By:
Submission
From I-37 north or south, north of Corpus Christi, take exit 4-A south onto TX-358 east and stay on this route (South Padre Island Drive) and see signs to NAS Base entrance before crossing the bay to Padre Island. This goes through the gate to the NAS. Stay on this street to the second stop sign and turn right on Ocean Drive. This will take you right into the RV Camp. When you get to the campground entrance, make a right turn to check-in at the marina.
The beach is beautiful and the campsites are right on the waterfront (my listed campsite was actually in the water, but they let us pick whichever spot we wanted). The grass was overgrown, but they mowed it for us right away.
There were two downsides, the first is that the campsite is not well defined, so trucks would drive up next to us and park to go fishing. There was a gravel drive area, but some pulled right up on the grass next to our tent which was a bit uncomfortable.
The second is the bathrooms are incredibly humid and buggy, it felt difficult to get clean when getting swarmed by mosquitoes in the showers. The community center did have bathrooms and was temp controlled so a nice place to escape the heat for a bit.
We stayed here at NAS Corpus Christi for two weeks to visit the area. The park is pretty good sized and the sites are spaced apart nicely with concrete pads for the many of them. The utilities worked all as they should. The WiFi is weak but ok if you don't need alot. The park need's a lot of TLC. We never went into the laundry or bathroom buildings so cannot say anything about those. We stayed in Park B along the bay in site 84 and it was just long enough for our 45' coach with room to park the jeep beside. We would stay here again if we are in the area.
This is our first RV park experience, and it was awesome! I highly recommend this park. We have a 40' 5th wheel and had a pretty easy time pulling in and out. Mind you, this is the largest trailer I've ever moved with my truck, and I'm a 1st time RV owner.
I would not recommend tent camping here. They advertise 8 tent sites, but its just an open field next to the water where all the fisherman go and half the "marked" tent sites were washed away years ago. Upon arrival the grass was a few feet tall and not a place to set a tent. The critters had time to move in and the bugs were horrible. The MWR staff was nice and responsive and came out to mow, but this is something that should have been done before our arrival. We ended up having to move our stuff to another tent site. The tent area is open to fisherman, and people were even driving up with headlights and fishing at night right next to our area. They need to have a better designated tent site with separate parking and each site needs a picnic table at the least. The bathrooms have locks with a code, but the numbers have been worn off and you have to guess which buttons are which numbers, this is even harder for children to use the bathroom.
We travel in a truck camper, pulling an enclosed car hauler with our Subaru, kayaks, bicycles, fishing gear, TV, carpet, outdoor livingroom furniture, and dirty clothes hamper inside the trailer. Unbelievably, we were confronted about parking our enclosed car hauler on the pad. The camp host said it was against policy, and we had to park the trailer about a half mile away. I told the host that I would take the issue up with MWR in the morning. I read the rules and met with the manager and pointed out two conflicting rules about trailers, and recommended adding an exemption for truck campers. I also reported that the 110 outlet did not work (and was not repaired while we were there). He deferred the decision to the director, whom I invited to our camp to discuss their rule and see our setup first hand. We were told twice that the director would come visit. We stayed there for three weeks and never saw the director, and the trailer was never mentioned again.
Considering the winds that routinely havoc that area, the idea of not allowing trailers on RV pads is preposterous. As long as all equipment fits and is not on the grass is all that should matter. One would think that storage and security of personal belongings and equipment would be paramount. We were constantly storing our gear in the trailer due to the winds, and the trailer kept our camp neat and organized. We believe that MWR leadership should review their rules and ask themselves why they have that rule.
Happy trails fellow travelers.
