• Aerial View of Padre Island National Seashore

    Padre Island

    National Seashore Texas

Boating

Bird Island Basin offers a boat ramp to provide access to the excellent boating and fishing waters of the Laguna Madre, one of the world's only hypersaline lagoons. You can get a daily pass to Bird Island Basin at the Entrance Station for $5.00 or an annual pass for $10.00.

Please help to protect this fragile resource by using a trolling motor or push pole, as the Laguna waters can be extremely shallow. By using a trolling motor or push pole, you can avoid scarring the sea grasses that are vital to the fish people catch in the Laguna and Gulf.

If you are interested in providing specific visitor services in the park, you are required to have a Commercial Use Authorization. Please follow the link or call the Ranger Activities Assistant's Office at 361.949.9239, Extension 33, for an application.

Did You Know?

A Kemp's ridley returns to the Gulf with a radio transmitter so that her travels outside of nesting season can be tracked.

Kemp's ridley sea turtles are both the smallest and the most endangered sea turtles in the world. Padre Island National Seashore is one of only a few places in the world where Kemp's ridley sea turtles come to nest. More...