Edwin King Atwood Park — Attraction in Port Isabel

I went with my family on Friday 7/20/2018 and left on Saturday night, so my review/information is based on this. This is at beach Access 5, i was told by an employee over the phone that you can get to it from beach Access 6 ..but i did not even need to try, so I’m not sure. When you enter the park, you cannot DRIVE to the right, that’s for day use only and the police go and run you off around 730. To the left you can drive the beach, camp and set up canopies. The beach, restrooms & pavilion were clean. LOVED camping out here. $12 to get in during business hours. Idk what time they open, but they close at 7pm and if you take back their yellow trash bag by closing you get $2 back. You can get in before and after business hours for free. This place gets packed and high traffic (in and out) around closing time so be careful with crossing the “street.” There are about 3 different vendor vans that sell snacks(nachos, ice cream, elotes etc) and about 2 that sell different tubes, ice, sandwich supplies, sunscreen and a few other supplies. (some take card but some do not) They have plenty of trash bins along the dunes. Took a star off for no port-a-potty’s on the beach (RR gets locked and showers get turned off at 930p & opens up at 8 am) as well as for being told on the phone, by a park employee, that there were INDOOR actual showers AND outdoor rinse ones, but there ended up being only the outdoor rinse ones. (I saw everyone showering in their bathing suits outside & w/soap anyways) there were 4 men and 4 women spacious restrooms with a bench in each one, for changing I assume. There is a wait for the restrooms, as the beach gets really packed. The new pavilion is nice and they have many picnic tables on it. There are 3 bbq grills at the front of the pavilion by the parking lot, which is when you first enter and pass the ticket booth. You can bbq on the beach but no bbq pits on the pavilion. People do stay up late here so it can be noisy. Also I suggest getting a chair or something to make a perimeter in front of your campsite, bc people will park RIGHT next to your tent/canopy. There are no jetties at this location, but plenty of people were fishing, especially overnight. Overall, I recommend this beach to camp at or to use...

It's a nice part of the Island. Not too crowded. Decently clean, too. It was patrolled as well. We were in the area where you can take your car right on the beach. That can get a little nerve-wracking if you have small children and pets that are likely to bolt. There's some bathrooms nearby but I didn't really go there so I can't speak for the cleanliness. I did hear they were a bit crowded but that's not surprising. Expect to lose signal. We did though I heard some carriers still got some service. If you leave before 7pm and take the trash bag given to you, filled with your trash, at the end of the day you are refunded $2 from your entrance fee (we paid $12, I believe). It's a nice incentive, though it does slow traffic leaving quite a bit. If you don't want to get caught waiting too long in line, then either leave earlier or leave later. We stayed there past nightfall (got to see the Space X satellites pass overhead 😁) and I'd say the rush ended at around 8:30-9pm. Definitely...

The convenience of the showers, bathrooms and tables are nice and it's what always draws us back, but for $12 - $14 it would be nice if they could turn on all shower heads aswell as the ones going down the ramps. There was a wedding that took place at the picnic tables, some guys came and saved a whole section, I felt I was intruding on what should have been an intimate moment and my family ended up crammed into one table. The guys that set the blue umbrellas and chairs up for a fee to use were a pretty big nuisance. They set everything up and blocked all the spots closets to the access points of the ramps without any regards to the paying costumers wanting to set up on the beach. They get there pretty early and leave pretty late so they don't give anyone a chance to get closer spots. And then there was some weird guy that sat so close to us he was in the shade of our umbrella 🤦 I'd rather just splurge on a...