Preservation Association.
"It’s no question that that’s our number one resource," said Dan Quandt, executive director of the South Padre Island Convention and Visitors Bureau, on the Island’s clean beaches and blue water.
"South Padre Island continues to be discovered. A few months back we were recognized as No. 2 in the nation as the best place to buy a vacation home (by EscapeHomes.com)."
CitySearch posted an online article ranking the Island beaches in the nation’s top 10 because of its "white sand and turquoise-blue surf" that draws in Spring Break crowds, families, retirees, birding enthusiasts and windsurfers.
Quandt said the blue water and clean beaches often surprise first-time visitors.
"They’d get up to watch a sunrise and see our crew cleaning up the beach," Quandt said.
The CVB recently worked with the Atkins Group in San Antonio to conduct visitor interviews.
"They were all saying the same thing, which was how clean the beaches are," Quandt said. "We have such an unbelievably dedicated staff at the public works department."
City Planner Cate Ball said crews clean up the beaches every day of the week, picking up debris and moving the thick carpets of seaweed that could clog the beach. They clean out the trash bins five days a week.
On top of having clean beaches, the town has worked for the last 15 years to keep the sand from eroding away. While visitors might not realize the sand beneath their toes on certain parts of the beach once lay at the bottom of the Brownsville Ship Channel, beach renourishment has replaced 2.103 million cubic yards of sand.
The American Shore and Beach Preservation Association announced that the Town of South Padre Island ranked in the top four restored beaches.
The Association stated more than 370 locations along the coast have been nourished since programs began more than 80 years ago.
"It definitely feels good for the town," Ball said. "It shows the public how hard the town works."
South Padre Island’s restoration project began in 1993 with the formation of the Economic Development Corporation, which promotes the Island’s economy, as well as focuses on projects like beach renourishment that give back to the community.
From 1997 to 2005, the town worked with Texas Department of Transportation, Texas General Land Office and USACE to replace eroding beaches.
The $12 million project received that sand from the biannual dredging of the Brazos Santiago Pass — the Brownsville Ship Channel — as well as excess sand from the rights of way on north Park Road 100.
As the Army Corps of Engineers dredges the ship channel, pipes pump sand directly to the beach.
"When it first comes out, people notice it," Ball said. "It’s very dark." The sand lightens as it becomes more exposed to oxygen and the waves wash away silt and mud.
The dredge can take a month or more to complete. Workers finished the latest one over winter in two and a half months, Ball said, adding about 1,200 cubic feet of sand to the beach from Neptune Circle to Aquarius Circle.
She said winter visitors will often plan vacations around the dredging. Some want to see the process, and others don’t want to see a pipe the length of the beach.
For many visitors, the dredging and cleaning is worth it. Kathryn DuQuesney from Chandler, Ariz., visited the beach recently with her dog.
"Oh what a sight as we came across to the Island," DuQuesney said. "It was so beautiful."