the beach today
Gulf Coast Guide

Port Aransas

Island Time

Everything for a day on Mustang Island, conditions, drive-on beach parking, the harbor sunset and where to eat after the gulf sand.

Today on the Sand

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Water Temp

84°

warm · gentle surf

UV Index

9

very high · 10am–4pm

Beach Crowd

Busy

holiday weekend

Beach Toolkit

Beach Conditions

Surf, tides & water temp

Parking Finder

Drive-on beach, permits & lots

Harbor Sunset

Ship-channel sunset & live cam

Dining

Gulf shrimp, fish tacos & more

Things to Do

Dolphin watch & deep-sea fishing

Events

What's on this week

Pick Your Sand

north to south

I.B. Magee Beach Park

County park by the jetty · pier & showers

Free · no permit

Port Aransas Beach

18 miles of drive-on gulf sand

$12 annual permit

Horace Caldwell Pier

1,200-ft fishing pier over the gulf

Pier fee

Mustang Island State Park

5 miles of quiet dunes & sand south

State park · $5

Roberts Point Park

Ship-channel dolphins & observation tower

Free · harbor side

San Jose Island

Uninhabited 'St. Jo' · boat-in shelling

Jetty Boat only

Dolphin Cruises

Open →

Compare daily sails from the marina — wild dolphins on nearly every trip.

Beyond the Beach

day trips

Corpus Christi

35 min south

USS Lexington, the aquarium & the bayfront

Rockport

45 min north

Art-town harbor, Fulton & whooping cranes

Aransas Pass

Free ferry

Mainland shrimp docks across the channel

Padre Island NS

50 min south

70 miles of wild national-seashore beach

see you on the sand

Water temp, surf and UV are live from NOAA & Open-Meteo; sunset is computed locally for Port Aransas. Crowd level is a weekday/weekend estimate.

Right now at Port A, the water is 86°F, surf is running 2–3 ft and the air is 87°F but feels like 95°F. Wind is 13 mph from the ENE and the UV index peaks at 6 (high) today. Unprotected fair skin burns in about 44 minutes right now, and the strongest stretch runs 1 PM to 3 PM. Today’s tides: High 2:07 AM, Low 2:20 PM.