CAMPSITE REVIEW: Bolivar Flats, TX

Cost: Free
Hookups: None
Dump/Water On-site: None
Amenities: None
GPS: 29.3776819,-94.727526

Beautiful beach camping. Unfortunately, we were only able to stay one night in late February 2019. The weather was beautiful for that one day and we were able to enjoy our free beach spot. However, the next day a front came through and high tide was very high, so we ended up going to a nearby RV park where it was dry. We were very disappointed, but the weather turned bad for the next week and there is no way our solar could have kept up with no sun for that long. Next time we will take a closer look at the weather and try to time it for better conditions. The area is very easy to get to, straight down the highway and turn on Retillion Road. When you hit the beach, the free camping is the to the left which is where we went. The permit camping is to the right. The beach is the same on either side. They don’t start selling permits at the stores daily until March 1. Before that, I think you either get a permit through the mail or the Big store in town sells them on certain days of the week. We stayed on the free side since we did not have a permit. We did walk both sides and there was not much difference between the free and permit side. Everybody parks near the sand dunes. Make sure to check out the tide maps to determine how high tide will get. If the tide is going to be high and you decide to stay, I would recommend positioning your rig to where you can hook up and leave without turning around. You can drive down the beach and go down any road to prevent turning around, but there was a huge washout when we were there, so we had to turn around and go back the way we came. Made things a bit more precarious even waiting for low tide to leave due to the windy conditions. The beach is hard packed sand, so you shouldn’t have any issues. Leveling is difficult since your levelers dig into the sand immediately, but we made it work. Wood would probably work better than traditional levelers. There is some noise from others driving too fast and doing donuts on the beach, but most of that died down in the evening and we were left with the sound of the waves. It was chilly when we were there, so we did have to shut the door later in the evening, but you could still hear the waves. We were not able to find water or a dump. Didn’t matter since we were only able to stay one day. I called around and only one of the RV parks on the island allowed water fills and dump and it was $15 each time or $20 if you filled and dumped on the same trip. We would have needed to fill and then dump later which would have cost $30! Seems ridiculous. If anyone knows of a good place to get water or dump close to this area, please message me and let me know! Internet access was fine, we had service for AT&T and Verizon. Solar would have worked great if the weather would have cooperated even a little. If you need a small amount of groceries, there is a store on the island the locals call the Big store. That has most things you will need. Anything not on the island can typically be found in Galveston after a short, free ferry ride. You can absolutely take your RV on the ferry. You do have to turn off your propane and they will check it, but easy on and off process. Overall, we were disappointed we couldn’t stay longer and will be back to try again!