Headed down in a few weeks for our yearly trip with the rib and kiddo.

Wondering if I should bring our garden rake?

Anyone been in the last week or so?

I was down there 2 weeks ago and there was some on the beach but the water was good...

Was just there for Memorial Day weekend, not much seaweed on the beach at all and water was great. And - there are all new port-o-potties on the beach, like actual units, not those nasty wooden ones they had. Heard the city spent $40k to put the new ones in.

WooHoo! New crappers.

For anyone interested, just got back from Port A and the seaweed is BAD.

They were not even trying to doze it, as it would have been pointless to do so. We saw where they had started, pushing one pile over to the dunes and no more.

But it beats oil/tar.

Pretty much the same thing in Galveston...

Was at beach on North Padre Island Saturday morning. There is more sargasso weed than beach. If only all that sargasso weed was brain matter for the idiot BOR members that blew our opportunity to be in the SEC!

Headed down to Port Aransas this weekend!!! Planning on getting down there late late Thursday night and then spending Friday and Saturday on the beach before having to head back on Sunday.

Hopefully it clears up somehow over the week before we get down there.

Interesting note:

Talked with a lifeguard for a little bit while we were on the beach. I fish/wadefish every once in a while and have been hit pretty bad by a stingray. I asked him if they had issues on the beach with them at Port A. He said they deal with about 3-5 ray hits and a few Man O War stings every day. He mentioned that this is what they deal with mostly. He also said that when the seaweed is bad that the rays are worse, because they come in to get the little shrimp and crabs that live in the seaweed. Evidently they will follow it right up to shore because thats when the little critters bail out of it to stay in the water.

Be careful. I can assure you want nothing to do with rays, no matter the size. I also have seen a kid with a run in with a MOW, and the screams were painful to just hear.

Spent most of the day Friday and Saturday on the beach.....Seaweed was as bad as I have ever seen....probably 20 yards from the shoreline in at some areas. They were working to get it cleared, but there was just no way to keep up.

Saw a several Stingrays once you got 20 yards or so out in the water. Didn't really see any come in closer than that. Only saw one Jelly fish the whole time.

Even with the seaweed and rays, we had a great time down on the beach. My kids are still very little, 2 and 5, and they have a blast on the beach because they never have to wait in line for anything like you have to do at theme parks, etc.

Also, ate at Virginia's on the Bay and it was EXCELLENT! Ate also at Castaways, and while it was good, it wasn't near as good as Virginia's. I highly recommend it for anyone!

I have never been to Port A with clean beaches. We always carry rakes and clean the beach for our day camp. Everyone trys to park close where they can use our clean path to the beach.

[This message has been edited by fuzzyfan (edited 6/29/2010 4:30p).]

Just got back from Port A. I assume the storm will change things up but there was lots of seaweed on beach and in water and there were patches of sting rays that would swim by throughout the day.

Talked to some folks who just came back early this week and said Seaweed was as bad as they've ever seen it and they have been going for 40 years....

Know a family that returned on Friday who said it was very bad. We are heading down in two weeks with hope for a rapid reversal.

[This message has been edited by Bobaloo (edited 7/12/2010 10:28p).]

Any more recent updates?

I was in Port A last weekend, and the seaweed is horrible, its just hard for the city to keep up dozing all of it. Other than that, I got a good buzz, so I didn't mind it after a while.

"Christ almighty, it's like I'm sittin' here playing cards with my brother's kids or somethin' you nerve-wracking sons-of-b**ches."

Spent the weekend in Port A and Friday night the seaweed was stacked up pretty good. By Saturday morning they had removed it all from the area we sat up at. My group was very pleased with how well they did cleaning up the beach. Water was great, no rays, no jellyfish, and no SHARKS. All in all it was a great weekend.

Just returned. The seaweed level was more than tolerable. Hats off to the crew doing the removal. Our group maxed out on Reds in the bay on Saturday and one of the anglers also caught a very nice flounder.