Taking my wife and little girl to the coast this weekend. We will be staying in rockport. Wheres good places to eat. Also anything we must see or do there besides fish and hit a beach?

Depends on what your likes are and such. North of town there is a Wildlife Refuge. This time of year I would get there early, early before it gets too hot and the animals are still out moving around. You can drive slowly thru the park and see lots of different animals, deer, hogs, javelina, etc. There are several places to stop/park and walk down nature trails, some lead to ponds and you can see a gator. Tower that overlooks the bird sanctuary. Drive south to Corpus and see the Aquarium, that's always good during the heat of the day. USS Lexington is in Corpus as well. As for beaches, Rockports leaves a lot to be desired. Drive to Port A, then head down hwy 361 south to beach access 1 or 2, much better beach. Lots of places to eat in and around Rockport. Do a search on this site and you will find countless comments, pros and cons, for different places and types of food. We have been staying in Rockport since I was a kid back in the '70's, lol.. Always fun but we also spend a lot of time in Port A. We're heading back down there in less than 2 weeks but going to stay at a condo in Port A this time just because the kids want to be closer to the beach. Costs a lot more than I'm use to paying in Rockport but at least we don't have to mess with the ferry boat crossing back and forth each day. Have fun!

Don't forget if you do go out to the beach in port A, to buy a beach permit. It is a hefty fine, if you don't. Plus it almost entirely goes to keeping that beach clean...

And it's only $12 bucks, expires on Jan 31, 2012. Why get hassled during vacation? Not that much money to avoid a fine, imo..

Thanks guys. Where do you get the beach permit?

stripes, HEB's, etc.

If you like steamed seafood try The Boiling Pot in Rockport. It was recently named one of best seafood dives in Texas by Coastal Living Magazine.

http://theboilingpotonline.com/directionhours.html

You can also purchase the permits right at the beach. You will see a sign(s) just as you enter the beach from the beach access roads. The individuals selling them are usually sitting in lawn chairs under umbrellas. They have a vest on to identify them.(can't remember if it was bright orange or yellow, I think orange). There is usually another larger truck there renting other items like body boards, etc.

When we were there last year, we had a great dinner at Latitude 2802. Not cheap, but great for a night out. Los Comales had some pretty good Mexican. Big Fisherman was absolutely awful. Will never go back. Also, Charlotte Plummer was almost as bad.

Latitude's is good food but not cheap. It also isn't frozen fried food like a lot of the other places. Los Comales has awesome seafood nachos, I think they only show shrimp nachos on the menu, just ask for the seafood ones. Kinda funny being in a seafood town but my favorite place there is Panjo's pizza. Give me a large pepperoni and jalapeño pizza and a pitcher of beer and I'm good. Try watching for shrimpers coming in, go buy shrimp right off the boat.

+1 on boiling pot. Keep an open mind when there, it's much better than it looks. Been going there since 80s. Your girl will enjoy it. You will like the ceiling fans.

Well made itbto rockport and I'm sitting at the boiling pot four now. Red beans and rice is good will update on the rest

Ok a lot of food daughter had a blast. Food was good but pricey.IDE go back

my dad and i racked up a 120$ bill at boiling pot, it's easy to do.

Yeah. Ours was 106 plus tip

I agree on the Big Fisherman being just a horrible dining experience. The powdered potatoes were awful! Don't waste your time or money there, I wouldn't!!

Not to steal this Thread.
Back in the early and late 80's. Was a little cafe in
Port-Isabel. The Owner, waitress would bring you plates of
FRESH, boiled and fryed Shrimp. She was alwas singing!!
Anyone remember that place.
Great fresh Shrimp!!

The Big Fisherman has alway's been good to me and there's alway's a line waiting to get in, in fact I plan my trip's down there just around going to eat there.

They brung you plenty, dint they?

I gave the Big Fisherman several chances and the food was worse each time. Large quantities of bad food does not make a good restaurant. Never again.