Three things I highly recommend in try in South Padre Island, Texas:
1. Cap’n Roy’s 1313 Padre Blvd South Padre Island, TX 78597 capnroys.com
Fish Tacos Fried or grilled with charro beans & rice. $9.95; blackening $1.00 extra.
The grilled fish tacos were fantastic. Fresh and tender with great flavoring. And I liked the dressing they used with the cabbage slaw. The beans and rice were average.
Camaronitas Diablitos 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 World Shrimp Cook-Off Champion dish! Marinated bacon wrapped shrimp with pineapple cream cheese & jalapeño, wrapped, rubbed, smoked & glazed with sweet BBQ sauce. $2.25 each a la carte.
I like trying out unique specialty items at different restaurants. While this may be an award winner, I found it just okay. I think it was the BBQ sauce that didn’t do it for me. A little too much which covered all the other flavors. Definitely give it a try.
2. Blackbeard's Restaurant 103 E Saturn South Padre Island, TX 78597 blackbeardsspi.com This place was packed. Definitely catering for the tourist crowd. But the food was plenty at a good price.
Concha’s Jumbo Stuffed Jalepeno – Blackbeard’s house special for over 90 years. One for $3.75
I liked this specialty item. An order of 1 was large enough to split in two for a little tasting. Definitely packed with flavor. I would order this again.
Fresh Garden Salad with cheese, mixed greens, tomato, egg, cantaloupe, cucumber, mushrooms, avocado, carrot, celery $8
For a basic garden salad, this salad really did include the whole garden. Plentiful and fresh. And we ended up eating the leftovers the next day.
Broiled Seafood Supreme – Broiled gulf shrimp, scallops, Mahi Mahi, stuffed crab and stuffed shrimp, French fries, dinner roll $22
This meal was split between 2 people. It was plenty for dinner for 2 and with leftovers for the next day. I enjoyed how the scallops and broiled shrimp were cooked. I am not a huge fan of stuffed crab because I hate digging the meat out of the shell. Just make it into a crabcake and keep it simple. Perfect meal though for beach vacation.
3. Sea Turtle Inc. This was my absolute favorite thing I did at South Padre Island (besides hanging out at the beach). I never realized how many sea turtles there are in the region and how basically all the species are on the endangered list. I loved that this organization was basically a rescue center and hospital for sea turtles that were found or hurt on the Island. It is a completely donation run center and you get to walk around and see all the current sea turtles in rehabilitation. There’s even an adoption program and gift store were all the money goes back into the center.
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| Gerry says Hi |
We also spent a few afternoons on the beach enjoying the sun and surf. A few morning walks collecting shells. A nice boat ride to see dolphins. It was a lovely relaxing vacation. I love that the island was not overwhelmingly crowded or touristy. While it did have those elements, it was more on the peaceful and nature-loving side. However that may be because we went the last week in May and not during Spring Break. I would go back.
