Port Isabel and South Padre Island

The Port Isabel lighthouse.

I assume the Christmas lights are just up for the season.

The door was open so I guess it would be O K to climb up and look around--

if anybody really, really, really wanted to.

You drive through Port Isabel on the way to South Padre.

It's about a 45 minute drive from Mercedes, and we wanted to check out the R V parks.

Sometime in the future we might want to stay here.

Kite surfers on the Gulf side of South Padre Island. These people amaze me. They go up and down the beach with seemingly no effort at all. The water on the west side of the island is much smoother, and had many more surfers with kites.

What looks like a hill in the background is the Queen Isabella Causeway,
a two and a half mile bridge that connects South Padre to Port Isabel.

Water front businesses and homes on the

Laguna Madre (west) side of the island.

The houses are built on the water here.

Back on the Gulf of Mexico side.

Many of the buildings I thought were condos are hotels.


The following photos show a "unique" business a few miles west of Port Isabel.

BOBZ

I've found many stores whose entry is a shark mouth,

but this is the first shark skull with dinosaurs.

The outside decor continues........

One of a pair, because a single enormous conch shell just wouldn't look right.

An area under construction. King Kong Golf?

Easter Island?

A volcano erupting with a strange creature surfing the lava flow.

How could I not go in this store?

What would a store that looks like this sell?

The weirdness sucked me in to the store.

This place has a huge selection of sea shells,

thousands of t-shirts and a truck load of hermit crabs.

I have to admit I was kind of disappointed in the inventory,

but the music was worth the walk in.

Christmas caroles were booming over the speakers at a deafening level.
I can't really explain why, but hearing "White Christmas" and looking at a fiberglass

Tiki God/ Easter Island figure is wrong, very wrong.