Galveston

[PantsTent 2002]

11 minutes ago, tokamak said:

We're usually just looking for a nice, uncrowded place for my wife and I to sip beers and our kids to run around and build sand castles and stuff.

I know nothing about Galveston, but I don't see anything wrong with this kind of an afternoon.

[NeverMarryAStripper 21784]

I miss the old days when you could go down to the pier, buy a gallon of fresh just shucked oysters, take them back to the house, and eat yourself sick.

[phdhorn 6224]

6 hours ago, Turkleton said:

phd, you are one interesting dude. Why not just move there to Jamaica beach, or there about?

Bother has been living there for last five years. They love it.

I would love to.  But the wife has to be in Austin to work.  She's working about 10 more years to boot.

After I finish paying for phd jr. to muck around on the 40, I'm definitely looking into at least a place on the beach or something.

I can write really, really fast and effortlessly there (I mean, who the fuck can't?).  But alas, it'll have to wait awhile I think...

[RexWilson 1341]

Just got back from a quick fishing trip. Stayed in the channel and near the jettys.

 

Lunch was at Olympia and dinner at BLVD. Blvd was great. Dozen oysters and shrimp and grits. Then closed the night down at Woody's 

[Dewey 3284]

Shes nice out today

[El Diablo 4232]

On ‎6‎/‎29‎/‎2018 at 2:37 PM, tokamak said:

Despite living in Houston for 8 years now, I'm still a Galveston novice. We usually just take 61st straight over to the seawall and set up shop right there. Now I feel like I'm doing it wrong.

 

Learn me a little bit on the beaches. First post of this thread has a good suggestion. We're usually just looking for a nice, uncrowded place for my wife and I to sip beers and our kids to run around and build sand castles and stuff.

First rule of nice and uncrowded is go between end of September and first of March. Seriously, any day when the high temps are in the 70's and above, get out of Houston and go dig your toes in the sand. Take the ferry over to Bolivar if you really want to get away. Kids love riding the ferry, usually have a dolphin or two escorting the boat.

[huge 3789]

Those are porpoises. Generally.

[Kyrie Eleison 9312]

On 6/29/2018 at 2:37 PM, tokamak said:

Despite living in Houston for 8 years now, I'm still a Galveston novice. We usually just take 61st straight over to the seawall and set up shop right there. Now I feel like I'm doing it wrong.

 

Learn me a little bit on the beaches. First post of this thread has a good suggestion. We're usually just looking for a nice, uncrowded place for my wife and I to sip beers and our kids to run around and build sand castles and stuff.

Pocket Park 3 is what you're looking for.  park in the designated area and walk to the east and set up shop. 

Galveston Beach Access Map

[CoTex 1160]

I witnessed the performance of oral sex in a Honda Accord parked west of the Stewart beach McDonald’s on Monday of last week.

my favorite thing to do in Galveston is go for a 9am run on the Seawall, you’re guaranteed to see something.  I guarantee.

 

best beach - joe the umbrella guy in front of the galvez.

Best lunch - maceos but overpriced.

best dinner - casual bennos, nicer is Rudy paco.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Hate 20104]

best beach - joe the umbrella guy in front of the galvez.

This is correct. I’ll be there at the end of next week. We are spending a couple of nights at the Galvez.

[Saint Tacky 1610]

Spent every weekend and all my summers in Jamaica Beach when I was growing up.  My favorite lunch spot back then was the Sand Dollar, which was a pool hall/hamburger joint across the highway from Red's West End Grocery.  We would go out into West Bay with our own shrimp net and catch enough to last us a few days.  Big ones got boiled or fried, small ones were used as bait at night under the lights on our canal.  Learned how to surf during the winters on a surfboard I bought at Sunrise Surf Shop back when it was on 61st Street, adjacent to Offats Bayou.  Galveston was a great place to grow up back then.

Today, I try to avoid downtown or the Strand if I can.  Since they moved the courthouse closer to the end of the Causeway, I can't recall the last time I ventured down Broadway.  I second Bennos.  In fact, when I visit Houston at the end of the month I guarantee that my Dad will insist that I take him down there just for that.

[Zwylde 811]

On 7/8/2018 at 4:00 PM, huge said:

Those are porpoises. Generally.

 

Edited July 9, 2018 by Zwylde

[GRHorn 105]

Going back in a couple weeks.  Lived there for a few years in a loft just down Post Office from Mod.  Glad to hear it’s still up and running.  We’ll be having Rudy and Paco for our nice dinner.  Wanna do Benno’s too at some point.  Given the age of our kids, we will have to do the Pleasure Pier at some point.  I’m sure they’ll have fun so it’ll be worth it.  

[Not that Bob 735]

Dewey. Where'd you take that photo? I'd like to take my old man for one last trip. He went to UTMB. I was born at John Sealy. 

[Dewey 3284]

Dewey. Where'd you take that photo? I'd like to take my old man for one last trip. He went to UTMB. I was born at John Sealy. 

Place called By The Sea, we were replacing the old sliding glass doors.

[El Diablo 4232]

14 hours ago, Saint Tacky said:

 Sunrise Surf Shop back when it was on 61st Street, adjacent to Offats Bayou.  Galveston was a great place to grow up back then.

 

THAT is the Galveston of my teen years. 

[RollLeft 5040]

Spent a day here last weekend.  Had Benno's for the first time.  The service was typical of island life, no rush whatsoever.  The food was solid but I don't feel the need to go back before trying other places.  Fyi, the flounder was good but wasnt worth the price. 

[GRHorn 105]

45 minutes ago, RollLeft said:

Spent a day here last weekend.  Had Benno's for the first time.  The service was typical of island life, no rush whatsoever.  The food was solid but I don't feel the need to go back before trying other places.  Fyi, the flounder was good but wasnt worth the price. 

I used to go to Benno’s a lot when I lived there.  Cajun seafood platter FTW.  As a local we would hang out at Molly’s pub.  Where else is good to go out besides Yaga’s?

[Hate 20104]

I’ll be at the Galvez for a couple of nights this week. I’m looking forward to watching the kid toss his cast net into the ocean as I drink whisky on

the beach. Stop by, I’ll pour you a glass.

 

[Lat22 4007]

On 7/8/2018 at 4:00 PM, huge said:

Those are porpoises. Generally.

Nope. No such thing as a porpoise in a Texas waters. A fun fact I learned about 10 years ago. 

[huge 3789]

1 hour ago, Lat22 said:

Nope. No such thing as a porpoise in a Texas waters. A fun fact I learned about 10 years ago. 

That goes against what I have always heard.  Can someone with a degree in Ocean Biology chime in?

[Lat22 4007]

Is anybody here a marine biologist?

[phdhorn 6224]

My daughter is.  She said (to make a long story short) although the names can get confused, especially in the Gulf where often dolphins are mistakenly called porpoises, generally the porpoise is a much rarer find globally.  They tend to be more like small whales in their behavior, and there are only a few major species.  The most common like cold waters and are usually found around the Arctic Circle near the coasts (that would mean Canada, Alaska, Russia, the Scandinavian countries, northen Great Britain and across to Southern Greenland.  Another species mainly sticks to the northern North American coast, another off the Western coast of South America, and yet another in the colder waters of Western North America (Northern California up into Alaska).

Dolphins of course are much, much more ubiquitous and found just about everywhere on the globe.  

Most porpoises look more like a small gray killer whale than a bottle-nosed dolphin, although there is a porpoise species with a very long, narrow nose.

Anyway, you'll see dolphins galore in the Gulf, but no, not porpoises.  But that's not exclusive to Texas or the Gulf.  Porpoises have a much smaller habitat.

[Dewey 3284]

All I know is, when fishing and Flipper is swimming around you, go ahead and reel it in and.find a different spot. Sharks will fuck up your gear, you wont know flipper is there until seemingly every drop you get no bites and your bait is gone.

[phdhorn 6224]

Oh, she also said the Western Gulf has the highest concentration of Atlantic bottle-nosed dolphins per some measure or other of anywhere -uh- in the Atlantic basin(s).

[huge 3789]

mea culpa

I've been pedantically correcting people for my entire life. 

 

 

[Atxracer 797]

Haven't thought about Clary's for while but was going to recommend due to this thread.  Unfortunately, doesn't look like they ever made it back from the hurricane.  Man I loved that place.  Best gumbo, stuffed flounder and boiled shrimp ever. 

https://www.galvnews.com/news/article_e6d8c2a2-7d65-5c3d-a0ab-01dea89a0305.html

[gsoda3 3238]

Whoever recommended Mario's for Pizza thank you.

[TPCJ007 48]

Had a great meal at the Black Pearl tonight. Roxanne was our waitress and has a very strong Ukraine accent and did a great job.. Tomorrow it's Bennos after fishing.

[ScottishHorn 172]

Lots of eastern hot euros in Galveston from the cruise industry that just decided to stay

[UTCzech III 2903]

Just got back today, quick weekend trip.  Sunday, rolled in, time to kill before check in, did the walk-on ferry ride, do that every time we go.  Seemed really quick, maybe they were running at top speed since the line to get off the island was backed up all the way to the seawall.  Ran back to the other end of the island, hit up Jimmy's on the Pier for a beer right before check in.  (Somebody mentioned before on the Shag about all the Russian-Croatian-whatever exchange students or whatever on the island, yeah, nothing but at Jimmy's, weird, 2nd year-not in a row-we've seen that there...).  Finally check in, quick dip in the pool shared with the with the 4 parentsand their 15 kids , then a few pints at Galveston Island Brewery.  Never knew about that place, just googled it, love it, good beer, love the deck to watch the sun go down, cool spot.  Then down to Brews Bros for a late supper.  Burger was great, wife had fish tacos that she said "tasted like a finger", whatever that means, she wasn't a fan, too dark in there to tell what exactly was in them, but too froo-froo for her.  Otherwise not that impressed, been wanting to go there for years, thought the beer selection would be bigger.

Monday, all day at the beach, back to the pool around 4pm, then shower and off to Benno's, our every time stop.  Had the same platter as phd above, excellent as always, although the crab balls and hush puppies were just a little over-browned for me, on the edge of being burnt, and a little dry.  Wife had  dozen fried oysters and downed 'em all.  Then back to GI Brewing for a game of Quirkle and watch the sun go down, really like that place a lot.

Tuesday, lazy day, wife got me Shipley's for breakfast because I grew up on Shipley's and love it, so what?  Couple more hours at the beach, hit the pool to wash off, then short walk over to Tortuga's for some fruity cold drinks.  Shower time, then hit Shrimp n Stuff Downtown, which I didn't even know about until we got to town.  Had the shrimp n oyster po'boy, wife had shrimp gumbo, just as good as the original SnS, and again with all the eastern euro waitresses.  No, no keepers, these were probably Albanian.  Then over to the George Sealy Pavilion for the Tuesday night concert by the Galveston Beach Band, been doing that since our kiddos were in diapers, cannot beat it for old-school Americana, big-band music at dusk, some chick singing torch songs like she's on a cruise ship, two ladies reading a Galveston history lesson, and a flag parade for all the kiddos, it's the best.  Off to the Marble Slab on the way home, then pack up and headed back out this morning.

Beach was great, not too crowded, hardly any seaweed.  It was really choppy and strong undertow on Monday, windy as hell too, but yesterday was picture perfect, calm and no undertow at all, chilled out on the sandbar all afternoon.  Do it every couple of years, just go hang out, drink, eat seafood and recharge my batteries.  Love Galveston.

[TPCJ007 48]

Had a pretty good fishing trip. Got a slot red and a couple of trout and 4 sheephead before heading out a bit and hooking up with 7 spinner sharks, all between 5 and 7 foot.

Lunch was fried shrimp at Bennos (always good) and dinner  was at the Cajun Greek. It was my first time at Cajun Greek and thought it was very good.

Side note: one of the fishing captains recommended marinading the shark in liquid margarita mix and then grill it, he said the lime-lemon juice helps make it great. Has anyone here tried this?

[ChickenSandwich 9810]

On 7/17/2018 at 8:37 PM, TPCJ007 said:

Had a great meal at the Black Pearl tonight. Roxanne was our waitress and has a very strong Ukraine accent and did a great job.. Tomorrow it's Bennos after fishing.

Bennos is very solid, but you will be disappointed if you eat there after the pearl. 

[TPCJ007 48]

9 minutes ago, ChickenSandwich said:

Bennos is very solid, but you will be disappointed if you eat there after the pearl. 

I've been to Bennos before and think it's a pretty solid lunch spot for fried shrimp when coming off 6 hours fishing with 2 teenage boys, so it worked out well and you're darn right about Black Pearl being a great spot.

[Hate 20104]

At the bar at the Galvez. Hitting the beach all day tomorrow before deciding where to go for dinner tomorrow night. I think we are leaning towards Benno’s.

[Dewey 3284]

Love the Cajun Greek, was trying to get a friend to go last weekend, she decided we should get some shrimp and cook at home. Good and all, bit I wanted some.fried river chicken.

[phdhorn 6224]

8 hours ago, Hate said:

At the bar at the Galvez. Hitting the beach all day tomorrow before deciding where to go for dinner tomorrow night. I think we are leaning towards Benno’s.

My daughter's bf works there (Galvez).  Tip any male waiter you get $100 just to be sure.  Then I don't have to send them money this month. Thank you. 

Edited July 19, 2018 by phdhorn

[elfenix 34205]

13 hours ago, TPCJ007 said:

Side note: one of the fishing captains recommended marinading the shark in liquid margarita mix and then grill it, he said the lime-lemon juice helps make it great. Has anyone here tried this?

probably better just to marinade in lime and salt. 

[Irwin F Fletcher 3550]

Spent the week of July 4th down on the west end. Another great week down in Galveston, though the water was pretty rough up until the Friday (the day we left).

Took the kids out on a fishing charter to the jetties, they had fun catching baby sharks and hardheads. We had two keepers (shark) and ended up frying and grilling them for fish tacos. They were excellent. Soaked the filets in whole milk overnight. Made a beer batter for half the meat, grilled the rest after seasoning with s&p, old bay and lemon juice. Grilled up perfect.

We hit up Nate's once for dinner as it's now a tradition with the kids. Food was still good. Grabbed some steaks and dogs from the grocery next door for dinner on the 4th. All in all, we ate well once again. Only disappointment, we weren't very successful in our crabbing this year.

[gsoda3 3238]

irwin that looks awesome.  we were there around the same time, stayed on the west end also.  there are never enough meals to eat everywhere i want.  

 

where did you go crabbing?  we usually take the ferry to the north jetty but we had a bunch of kids in tow so we went to the crabbing pier at surfside beach.  underwhelming, but all the kids survived and we didn't have to get up too early.

[Irwin F Fletcher 3550]

We have a few crabbing spots around the Pointe West resort/condo area. I've also been successful running lines on the gulf side when the water is calm.

Photos below are from past years. I was in heaven eating crab all week those times (family can only stand breaking them down and eating in one seating). This year, basically caught five keepers. To rough in the Gulf and mosquitoes were driving the kids crazy on the bay side.

[Dewey 3284]

Always heard shark, king fish, etc, if you're into that sort of fish, butter milk over night.

[Underdog 28491]

On 7/17/2018 at 7:56 AM, Lat22 said:

Nope. No such thing as a porpoise in a Texas waters. A fun fact I learned about 10 years ago. 

Like to prove that, wouldn’t you?  Get your name in the National Geographic...

[Hate 20104]

At Benno’s now. They ran out of the Cajun Crab so I had to order the Cajun platter. Eagerly awaiting delivery.

[huge 3789]

Always heard shark, king fish, etc, if you're into that sort of fish, butter milk over night.

Even like that kings aren’t that good.

Blast to catch though.

[gsoda3 3238]

7 hours ago, Irwin F Fletcher said:

We have a few crabbing spots around the Pointe West resort/condo area. I've also been successful running lines on the gulf side when the water is calm.

Photos below are from past years. I was in heaven eating crab all week those times (family can only stand breaking them down and eating in one seating). This year, basically caught five keepers. To rough in the Gulf and mosquitoes were driving the kids crazy on the bay side.

yeah those are good looking hauls.  we didn't get much of anything at all.  6 keepers in 45 minutes.  also you're right.  the mosquitoes this year are fierce, especially on the bay side.  had several bites go through clothing. 

[Dewey 3284]

Even like that kings aren’t that good.

Blast to catch though.

Kings are fucking terrible.

[huge 3789]

9 hours ago, Dewey said:

10 hours ago, huge said:

Even like that kings aren’t that good.

Blast to catch though.

Kings are fucking terrible.

[MaybeACoordinator 8349]

On 6/29/2018 at 11:50 AM, BottleRocket said:

Do you know why girls don't drink beer on the beach?.... they get sand in their Schlitz.   ba-doom-ding ... Seriously though, How is your laptop not getting destroyed by all of that windblown salt air and sand?

One hotel not being mentioned is the Harbor House at Pier 21.  I stayed there last week and the rooms are very nice and the location provides quick access to all the restaurants near the Strand.  

Ex wife and I once gave a cruise ship an unintentional floor show when it sailed past our room with its portholes at eye level while we were in our room banging on top of the covers. Good times. 

[GRHorn 105]

Got back yesterday.  Stayed at Pointe West.  Had a great time, although we missed out on Rudy and Paco because they wouldn’t let me 9 year old son in with khaki shorts on. 

I will say for all golfers here the Moody Gardens course (old muni) was a pleasant surprise.  I hadn’t played there in over a decade, but the course from tee box to greens was in freaking immaculate condition. I was really impressed.