Port Arthur is Texas, Outdoors

Fishing for fun? Trout, flounder and redfish seem to be always biting in 14-mile Sabine Lake. Charter a boat or launch into more than 60,000 acres no deeper than 8 feet, set in two states. It’s actually a bay on the Texas-Louisiana border that is tournament-worthy. Anglers call Port Arthur the Flounder Capital of Texas.

Pleasure Island awaits on the other side of the Martin Luther King Bridge. From there, soak up Intercoastal Canal Waterway views and check out tankers headed to the port, disc golf and Pleasure Island Marina’s 300 floating slips. Fish from kayaks and the boardwalk, levees, lighted piers, boat launches and the Walter Umphrey State Park. The S.A.L.T. Club and Port Arthur Yacht Club are authorities on our coastal flair. Spot pelicans and feel sea breezes on Pleasure Island’s boardwalk as you view marshy grasses as the waters of Sabine Lake.

Enjoy Port Arthur for a couple of days so you can also hit highlights including Our Lady of Guadalupe Shrine, J.D. Murphree Wildlife Management area and the lotus, fruit and bamboo gardens at Buu Mon Buddhist Temple. Lakeshore Drive offers views of historic homes including Rose Hill, the A.J.M. Vuylsteke Home and Pompeiian Villa. The Villa was once owned by a barbed-wire king and is available for touring. Take a seawall drive to scope giant tankers and barges that keep the Port of Port Arthur flowing with commerce.

Port Arthur is home to rock queen Janis Joplin, whose story can easily take a little piece of your heart. She owned a Porsche as colorful as her personality an a replica is on view at Museum of the Gulf Coast. Take a driving tour that includes her childhood home.

Work up an appetite after exploring our wild side, then relax with some of Port Arthur’s famous flavors from crawfish and gumbo to barbecue, Vietnamese and Tex-Mex. You know boudain, right? Cajun influence and seafood is abundant. You might catch some live music while you enjoy a local brew and – if the season is right – a seasoned crawfish boil. If you haven’t learned how to peel a mudbug, we’ll teach you!

Visitors often travel to the Museum of the Gulf Coast specifically to see the Janis Joplin homage, then leave thrilled to discover wide variety of musicians this area inspired to produce country, rock, swamp pop, blues, gospel, classical and hip hop masterpieces. Tex Ritter, Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, George Jones and The Big Bopper – of “Chantilly Lace” fame – are honored, along with sports legends including Jimmy Johnson, Bum Phillips and Olympian “Babe” Didrickson Zaharias.

We can’t wait to “Sea Ya” in Port Arthur. Download our free birding and waterway guides. For more ideas on fun on how you’ll #LovePortArthurTx and enjoy #flavorsofPATX, www.visitportarthurtx.com