Live aboard South of Houston?

[darylat8750]

Hello and thanks in advance for your input.

I have Grand Children in San Antonio TX. The Boss thinks we should spend more time close to them. Our trawler draws 5 feet. In looking at the Galveston- Corpus Christy area it looks like an awful lot of skinny water and not many areas to anchor given my draft. We would like to mostly anchor in the spring but when it gets hot we would most likely want a marina to use the air conditioning. We will be price sensitive but would like a pool ect so the grand children would visit. Does anyone have recommendations of marinas, anchorages where there would be places to kite board and other water play using the trawler as home base?

Regards,
Daryl

[DueSouth]

The Houston Yacht Club is nice but pricey and not sure about there live aboard policy but try Freeport. The Freeport Municipal Marina is very affordable and allow live aboards. It's has plenty of amenities and restaurants near by.


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[darylat8750]

Thanks Due South

[RainDog]

Plenty of water for a 5' draft. Lots of good anchorages and lots of good cruising available from both areas you mention. Corpus has far less boats than Galveston area, so less crowded, but also less social activities. Here are a couple options to investigate:

Corpus Christi Municipal: Active social group here (look up Bay Yacht Club). Closest spot to San Antonio. Very low prices (<$300 month all included last I looked). Floating docks. Easy walk to restaurants and easy drive to shopping. Downside is the marina is a very busy area on the weekends. No Pool. 2 hour drive.

Bahia Marina, Ingleside: A bit of an odd place. Very close to Corpus. Some people adore this place. Lots of liveaboards. Very inexpensive. Downside is no hurricane protection. 2:15 drive.

Island Moorings Marina, Port Aransas: Port Aransas is a beach resort. Nice Pool. Shuttle to town. Tons for kids to do. Easy walk to beach. Floating docks. Good Hurricane hole. About $500 month all included. 2:45 drive from San Antonio.

Harborwalk Marina, Hitchcock: Near Galveston. Very nice facility. Great pools. Near Moody Gardens, which is a great place to anchor and bring the kids. 4 hour drive from San Antonio.

[ViribusUnitis]

Corpus Christi should diffidently be on the list of places to look. There are several marinas around Corpus Christi Bay that should be workable for a 44 foot trawler. The Corpus Christi Bay is easily deep enough for a 5" trawler to go just about anywhere.

Look at the Corpus Christi Marina. It's right near down town Corpus Christi, and is VERY nice. Restaurants, shopping, buses, the USS Lexington warship Museium, the Texas State Aquarium, a concert hall, baseball part, etc, the city is pretty much all there.

Marina

The Port Aransas Marina. It's basically in Port Aransas, which is an excellent little tourist town, with the typical Texas Island shops, restaurants, fishing, beaches, etc.

Port Aransas

The Bahia Marina & Dock Store is also worth a look.

Bahia Marina & Docks Store(361) 776-7295 - Home

Any of these should be roughly a 3 hour drive from San Antonio. Each has a somewhat different "flavor", and is worth looking at.

There are other marinas, but I just don't know much of anything about them. One would be the Island Moorings Marina on Mustang Island.

Island Moorings Marina Port Aransas Texas

The entire Corpus Christi Bay area is interesting for all sorts of water sports. Kite boarding, sailboat racing, fishing, beaches, food, on and on. I would easily argue that the beaches on Padre Island and Mustang Island are far superior to just about anything along Galveston or Matagorda.

However, due note that the Corpus Christi Bay tends to be windy.

[darylat8750]

Thanks guys. Good info.

[RainDog]

I forgot to mention: there is what looks like a very nice pool in the Corpus Christi Marina complex. I think it is part of the Corpus Christi Yacht club, but not 100% sure.