I.B. Magee County Park in Port Aransas is going through some big changes this summer. After being nearly flattened by Hurricane Harvey in 2017, the Gulf-side park is back with a bang.
The Nueces County property runs along the beach for about a mile south, from the jetty to Beach Street and Horace Caldwell Pier. This portion of the beach does not require a city parking permit and is accented with pylons that separate vehicles from pedestrians. Small wooden cabanas provide shade and a picnic table for sun worshipers. A vendor rents beach chairs, umbrellas, and games in a designated area.
The 1,240-foot, lighted pier gets fishermen out past the waves. Open 24 hours during the summer months, entry costs $3 per person and $4 per fishing pole. Keepers, the snack bar and gift shop on the pier, also serves as a tackle shop and neighborhood bar on stilts.
Work is nearing completion on a new observation deck next to the concession stand. Once it opens later this summer, beachgoers will have a covered area to watch the clouds roll by and the big boats in the ship channel.
Construction projects behind the dunes are taking a little longer. The county RV park is redone and open again, but the three-story bathhouse, restrooms, and park office building won’t be finished until this fall or early next year.
Plans call for a new boardwalk from the RV park that will lead to a pond and birding blinds in the dunes. The wooden walkway will also provide access to the concrete World War II gun bunkers that protected the ship channel from a Nazi invasion that never came.
1,556th in a series. Follow “Day Trips & Beyond,” a travel blog, at austinchronicle.com/daily/travel.
This article appears in June 25 • 2021.
