Quintana Beach County Park

We left Galveston on November 4 and headed south off of the island. We crossed the bridge at San Louis Pass. This is a toll bridge, but it is only $2 for an vehicle including one with a trailer. We had a number of places we were thinking about, but no firm plans. My first choice was Quintana Beach Park, just south of Freeport. I had read reviews about this park and they were a bit mixed. Some good and some not so good.

The drive was only 44 miles to Quintana Beach. We pulled in and we really liked the feel of the place. We were also happy that they had an opening for the next week. They offer a weekly rate at $132, which is below our target of $20 per night. They have pull thru sites down the center of the park, but we liked the back ins on the outside of the loop. They told us it was for a 30 foot or smaller rig We looked at it and said we can fit and we did with ease. With our rear overhang behind the trailer tires, we can fit in a spot of about 30 feet. We even had plenty of room for the truck in the site, even though there is overflow parking right across the road. They have plenty of overflow parking spread around the park. We have good Verizon signal and 120 Houston OTA TV channels. We are set up in site 38. You can see our rig in the center of this picture behind the grey cargo trailer.

As you can see in the background, this is a busy port with lots of infrastructure and petrochemical storage and refineries. The good news is there is a constant breeze coming in off of the gulf and we have never smelled it. We do get to see ocean going ships come and go just a short distance from the park. This shot is taken from the side of the trailer.

The channel that leads into the port of Freeport is protected by two long rock jetties. These jetties are a great place to fish. I have already purchased my Texas fishing license, I think I am going to like this place.

Looking out into the gulf

Looking back from out on the jetty

Quintana Beach also has some history. This was the first Texas port that had to be defended during the civil war. It was also set up with gun emplacements during WW2. They have an 8 inch field gun set in one of those emplacements that is in the park.



Here is the field of view from the top of that hill. You can see the two jetty's protecting the ship channel.

They also have a fishing pier in the park. It looks like a good place to do some surf fishing without getting wet.

Speaking of fishing, I did not have any bait that first evening, so I decided to go do some spin casting along the ship channel and see what I might catch. Have you ever seen anything like this?

Look at those teeth

It is called a cutlass fish. They are shiny silver and have some very scary looking teeth. I ended up catching two of them. Very strange.

Kim told me that I should fish every day to get my monies worth from buying my fishing license. Man, I love that woman.

We originally had booked 7 nights, but now have extended it to 10. We really like this place, but we really like just about every place we go. In my next entry, I will write more about what we have found to do in this area. We also have a birthday to celebrate and an election to be decided while we are here. We also made some new friends. I am sure it will be a memorable few days.