Galveston's temperate weather generally allows visitors to enjoy the beautiful outdoors year-round. The Island offers wonderful Gulf beaches, golf, fishing, birding, and volleyball.

While there is a lot to do in Galveston, it’s also a place where it feels comfortable to do little. At 10.4 miles long, the seawall lining the Gulf of Mexico is the world’s longest continuous sidewalk and attracts walkers, joggers, bicyclists, surfers, sunbathers, skaters and sightseers year-round. It’s a great place to exercise or just sit to watch a flock of brown pelicans skim across the waves at sunset.

Galveston is also one of the top locations for birding in the United States. The Island is a central location for novice and expert birders, offering a wide variety of species. Water and shore birds are common on the Island throughout the year while rare species are spotted during fall and spring migration. In fact, three/fourths of all North American species travel through Galveston during fall and spring migration.

Galveston provides the perfect recipe for water sports. Take generous amounts of water, add semitropical temperatures and gently stir with a sea breeze. Sailors can feel the salt spray from either the Gulf of Mexico or Galveston Bay in just minutes after setting sail. Offatts Bayou is a popular gathering spot for weekend sailors who want to weigh anchor and relax. Also, its protected waters are smooth-sailing for one-person or two-person sailboats. When the conditions are right, the bayou’s glassy waters are good for skiing, too.

And for the golf lover? There are two golf courses located on the Island - the Moody Gardens Golf Course and the Galveston Country Club. Moody Gardens Golf Course is a public course and the Galveston Country Club is private, but is open to Galveston visitors for golf and restaurant facilities. It is also open to non-members for special events and golf outings.

Oh, did we mention the fishing? The Galveston Bay area hosts more sports fishermen than any other spot on the Texas Coast, for a good reason. More than 100 species of fish are caught here regularly, including speckled trout, redfish, flounder, golden croaker, drum and Spanish mackerel. Anglers can cast their lines wade fishing, from rock piers or boats in either the bay or the Gulf. Seawolf Park, located on Pelican Island, is an especially busy fishing spot when the flounder are running from the bay to the Gulf as the weather begins to cool in the fall. The Galveston Island Yacht Basin and a number of area marinas are hotspots of maritime activity. If offshore fishing is your sport, try to land kingfish or red snapper from the Gulf’s green waters. Hire one of the many charter fishing services for your own private fishing trip or buy a day pass on a party boat with other fishermen.

Sports enthusiasts can enjoy volleyball courts at East Beach and Stewart Beach, and for those who love the water? Schlitterbahn Waterpark is a convertible waterpark with closeable sections, allowing visitors to enjoy the facility year-round, while Jungle Surf Waterslide operates seasonally.

Of course, some of the most visible water sports lovers are the surfers - and the city of Galveston has designated certain areas of the beach for that purpose. They include the beaches between the 17th Street & 21st Street rock groins; between the 25th Street & 29th Street rock groins; between the 29th Street & 53rd Street rock groins; 300 feet west of 61st Street, and west of 91st Street. Surfboard rentals are available at most surf shops located along Seawall Boulevard.

From Blog.Galveston.com

Tue, 21 May 2013 15:08:15 +0000 Tuesday’s Surf Report from Surf Specialties On Tuesday the surf in Galveston is a ridable choppy windswell in the waist high range. Water’s a pretty green-blue today. Winds are out of the south at 15 – 20 kts with mostly sunny skies and beachwater temperature is 74 degrees. The Surf Shop is always OPEN by appointment Tuesdays so please dial (409)763-5422 [...] Tue, 21 May 2013 12:16:40 +0000 Periods of clouds and warm weather to continue. The big question is whether the storms expected to our northwest will creep into the Galveston area. We should see an increase in rain chances as we move into the middle of the week, though probabilities still remain fairly low near the coast and the best chance for showers and thunderstorms will be north of Houston. This morning’s surface weather map shows high pressure ridging west from the Atlantic into the Deep [...]

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