St. Joe’s Island:
Port Aransas is a small coastal resort about 40 minutes from downtown Corpus Christi. It doesn’t really have much of a claim to fame, with the exception of a University of Texas Marine Studies Institute, a handful of outstanding fishing charters and a lot of RV parks for “Winter Texans” (retirees in 40-foot Winnebagos). By taking state Highway 35 to Business 35 in Aransas Pass, and then continuing to Highway 361, you can proceed directly to the car ferries that link Port Aransas with the mainland.
On the north end of Port Aransas are the Port Aransas Jetties. The jetties protect the Port Aransas Ship Channel, which cargo ships and chemical tankers use to gain access to the Port of Corpus Christi. Across the channel is St. Joe’s (San Jose) Island, an uninhabited isle that runs from Port Aransas north to Matagorda Island. On large, out-of-control, wind-driven south swells, St. Joe’s can be a good option for catching clean walls that break on the sandbars just north of the north jetty.
Though the waves can sometimes border on being a bit mushy, the jetty offers considerable protection from howling southerly winds, and can afford surfers their only chance for clean surf when every other beach is blown out. Unfortunately, getting to the island can be tricky. If you have a boat or a sea kayak, then the ride across the channel isn’t all that bad. You can also take the passenger ferry from Port Aransas to the island, but the hours of operation are limited. The final option is to paddle across the channel. How much of an effort are you looking at? Well, the channel is just wide enough to make the paddle a challenge, but just narrow enough that any passing deep-draft shipping traffic can pose trouble for a person in the water. Basically, the rule is this: if a ship is pointed in toward the channel, or is making its approach to the turn outbound for sea, don’t be near the buoy while it is passing. The undersides of merchant vessels are quite disgusting, and you don’t want to find yourself inspecting their hulls for cracks.
Fish Pass:
The next established breaks south of Horace Caldwell Pier are the Fish Pass Jetties, but they haven’t really worked in the last couple years. Once you leave Port Aransas and make your way south, you will find very little along the highway — just high dunes toward the Gulf and low marshes and flats toward the Intracoastal Waterway. There are a few housing developments, but not much else for about eight miles. You can find Fish Pass by driving south along the beach about two miles from Gulf Beach Access Road 2, or by paying the park entry fee and entering Mustang Island State Park.
The jetties mark a pass that has since closed. Popular among longboarders in the Corpus Christi area, the Fish Pass jetties provide protection from heavy north or south winds, resulting in waves similar to those at St. Joe’s Island — workable, sometimes long, mushy overall — on either side. However, the section between the jetties can sometimes start dumping and get hollow. The overall vibe at the Fish Pass Jetties tends to be very laid-back, and visitors will find locals to be helpful and friendly.
J.P. Luby Surf Park:
The border between the city of Port Aransas and the city of Corpus Christi is situated south of Fish Pass, just north of the J.P. Luby Surf Park. The Surf Park was, at one time, a destination for Texas surfers, but a hurricane destroyed the pier, turning it into a secondary destination for spring breakers who get duped into coming to Corpus Christi instead of South Padre Island. State Highway 358 also bears the name of South Padre Island Drive. Unscrupulous vacation hucksters in the Corpus Christi area sometimes advertise to the spring break crowd on behalf of hotels and resorts that are within spitting distance of the SPID. Some college students may not be familiar with south Texas, so they spend their spring break in Corpus Christi instead of the MTV-famed South Padre Island. Still others choose Corpus Christi over ‘Dre, as Corpus Christi offers more variety in clubs, restaurants, hotels and shopping than the party 80 miles south.
Despite losing the pier, J.P. Luby isn’t completely devoid of waves. In recent months, the sandbars have begun to align themselves to provide more consistent, hollow surf when Texas receives groundswell or when passing fronts glass off the wind-driven swell. What’s more, it possesses some energy and push comparable to Bob Hall Pier just to the south, but the half-destroyed pier lacks its neighbor’s competitive crowd. As mentioned before, J.P. Luby features crowds from late February to early April, but these are not packs of surfers. The beach loads up with spring breakers and wanna-be breakers, cruising around on the beach with low-rider pickups and jacked-up four-wheel drive duallies. Dealing with the crowds may not be worth the trouble: the combination of cruising attitudes, alcohol and raging hormones can stir things up. Police work the beach quite a bit to regulate matters, but things can still get out of hand from time to time.
The pier has since been replaced by two jetties and is now known as Packery Channel. Packery Channel is a small, shallow draft channel that runs from the Laguna Madre (the flats and the Intracoastal Waterway) to the Gulf of Mexico on the southern edge of the park.