The Top Five Things NOT to do for Spring Break at South Padre Island
read about the stuff you should stay away from!

Spring Break 2005
Que Padre?

Another great social event on the infamous South Padre Island, the hidden jewel of the Texas coast. Each year students descend upon this far-away sandspit. Sometimes the weather can suck, with fog and chill because of spring temperature conditions, but usually there are blue sky daze and no worries. The water is usually chilly this time of year, because of the remnants of winter, but it's comfortable enough for a swim and often a pick-me-up to jump in after drinking on the beach all day. Although, don't try to swim if there are waves.

The rip currents are predictabley dangerous during spring. If the wind starts cranking out of the northeast, or has been already, then don't go in too deep. But even if there are no killer currents out there, it's still dangerous to swim while wasted...it just makes sense.

Each year is so much like the last. From mid-day and into late afternoon hours, the universtiy students gather in front of the Radisson resort. There are a few activity tents set up, and a stage. Most people just drink and carve stuff in the sand. Or just schmooze and stumble around between different keg stands. After a few hours of this, the crowd will migrate to the stage and cram themselves for a better view of the dance competition. After the girls wiggle it for some schwag, the beach usually breaks out into chaos. But the last few years, the police have started clearing the area immedietely after the event and force everyone to move on.

Then it's time to go back to the hotel, closet space, or tent and drink some more as students prepare for the night life. If they don't pass out first. The clubs are open and welcome the crowds with plenty of rum for hurricane specials...

Spring Break 2004

The crowd started building during the weekend of the 6th. By Sunday the place was crammed with cars cruising up and down the strip. It's mostly the upper valley high school kids that are causing the massive infestation of thumping car stereos. A short hop to the east and you'll see empty beaches. A few kids from Illinois, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Jersey and Minnesota have settled in for the week. It seems like not many of them made it here, but it is just an illusion. They are lost amidst the local high school 'cruisers' and are also playing their drinking games in the hotels, as the skies are cloudy. Sunday evening comes and all the thumping car stereos head at once to perform the yearly gridlock ritual on the bridge.
Monday brings an awesome day! The day's temperature never leaves the seventites mark, and the sun is shining bright. Put your sunscreen on, grab some shades and let's hit the beach!

A local resident told me yesterday that this was a slow spring break. "Any time you can drive over the bridge...then it's a slow one", he said.
Traffic has been a little bit better than in the past, mostly due to the nearby high schools releasing their students one week prior to Texas colleges. A great decision. Now, the traffic doesn't start to get out of control until around 4:30 p.m..
The nightly scene of cars and pedestrians interacting leaves one to conclude that the coolest people are not to be found in a car. They are stumbling from nightclubs to a free breakfast tent, and eventually back to the hotels. All with no more than sandals for transportation.
This upcoming weekend will surely have the bridge locked up tight as Texas schools head home, the next round comes down and the local valley residents mingle in-between. Local island residents may have been blessed with less than catastrophic traffic for the week, but if you walk up and down the beach, you will see it is by no means a slow spring break.

Texas Week comes to a close and the crowd bursts to a tremendous level. The weekend of March 20, and the 21st bring all sorts of people. The remaining Texas college kids mingle with the next group of students, lots of locals and even visitors from northern Mexico. For the most part, everyone gets along just fine and the beach is one huge party.. But where there is a tremendous party, one will find at least a few party crashers. A bottle throwing fight occurs on the beach late Saturday afternoon. One person is hurt and lots of people vacate the beach hastily. Just as police gather their forces, the near-riot subsides and ends

Following the unusually busy weekend, the next round of university students settles in and mild beach parties are once again the normal scene. Students carve pits out of the sand and entrench their days supply of beer, then post a flag to stake their claim. Some continue carving until the result is a sand sofa or jacuzzi, others prepare mermaids out of their object of affection, and on one account a living sculpture of a horny hermaphrodite midget chuggin' on a beer bong.
The weather is nice, just as it has been nearly the whole time. Only a few showers creep in during the entire month. This new week, in a way, is just like the one before. Most notable are the piercings and tattoos, followed by the Damien Rice crooked hat style as well the large presence of cowboy hats. The inventive techinques for alcohol consumption are less concerned with style, except for the one guy that drank from a hollow flamingo. It looked like he was drinking right from it's..well, just look for the picture.