Malaquite Campground

It's basically a big parking lot, although the sites on the beach side are dirt and gravel and have a little gazebo over the picnic table. The sites on the opposite side are all asphalt, but they're twice as wide so if you have a big rig or need extra parking the asphalt side is the way to go. Either way you're a stone's throw from the beach but without the annoyance of tracking in sand all over the place. It's first-come-first-serve but I came on a Sunday late afternoon and there were spots available. You just go to the little bulletin board/kiosk thing right in the center, grab a payment envelope, fill it out, tear off the stub which goes up on the board to mark your site, and drop the payment portion it in the lock box. There's only one way in and out but there's a culdesac at each end so turning around is no problem.

The bathrooms and showers seemed pretty clean, although the showers use those annoying faucets that shut off every 10 seconds so you have to keep pressing the knob to keep the water flowing. Plus it was hard to get any hot water out of it so I gave up on the shower. It was super quiet at night except for the surf and people seemed pretty respectful of the rules and quiet hours.

Now here's the big negative, at least for me: NO CELL SIGNAL (well almost none, I'll explain) - despite the fact that at the time of this writing this page rates Verizon 4G LTE at 3 bars. I don't know who the hell gave the Verizon a 3 bar rating but it's not even close. With my cell booster I was able to OCCASIONALLY get a "theoretical" 2-3 bars. Theoretical meaning I would intermittently switch between no signal and a couple bars, but even during those brief moments of perceived signal any attempts at internet access were futile. The signal was just far too weak, even boosted. If you try over and over you might be able to get a single web page to load on your phone, but for all intents and purposes internet is pretty much unusable. Voice calls and texts barely work and I had to keep repeating myself because my voice kept breaking up. I require internet so I can work so I planned this whole trip based on the knowledge of this page saying 3 bars of Verizon 4G, and sadly I had to cut my week long stay down to just one night and go somewhere else. Btw, this is not a knock on the camping area itself, it's a knock against whoever gave these false ratings. I would love to return another time when I don't have to work.

We stayed here for two weeks in the end of March, beginning of April 2019 in spot #18. It is $14 per night unless you have a senior or Access (disability) National Park pass, then it is $7 per night. There is an entry fee to the park as well, but we have the annual park pass. Absolutely worth either price. You are right by the beach! No hookups, but they have fresh water and a dump before entering the campground. It is nice because there are two dumps and two fresh water stations. We planned to stay a night or two and then camp on the beach for free, but after seeing the crowds at the beach and the tide, we decided to stay here the whole time instead. I’m glad we did. The weather didn’t cooperate most days, but we had several days of gorgeous sun. It was constantly breezy which kept the bugs away but made it a bit too chilly for hanging out on the beach all day. The campground filled up most days but was quiet and relaxing. Everyone adhered to the quiet hours and was considerate. We have a solar setup and any site would be perfect for it. No trees to block the sun. Despite the cloudy days, we had no trouble with no generator backup. There is no cell reception at all with AT&T. None. However, we have a WeBoost cell booster and we were able to get enough for me to work remotely. There were a few times it crapped out, but for the most part it worked well, especially considering there was none without it. We arrived around 1pm and didn’t have any trouble finding a spot on the beach side. IMO, the beach side on the right (as you come in) is better. The spots are angled and when you open your door, you can see the beach and ocean easily. Here is the process for getting a spot. If you have arrived after check-out at noon, find an empty spot and claim it. There are occupied signs at campground host site (to the left of the registration area) or put out chairs or something to show it is occupied. You have one hour after claiming the site to pay. Since you have a spot claimed, you can go fill your tanks if necessary or just park your rig. Within an hour, go back and pay at the self-registration area. You will see the self-registration area immediately to the left when you arrive at the campground. It is cash or check, and they have an area you can write your credit card information if you want to do that. If you arrive before noon, you can pick an empty spot with no occupied sign or evidence it is occupied and follow the same process. You can also review the board to see if anyone in a spot is set to leave that day. The board is to the right of the self-registration area. It has slots for each camping site. The papers in the slots are filled out by campers as part of the registration process and it shows when they are leaving. I believe the camp host removes the papers in the morning for people who are leaving that day. If there is no paper in the slot, the site (in theory) is available once the person currently occupying it leaves. If you see a spot like that, I would recommend talking to the current occupants and confirming they are leaving that day. If they are leaving, I would recommend registering and paying for the site immediately. That will prevent other people from claiming it since your paper will show evidence the spot is taken. Then you can setup as soon as the other person leaves. The stay limit is 14 days. There are several access points to the beach, and you can be there in about 100 feet depending on site location. There are picnic tables at the campground and at the beach. There are showers, restrooms, and spigots for sand removal. Dogs are allowed at the campground and on the beach. As always, they must be leased and picked up after. Corpus Christi is about 45 minutes away so I would recommend bringing anything you may need with you, but in a pinch, you can go there for shopping. There are gas stations and a few stores on the island, but nothing close to the campground. The constant breeze helped when the temperatures increased in the late afternoon. It was a perfect time to be there temperature-wise with no hook-ups. There was some rain and it was humid some of the days, but overall, we loved our stay and will definitely be back.

The campground at Malaquite doesn't really look like much, one the one side you get a basic parking place with a picnic table. It's large enough to accommodate any size rig plus a vehicle. If you get one of the oceanfront sites you will also have a pavilion.

But you are not really here for the campsite anyway! You are here for the beach, and the dunes, and beauty!

The beach and the dunes are spectacular. The campground is well maintained and with our senior pass it was very inexpensive.

This is an incredibly clean and nice beach for family. We visited on a Saturday in Spring; and there were not a lot of swimmers; but many people just out enjoying the area... like walking the dog. The campgrounds are quite a ways from the beach. We camped primitively directly on North Beach because the sand was too soft at South Beach, at the time, for the two-wheel drive sedan. Had a wonderful time for a windy spring day.

Don't get confused by signs in Corpus Christi about exiting the highway to "North Beach." The National Sea Shore Park is almost 25-miles remotely from the city. The native untouched dunes are beautiful as you drive away from Corpus to the island.

Enjoy :-)

Its a parking lot right by the beach, with showers and restrooms-- there's enough distance between you and the waves that you don't end up with sand in every bit of your stuff. It made going to the beach bearable for me-- I can't stand sand getting into my tent. The views were great, park host was very friendly. Its a short walk to the Visitor's Center. Couldn't swim since it was still too cold, but we had fun playing on the beach, getting to know our neighbors and playing cards by our campfire. Super windy, and if you camp directly on the actual beach in a tent (which I have done) the waves are SUPER LOUD, but from the campsites, they were fine. Texas State Aquarium is about 30 mins away, as is the USS Lexington, if you are interested in that. Put your food/shoes up at night-- coyotes came into camp on our second night and stole my husband's sandals! LOL.

All the sites are close together and in one long row. Half back up to the beach and half the other way. Nice sunrise across the dunes and the ocean. Bathrooms and showers were clean. The real drawback, for us, was the concert of generators that ran from late afternoon right up until quiet time at 10:00 p.m. Out neighbor's generator was right outside our bedroom window. If we hadn't had our windows closed, it would have been pretty unbearable - coming from both sides. We decided to join the band and fire our up as well.

Upon visiting Padre Island NS, we decided to camp at Malaquite for our first night to get the lay of the land. Even mid week, all dune side spots were taken, so we were opposite, in parking lot accommodations.

However after experiencing the on beach camping at South Beach, I don't think I would camp at Malaquite! You could be ON the beach seeing and hearing the waves and beautiful sunsets while camping at South Beach for free, or paying $8/night to camp behind a dune (no views of the beach) or close to the dunes on asphalt.

We really like this place for a few beach days, and while it was more crowded than a lot of places we like to stay it was way better than some of the private RV parks on the beach. (and we were too chicken to park right on the sand with a storm predicted while we were going to be there) We pulled in around 1pm on Wednesday and there were plenty of sites available including 2 on the water side. We really liked being on the end towards the tent sites where it was a little more private, but I can see how this place would be less enjoyable on the parking lot side, so could be hit or miss. The two down sides were next to no cell or internet on verizon without our booster on, and even with it there would be a few glitch-y times. The other draw back to being on the water side was we were constantly being bombarded with sea spray, to the point where it would drip off our window screens. All a small price to pay to be on a huge awesome beach, but it definitely took a couple different washes to get all the salt off the airstream,

Without boosting we had 1x or no service on verizon. Boosted we had 2 bars LTE.

The campground is really a long narrow parking area with the front row of sites facing the Gulf and the back row of sites facing the front row’s butt ends. Front row sites have a covered picnic table and grill, back row sites have only a picnic table. Malaquite is all first-come, first served. Since there are no hookups we were surprised to find all the RV sites taken on a Sunday afternoon. We squeezed the coach into a tent site and checked with the campground host to make sure that was ok for one night
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There is free camping right on the beach here, but we wanted to scope it out in the CRV before taking the RV off road. You can camp on North Beach which is about five miles long and was nearly deserted when we checked it out or on the very popular South Beach which extends 60 miles along the coast. Four-wheel drive is recommended after mile marker 5, but there were plenty of campers and lots of traffic right on the beach. North Beach got my vote and we planned on moving there Monday morning.

Then the very friendly and helpful campground host, Paul, came by around dinnertime on Sunday and offered us a front row space (#7) that had just opened up. We decided to just stay at Malaquite and enjoy our good fortune. It’s not quite as nice, nor as private, as a beachside spot but neither do we have to worry about getting stuck. We were told the going rate for a tow from the beach is about $3000. That seems absurd, but I’m not willing to be a test case. :) Both North and South beaches have an area of loose sand near the entrance/exit – but once you’re out on the beach the driving and camping areas were fine. We drove on both beaches in the CRV and would have felt comfortable taking the Class A on either too.

One advantage of Malaquite is that no vehicles are permitted on the beach in front of the campground. It was almost entirely deserted and we enjoyed long walks in total solitude. The campground host offers sturdy garbage bags if you are inclined to lend a hand with beach cleanup. A necessary and never ending task. The campground also has recycling for plastic and aluminum, a real plus since recycling does not seem widely available in east Texas.

Verizon service at Malaquite was very intermittent. Even with the booster we could not get a reliable connection. We would occasionally get a half hour or so of 3G but nothing that lasted for very long.

See our blog post for additional pictures.

Wow, if you enjoy walking on an endless beach, playing in the surf and hearing the roar of the ocean at night - this place is great.

Ok, couple of downsides. No hook-ups but there is an onsite dump and fresh water. At night, or when the wind is not blowing, mosquitoes will come out. ATT and Verizon are not useable without a booster- even with a booster they seem to come and go.

TV - two major networks over the air and a couple of others.

Bathrooms and showers on site - free, clean and very useable.

Easy access to town about 25 minutes.

We'll definitely be back.

Two parts to this park, grass ocean view and parking lot semi-ocean view (actually not that bad). Looks like Sunday and Monday arrivals usually score a ocean view grass site.