Beach Comparison

I was extremely lucky to have two winter barrier island vacations this year; December and February.  Both vacations were on the Gulf of Mexico.  If you think of the US coastline on the Gulf as a giant frowning mouth, my vacations were at opposite ends of that frown.  The beaches of Sanibel and the beaches of Padre Island are both stunningly beautiful.  Sanibel has sand that is whiter in color and has larger sized grains. Padre Island sand is darker and finer in texture.  In Sanibel I could just wipe my feet on a rug and all the sand would be gone. On Padre Island, wiping my feet wasn't enough to get rid of all the sand.  Even rinsing my feet in the shower didn't get all the sand off.  In fact, I had to rub my feet with a towel to get all the sand off.  I would guess that the housing prices on Padre are cheaper than Sanibel but I didn't really research that thoroughly.  Meal prices were about the same.  Sanibel was more pedestrian and bicycle friendly.  In Sanibel if you walked to an intersection, the cars would yield to you.  On Padre Island I knew I couldn't make it across the entire street so I aimed for a break in the traffic to make it to the middle before looking at the traffic coming from the other way.  No cars ever stopped or even slowed down for me. But Padre Island had free public transportation.  Free.  Free like in no cost.  The free transportation was a 30 passenger little bus that went by every 20-30 minutes.  It was called the Wave. I could stand at any corner.  If I saw the Wave coming and wanted a ride, I would wave at the Wave and the Wave would pull over and pick me up.  Similar birds and wildlife frequented both islands.  Both had palm trees and tropical flowers.  Both islands have nature preserves.  I believe manatees are rare in Texas and more common in Florida.  Sanibel Island had a crazy amount of shells compared to the few I saw on Padre. I thought the people on Padre Island were friendlier than on Sanibel but that may have been because I was with a group on Sanibel and alone on Padre.  Maybe people greet single women more than they do groups.  I think Sanibel seems classier than Padre Island but I loved them both and plan to spend at least one entire winter somewhere along the Gulf of Mexico.