Padre Island National Seashore (PINS) is a barrier island in the Gulf of Mexico, next to Corpus Christi, Texas. In contrast to South Padre Island (well known for its beaches and vacationing college students), PINS is located on North Padre Island and consists of a long beach where nature is preserved. Primitive camping is available there and most of the beach is only accessible to four wheel drive vehicles.

Kemp's ridley sea turtles come to the beach to lay eggs, and the rangers at PINS are involved in an effort to help this endangered species. In summer you can see them release the newborn turtles.

External links

• National Park Service's page on PINS (http://www.nps.gov/pais/)
• "GORP" review of PINS (http://gorp.com/gorp/resource/us_ns/tx_padre.htm)
• Sea Turtle, Inc. - Kemp's ridley sea turtle nesting protection at PINS (http://www.seaturtleinc.com/)