Port Isabel

Understand

Setting: Port Isabel is on the coast at the southern tip of Texas, 8 mi from Mexico (24 mi by car). The 2.6-mile-long (4 km) Queen Isabella Causeway across the Laguna Madre connects it to South Padre Island and the Gulf of Mexico. The gated community of Long Island Village is across a short swing-bridge to the south. A few miles westward along the shore of the Laguna Madre is the settlement of Laguna Heights and the Village of Laguna Vista. This group of communities are collectively known as the “Laguna Madre Community” or “Laguna Madre Area.” The four counties at the southern tip of Texas are called "The Rio Grande Valley" (the "Valley").

Commercial-industrial: The Port Isabel-Brownsville shrimping fleet is highest dollar-value commercial fishery on the east coast of the United States. The Port Isabel - San Benito Navigation District (end of Port Road) mainly supports the offshore oil and gas industry and the industrial area on its property. The Subsea-7 “Spoolbase" prepares pipe on 5,000-foot-long (1,500 m) and spools it onto special ships for pipeline installation throughout the Gulf and Caribbean Basin.

Sports fishing: The Port Isabel - South Padre Island sports fishing industry directly serves anglers from other parts of the Rio Grande Valley and supports the tourism industry, retirement community, and winter residents. There are several marinas, tackle shops, bait stands, and fishing guides to serve anglers. Several fishing tournaments, including the large Texas International Fishing Tournament, bring anglers to the area for fun, comradery, and friendly competition.

Tourism seasons: Traffic tends to stand still during “Texas Week” when Texas schools are on Spring Break in mid-March. Visitors from Mexico fill the area during about two weeks of Semana Santa, for about a week around Cinco de Mayo, and sometimes during late summer to escape the stifling heat of northern Mexico. Sports fishing activities increase in spring, especially for anglers hoping for record weight speckled trout, and continues throughout the summer. Summer family visitation corresponds to the schools' summer vacation period. Often, visitors are seen wearing camouflage clothing during the first two week-ends of September because many who hunt the Special Whitening Dove Season in Cameron County stay in Port Isabel lodging, partially to accommodate non-hunting family members. “Winter Texan Season” corresponds to “winter,” because many retirees spend that part of the year in the Laguna Madre Area and the other part of the year “back home.” The fall and spring bird migrations attract many birders to the area.

Visitor information The Port Isabel Visitor Center and the Port Isabel Chamber of Commerce office are located in the Lighthouse Keeper's Cottage museum (see below), located on the southeast corner of the Port Isabel Lighthouse Historical Site property. Hours: M-F 9AM-5PM; Sa 10AM-4PM

History

Port Isabel highlights its proud history as an attraction for visitors. In addition to the Lighthouse State Historical Site, Port Isabel has three historical museums, nine state historical markers, and 21 sidewalk medallions highlighting notable generals who served here.

Native Americans of the Port Isabel area were members of the Eastern (coastal) Carrizo-Comecrudo Tribe of the Coahuiltecan people. Lipan Apaches often passed through on hunting and trading migrations and some splinter groups settled in the area during the late eighteenth century. Both have organizations in south Texas to preserve their heritage and language. There are several sites with surface artifacts of early peoples near Port Isabel, including an unmarked National Historic Site just southwest of the city.

Spanish explorer Francisco Garay sailed into the bay in 1523 and named it Brazos Santiago Pass, which is one of the oldest named sites in the United States.

In 1554, a treasure fleet wrecked on Padre Island about 30 mi north of Port Isabel. Only one survivor reached safety at Tampico, Mexico. Port Isabel's Treasures of the Gulf Museum is dedicated to that event and the salvage from the ships.

During the War of 1812, the pirate and privateer Jean Laffite used the harbor as a hideaway and is said to have drawn water from a well in nearby Laguna Vista to restock his ships.

The new U.S. President James K. Polk sent General Zachary Taylor and his Army of Occupation to Port Isabel to start the U.S.-Mexican War. Port Isabel-Brazos Island harbor was a strategic asset for Mexico because it was the only safe harborage along nearly 300 mi of the then Mexican coast. General Taylor established Fort Polk at Port Isabel on March 24, 1846, and used it as a supply base for his operations in Texas until 1850. During that period, several important U.S. officers who would eventually face each other in the Civil War served at Port Isabel. The second floor of the Port Isabel Historical Museum is devoted to the war.

The Port Isabel Lighthouse was completed in 1852, and by 1847 a third-order fresnel lens had been installed.

The lighthouse was used as a lookout post during the First Cortina War from 1859 to 1860, but the Cortinistas did not approach Port Isabel.

Port Isabel was again a haven for pirates and blockade runners during the early part of the Civil War. Port Isabel was occupied at one time or another by both the USA and CSA, and the lighthouse was used by each as a lookout post. A Union attack destroyed all the ships in the harbor in 1863, and the last battle of the war (Palmetto Hill) was launched from an encampment at nearby Brazos Island by Union soldiers.

The first railway in south Texas was began operation in 1872 between Port Isabel and Brownsville. This opened up an export market for the Port Isabel fishery. The new demand was met with the development of the extremely effective Port Isabel Scow-Sloop fishing system, which was eventually outlawed in the 1930s.

In 1916, the most powerful wireless transmission station in the world was built at Port Isabel. Among the reasons the station was built here was to facilitate communication with the operators of the newly completed Panama Canal, because of the intensifying border skirmishes with Pancho Villa, and because of growing expectation of the U.S. entering the First World War.

Some U.S. troops were stationed at Port Isabel during Pancho Villa’s bandit activities in 1916.

When the Missouri-Pacific Railroad reached Port Isabel in 1927, it opened up the town’s tourism and sports fishing industries. It also formed a catalyst for the formation of the Port Isabel Tarpon Rodeo (now the Texas International Fishing Tournament). With help of the railroad’s public relations department, the Tarpon Rodeo and the excellent fishing at Port Isabel became nationally known.

During the early part of the Second World War, German U-Boats were sinking ships in the Gulf of Mexico (eventually sinking 56), and there was an oil refinery at Port Isabel. Because of this, the U.S. Navy established lookouts along the coast, and a group of Port Isabel residents were enlisted into a militia and trained to respond against possible land intrusion by Germans.

Climate

Port Isabel has a semi-arid, Mediterranean climate with mild winters and warm to hot summers. In winter, average highs are in the mid-70s F and lows in the mid-50s F (24°C and 13°C, respectively). Summer average highs are high-80s (30°C) and lows in to mid-70s (22°C). Port Isabel’s coastal climate is typically two to five degrees warmer in the winters and cooler in the summers than even nearby communities. The summer temperature difference, supported by the cooling Gulf breeze, is noticeable a few miles out of town to visitors arriving by automobile. About 26" (66 cm) of rain is expected each year, with concentrations usually in September and secondarily in June. Throughout history, residents of surrounding areas have flocked to the coast in summers to escape the heat.

Because of the higher coastal humidity, people who find themselves blocked from the sea breeze during hot, late-summer days will very quickly feel their personal heat index rise. Port Isabel is breezy to windy most of the year. In fact, the Laguna Madre bay and nearby Brownsville Ship Channel are nationally famous among wind-surfers for strong sustained winds during the mid to late Spring. For some other people, this period of never-ending, day and night, wind becomes tiring. During other months, the wind doesn’t begin to rise until mid-morning; the pleasant early light breeze is heaven for drift fishing across the shallow, clear, seagrass meadows. Steady wind across the long Gulf fetch provides the waves enjoyed most of the year by surfers on South Padre Island.

Port Isabel had a white Christmas in 2004. That was the first recorded snow in 109 years. Hard freezes occur only about once every fifteen years. However, wet, windy “northers” (cold fronts) can be more uncomfortable than below-zero weather for some people. Most days during the winter are pleasant and this is highly predictable. In fact, some visitors and owners of second homes will book flights according to the national weather map, leaving home before a cold front arrives there and returning before it reaches Port Isabel.

Major hurricanes (Beulah, 1967; Allen, 1980; Gilbert, 1988; Dolly, 2008) impact Port Isabel about once every fifteen years. Minor hurricanes and tropical storms are more frequent and, although they interrupt vacations and impact the tourism industry, are not especially of concern to locals and some years the rain is welcomed. September is the peak month for tropical weather, followed by August.

Get in

By plane

• Brownsville/South Padre Island Airport (BRO), 700 Emilia Earhart Dr, +1 956 542-4373. Take Minnesota Avenue (FM 313) from FM-48 and follow it south for two miles. It is serviced by the following airlines:
• American Eagle (non-stop service between Dallas and Brownsville)
• United Express (non-stop passenger service from Houston)
• Valley International Airport (HRL), 3002 Heritage Way, Harlingen, +1 956 430-8600. Take Ed Cary Drive exit from US-77/83/69E and follow it north. It is served by the following airlines:
• Southwest Airlines (non-sptop service from Austin and Houston-Hobby)
• United Express Airlines (Non-stop service to/from Houston-Intercontinental)

By bus

By car

• Highway 100 - This is generally the preferred highway access from the north. It connects to US Highway 77/83/69E about 13 mi south of Harlingen. It is 30 mi long and passes through the City of Los Fresnos and Village of Laguna Vista (6 mi from Port Isabel).
• Highway 48 - it is 23 mi long and connects US Highway 77/83/69E in Brownsville to Port Isabel. It passes the Port of Brownsville and the Brownsville Shrimp docks and continues along the Browsville Ship Channel to join Highway 100 in Port Isabel. Two-mile long Minnesota Avenue (FM 313) connects the Brownsville - South Padre Island Airport to Highway 48.
• FM-510- It is 24 mi long and connects US Highway 77/83/69E just south of San Benito (Line M Road) to Highway 100 at Laguna Vista (6 mi west of Port Isabel). It passes through Bayview.
• Queen Isabella Causeway - It is 2.6 mi long and connects South Padre Island to Port Isabel. The only bridge that connects them. It can be very busy on week-end afternoons during the summer and during Spring Break Texas Week.

Get around

By car

Ample parking is usually available at nearly all locations. Traffic is light to moderate most of the time, but Highway 100 through the city and across the causeway can be extremely slow during holidays and summer week-end afternoons. Rental car services are limited.

By bus

By foot or bicycle

The town is relatively small, so taking a bicycle would get you around most of the area within minutes. There is much to see and do in the few square blocks of the Lighthouse District. The Island Metro buses (free) make it convenient for visitors on foot to move between districts and to South Padre Island. Some Island Metro buses have bicycle racks. However, bicycle racks for parking bicycles are found at only few locations.

Go next

• Brownsville is a 20-minute drive west of Port Isabel and is home to many museums, art galleries, Gladys Porter Zoo, Mitte Cultural District, great local restaurants, bars, hotels, many oxbow lakes, bike trails, palm trees, several battlefield museums and will be the site for the new SpaceX facility.
• South Padre Island is a bridge away and offers a much vibrant scene, concerts, condominiums/hotels, beachfront restaurants, bars, Schlitterbahn Resort Waterpark, Gravity Park, dolphin watch, charter tours and splendid ocean views.
• Matamoros is directly across Brownsville. Generally considered safe to walk across the bridge to Garcia's Restaurant, bar & store. It is strongly recommended to go no further.