
The Ballí Saga on Padre Island Reminds Us That the Little Man Can Win
Cecilia Ballí recalls reporting on her family’s legal victory over the lawyer who swindled the Ballís out of lucrative land rights on Padre Island.
Cecilia Ballí recalls reporting on her family’s legal victory over the lawyer who swindled the Ballís out of lucrative land rights on Padre Island.
Patching it cost the state $1.6 million. Many others are similarly falling into disrepair, and the agencies charged with their oversight are doing nothing about them.
As the state started shutting down, one man took to the coast in search of a different kind of solitude. And seashells.
Texas offers some of the most-diverse fishing in the country—from stalking monster sharks on Padre Island to fly-fishing from a kayak on the remote Pecos River. And for three months, I got to try it all.
Even though it's legal for property owners like me to be there, it's not the right thing to do.
The missive was part of a 1962 study that attempted to track the flow of ocean currents.
For years my relatives have claimed that they were robbed of oil and gas royalties on Padre Island. Last May a Brownsville jury agreed, vindicating—for now—the family’s proud heritage and proving that, sometimes, the little guy does win.
The birds of High Island. The wilderness of Matagorda Island. The untamed beach of Boca Chica. These and other hidden treasures await you-if you know where to look.
A new gambling-cruise-ship enterprise out of Port Isabel makes it possible to spend an evening in a casino while going nowhere in the Gulf.
An early castaway described Padre Island as “a wretched, barren sandbank.” It’s better known today as the Gold Coast of Texas, but its identity is still rooted in wildness and age-old solitude.
Discover another side of the Texas coast—its peerless beachcombing, legendary beer joints, odd birds (feathered and otherwise), and lovable year-round scruffiness.
Between watching girls and getting a great tan, lifeguards occasionally have to save lives.
Grab your beach towel and bathing suit, but leave your car in the garage.
Cuddling up to a thousand pounds of ravenous hunger.