Is Texas a good place to cruise/liveaboard?

[BonesD]

Whataburger used to be the place until they sold out to a Chicago firm.
I love the patty melt on Texas Toast.

[kvstein]

Corpus Christi Bay is a wonderful place to sail. Warm and windy nearly year round. It is great for day sailing and racing, but gunk holing not so much. There are now modest accommodations for live aboards at the city marina. trust me the Gulf ICW is not the Atlantic ICW. There are few services especially along the lower coast.

About the rigs. Most are well lit, but I have never made a trip to Houston without seeing an unlit rig. They are so large that you can see them in the moonlight. On a dark night I would stay in the safety fairways.

Good luck and see you soon.

[Cayuse51]

Having raced and cruised in Texas for more than 40 years, I would say there are so many better places to cruise on a sailboat than here, but if you are looking for place to park your boat and go to work, it is an inexpensive place to do that. Also, Whataburger is still the best hamburger place.

[4eyes]

Why have hamburgers when you can have tacos al pastor?

[BobHorn]

If I was relocating to the Gulf Coast I would not pick TX. You would be much better of, as far as sailing goes, to pick a place east of the Mississippi. That opens up sailing and cruising areas all the way to FL. We live just north of Houston and keep our boat in Clear Lake because it is close and the boat needs lots of work. With a previous boat we considered moving it to a marina on Lake Pontchartrain, about a six hour car ride.

[dwightsusan]

Sailing and cruising the Texas Gulf Coast since 1950, often living aboard, sometimes living in a deepwater canal home, at times commuting back and forth from other states. with the great majority of my time in the immediate Corpus Christi area. Yes! It's a good place to cruise/liveaboard. Plusses: Lowest cost of living in the U.S. for an active boater, for a liveaboard, or for a canal front home owner. Lowest marina rates. Limited, but adequate marina liveaboard slips. Deep water canal front homes for as little as $400-500K. Low cost repair yards widely accessible. Overall cost of living among the lowest in the U.S. Year around sailing/cruising season. Predictable moderate to strong winds. Reasonable access to Tampico/Vera Cruz/Isla Mujeres. Deep water in Corpus Christi Bay and quick deep ship channel access to the Gulf. Direct access to the IC Waterway as it passes through Corpus Christi Bay. Interesting Corpus Christi Bay stops to the south, Snoopy's/Doc's/Marker 37/ Kennedy Causeway; to the east, Port Aransas/Island Moorings/Ingleside; and to the west, the City of Corpus Christi. Strong Hispanic presence with good color, good culture, good art, good music, and great food, especially "Tex Mex" and fresh seafood. Great inshore and offshore fishing. A Whataburger on every corner. HEB groceries. Minuses: Hurricane season. Hot humid summers. Mosquitos. Cruising limited to up the coast/down the coast. East across the Gulf to Florida difficult by virtue of headwinds and short coupled steep seas complicated by abundant oil rigs in the Mississippi River Delta. Minimal community of cruisers/liveaboards/sailors/racers. Heavy commercial traffic in the Corpus Christi Ship Channel/IC Waterway. Some parts of the area polluted by very active petrochemical industry.

[valhalla360]

Haven't cruised there but spent 3 months in the RV over the winter in the area. Seems a great place to winter cruise, especially with a shallow draft boat.

Summer, no thanks but I wouldn't do the east coast south of Virginia either in the summer.

[AKA-None]

Don’t forget that down south they have wonderful poisonous snakes in large quantities that don’t exist up north:-)

[Be Free]

Originally Posted by BonesD

Whataburger used to be the place until they sold out to a Chicago firm.
I love the patty melt on Texas Toast.

+1 They used to be a treat.

[BonesD]

Poisonous snakes are a bonus.

[conchaway]

Any place is good as long as you don't bring your Yankee ideas with you.

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by BonesD

Poisonous snakes are a bonus.

Cuts down on unwanted guests! [emoji6]

[DMF Sailing]

Originally Posted by AKA-None

Don’t forget that down south they have wonderful poisonous snakes in large quantities that don’t exist up north:-)

Do they have white sharks that don't realize you aren't a seal until they "touch" you?

There are natural hazards everywhere. Same with hurricanes. A nor'easter with 60-70 knot winds may not take off your mask, but it'll rip you off your mooring and cover you in snow (and they can happen in spring, too). One year, the surge tide took an entire marina dock up over the pilings and down the other side, leaving the boats tied on to the dock.. what's the word... messed up. And you can't sail on ice. None of that matches the force of a powerful hurricane, but you get a few each winter. AND the odd hurricane.

[DMF Sailing]

Originally Posted by conchaway

Any place is good as long as you don't bring your Yankee ideas with you.

I've been waiting for this response.

I've been all over, and in countries with real civil wars. I get along with people anywhere in the United States, and I still believe in the idea that it's one country.

And I've thoroughly enjoyed all my trips to Texas that were on land. Friendly people, great food, lots of variety.

Plus all sailors, even when we don't agree about everything, see things the same way when it comes to what we love to do for leisure. We have to: Wind, wave, tide, physics, geometry, metal, GRP, and salt water don't care what you think.

So I imagine Texas and I would get along.

[pictured: If I could fit in with these guys...]

[Mickeyrouse]

For most of us here who don’t know any better, we think it’s great. I’ve been cruising Coastal Texas for 45 years- (on our way to Corpus docked in Freeport waiting for a front to pass at present.) There are several fabulous bays that any serious cruiser wouldn’t want to miss- I’ve done ‘em all except Baffin Bay, an omission not to be corrected. In many ways though it’s not serious cruiser friendly. Since most cruising is either off the grid or marina-to-marina, there’s not a real mooring field or dinghy dock between Brownsville and Orange- almost 400 miles. Offatts Bayou at Galveston may be the only exception, just barely.
If you’re like most cruisers and can keep your boat functioning without much hired help, you’ll be okay. But if you need services, that’s almost exclusively on Galveston Bay, with some amount at Corpus. Likewise for marine stores. Since the internet has decimated all forms of store retail, West Marine- after eliminating all the independent competition- is closing stores as well.
It is not any more accessible to the Caribbean than Florida- you have to go east to get there. The upper coast is not any closer to the Yucatán than Pensacola, though the Gulf Gyre can slow you coming from there.
As far as offshore sailing goes ( I’ll point out that north of Galveston is the Bolivar Peninsula and the Bay, of which neither East nor West Bay branches are deep enough for sail interest) unused platforms, well heads, and standpipes are being removed by a push from the Texas Land Office and Texas Railroad Commission, making the Gulf more open than I’ve seen it in my life. There are still unlit obstructions ( a bone-chilling experience to pass in the night) but there are a lot fewer. Much coastal cruising is via the GIWW. Be forewarned that 70% of all Ditch tonnage is carried within Texas, which has only 40% of the waterway mileage. HEAVY traffic indeed.
Living aboard is yet another facet of the question. We lived on our boat for a couple years at Kemah on Galveston bay, and felt welcome by both management and neighbors. But I know that other marinas in Texas do not. And many I wouldn’t want to spend the night at unless I had to.
Many liveaboards, and most cruisers, don’t have ground transportation. Corpus has an Okay bus system. Houston’s doesn’t get outside the city limits- none of any kind in most of the communities around G-Bay except Galveston proper. If Uber can fill your needs, you’re okay.
A decision to live aboard in Texas must also consider the general attributes of Texas versus anywhere else. You need to experience a Texas summer. And don’t think it’s always a balmy winter haven for snowbirds- surely you’ve heard about our February freeze, right? Then there’s hurricane season. Looking at the NOAA historical storm tracks, Texas doesn’t get any more than other Gulf states. But we get our share- we had to prep for two major hurricanes within 6 weeks last season. Our boat sank in one several years ago.
People on land are foolish for “ riding them out”, and many pay the big price. Liveaboards who ride them out are even more foolish, but no doubt driven by no place to go and watching over their floating home, take their chances afloat.
So- would I recommend living aboard in Texas? We’ve cruised the entire east coast Brownsville to Cutler Maine and back. Some of the bays are drop-dead gorgeous in their uniquely Texas way. I encourage you to visit it for sure, but make your decisions with open eyes.