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i went and scoped a few spots around corpus christi/port aransas. you might know more than me if you're an actual texan but i believe christi is both an easier drive (assuming you're coming from austin), and a cleaner beach than the galveston area.
this 2015 article about the scene at bob hall pier is a decent place to start. i had better luck and saw a lot more surfing at some other nearby spots, but i can't pretend to really know the scene:
https://www.surfer.com/features/around-the-bend/
ayo my hometown is corpus, Bob Hall pier gets reallys good, although it hasn't been as good and has been more fickle last few years. Packery Channel is more consistent and a slower wave. Usually a larger outside that has more longboards and then a dumpier inside that is fun. The crowds are usually bad here. A spot a lot of people sleep on is the seawall, the southside of packery channel over in front of the hotels gets fun. Port Aransas is fun although usually too slow to shortboard properly for me
Almost always better there than galveston. surfside and matagorda get pretty good too but i'd usually rather go to corpus.
living in houston now and the commute to galveston is a nightmare on the highway
Thanks for the tips! I found the currents to be brutal. I’ve never had to paddle so hard to surf 3 foot waves in my life. The only upside is that I’ve also never found duck diving so easy. Most of those waves don’t have too much power and aren’t too thick, at least compared to a comparable sized wave in the Atlantic or pacific. This is helpful because they come at you *constantly*.
I wasn’t gonna name spots since I know some people don’t like that... but since you already mentioned a few: I went to bob hall first, and it seemed like the north side of the pier was working better, but the current was so strong eventually I just decided to drift south for a while and catch some lesser waves without as much of a fight. I’m sure that it’s all variable according to the insane winds y’all get down there, and changing all the time. North side packery channel was a little better and where I probably had the best luck. Also checked out Horace Caldwell but it didn’t really look worth paddling out. I’ll scope out the seawall next time.
I’ve been swimming laps in a gym pool up here in Austin to try and get my shoulders ready for my next trip down there. When you Texas folks show up at other breaks you must be amazed at how much easier it is to stay in position, like taking off the ankle weights or something.
But in more immediate news, I’m going back to NY/NJ to visit family next week and hoping to score some proper tropical system swells. My old home breaks in NJ looked insanely fun on the cams over the weekend and I can’t wait to get back out there.
So I’m gonna have to bring boards on an airplane, which I’ve never done before. Anyone have tips?