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		Turn island upside down: Debauchery reigns on South Padre during spring break.
		By Joe Hermosa, AP

And folks here are getting ready — fixing the bungee jump, painting the emcee stands, dusting the strobe lights and waving goodbye to the legions of Midwestern retirees who leave this strip of aquamarine shoreline just before the craziness rolls in.

Sometime during the past few decades, spending Easter break someplace warm with a gang of college buddies became part of Americana.

For the frigid campuses of the Midwest, that meant South Padre Island, with the exodus starting with a trickle in early March and becoming a monsoon when Texas colleges let out en masse for "Texas Week," this year March 14 to 18 for many campuses in the region.

South Padre, once a desolate barrier island populated mostly by pelicans and migratory birds, grew up with the trend, and continues to embrace as it co-markets itself as a family resort and upscale retirement haven. Now the island is a stretch of campy novelty shops against a backdrop of high-rise hotels and multimillion dollar condominiums. And while March is the peak time for college-age visitors, waves of other tourists come throughout the spring, from families to sports enthusiasts. A "kiteboard rodeo" is scheduled for April 9 and 10, and a windsurfing competition will be held April 30 and May 1.

Right now, however, after a few lackluster years post-Sept. 11, travel bookers say college kids are calling with money to spend on the most upscale debauchery they can find.

"Higher-end beachfronts are really what's going," said Chad Hart of Inertia Tours, one of several agencies that specialize in spring-break packages. "They're just saying, 'What's awesome? That's what we want.'"

While the Internet has allowed students to book their own hotels and research their own activities, he said plenty of students go for package deals that include meals, club passes, an evening cruise and a jaunt to the Mexican border — particularly the girls.

"Girls like to have a real full package, they don't want to take chances. A lot of guys, it's still, 'Let's just load into my dad's SUV and sleep in a tent.'"

During the past decade, the island's popularity waned against the competition of package deals to foreign destinations, especially Southern Mexico. But parents have grown warier of sending their kids outside of the country, and each year the area is seeing more East Coast students arrive on $900 weeklong packages. Those students on tight budgets are saying they'd rather pitch in for a couple of tanks of gas than spend hundreds of dollars on airfare to a destination outside the United States.

Part of South Padre's allure has always been that it's near the Mexican border, where the drinking age is a loosely enforced 18. Buses are on hand to run the spring-breakers back and forth to a neighborhood of bars in Matamoros, Mexico, only a block across the border but fully in another country.

No one here thinks the current U.S. Department of State travel warning about violent drug killings in northern Mexico will stop kids from going.

Dan Quandt, head of South Padre's Convention and Visitors Bureau, said bookings on the Mexico buses are up 30% from last year, but the island's message about Mexico hasn't changed.

"We've always urged students that if they're going to go to go on one of those vans, go in a group, stay with people," he said. "If you don't know where you're going, don't go there."

For those with the energy and the money, South Padre offers many alternative diversions to lying in the sun.

It is one of the best spots in the world for kiteboarding, but lessons are pricey — a three-hour class for two runs $225 a person at South Padre Island Kiteboarding. Groups can spend a morning or a day deep-sea or bay fishing. Dolphin tours are delightful, and with prices typically well under $20 a ticket, relatively inexpensive. There are personal watercraft rentals, or one can parasail or ride the waves in a banana boat.

The U.S. Army will be erecting a climbing wall on the beach, and visitors can try out for — or just watch — the filming of "National Lampoon's Greek Games," a televised parody of the Olympics with competitions such as the handsfree Salisbury steak toss, a keg toss, and female strip wrestling in Velcroed cheerleading suits.

But locals also know that it's important to make sure their college-age visitors remain safe. The Convention and Visitors Bureau Web site has a page on "How to Avoid Getting Busted," reiterating the local drinking age and zero-tolerance policies against drugs and drunk driving. There are also safety warnings for students under 21 who cross the border to party.

Stormy Wall, a former college athletics coach who manages the Padre South hotel, said he's ready to take on the killjoy role of making sure kids who drink too much don't fall of balconies or walk through glass windows. He's threatened to throw kids out for flouting his rules and once chased a local drug dealer out of his hotel and down the beach.

In the end, he said, his guests seem to understand that safety is as important as having fun.

"I have guys calling me on the phone, saying, 'Dude, I'm coming back. Remember me? We're the guys that gave you a hard time.'"

IF YOU GO:

Activities: In addition to lounging by the pool or playing in the sand, activities include water sports, bird-watching, fishing trips, dolphin tours and jaunts to nearby Mexico. For details, click on the links for attractions and recreation at the Convention and Visitors Bureau Web site, www.sopadre.com, or call (800) SOPADRE.

Getting there: Harlingen's Valley International Airport (www.iflyharlingen.com) is about 40 minutes from the island. Brownsville/South Padre Island International Airport (www.flybro
wnsville.com) is about a half-hour away. Both Web sites have maps and information about car rentals and shuttle services. Drivers can take Interstate 37 south from San Antonio to U.S. 77, then east on Texas 100.

Getting around: "The Wave" is a free shuttle that circles the island every half hour between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. Nightlife options are within walking distance of most hotels, and there are taxis. However, the island is fairly compact and traffic can be at a standstill during spring break.

Trips across the border: The U.S. Department of State has a travel warning for northern Mexico due to gang violence, so visitors are advised to go with groups and stick with well-known bars, restaurants, and shopping districts. For guided trips for an evening, a day or longer, contact Inertia Tours (www.inertiatours.com), Go... With Jo! (www.gowithjo.com), Leisure Tours International (www.leisure
tours.com) or Original Tour Company at (888) 296-3522. A driver's license will suffice for trips just across the border.

Tip: Many a spring-breaker has gotten a ticket for failing to slow down while driving through small towns on the way to South Padre Island.

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Spring Break in November?

Spring breakers choose unlikely destinations this year

KRT Campus / News service

The sky is slightly overcast and there’s a cool breeze, but you’d never guess it from “Coca Cola Beach,” where hundreds of swimsuit-clad college students are drinking beer, dancing to music and throwing around footballs.

Some brave souls even venture into the surf.

“It’s 20 degrees where I’m from,” said Evan Lowry, a senior at Penn State, who was dressed in shorts and a T-shirt. “I’m getting a tan.”

Tour operators say this is the best spring break season in four years, though business isn’t back to the peak levels of 2000. Part of this year’s optimism stems from the calendar, which puts Easter immediately after Texas week.

The stronger economy and less fear around airline security have also helped.

“People feel better about spending money this year,” said Chad Hart, president of Austin-based Inertia Tours LLC, which will send 5,000 students to South Padre Island this year. “We’ve been sold out since January.”

South Padre Island officials spend about $100,000 a year on marketing to college visitors, money they say translates into around $40 million in spending.

It’s an important economic shot in the arm for the destination after the slow winter months. But South Padre Island is one of the last U.S. college hot spots still marketing to spring breakers.

Dan Quandt, executive director for the South Padre Island Convention and Visitors Bureau, said that marketing also helps plant the seed in young travelers’ minds early to visit the South Texas beach town.

“We have visitors who come with their families because they remember coming for spring break in college,” Quandt said.

Many of the traditional Florida destinations, such as Fort Lauderdale and Daytona Beach, have pulled away from advertising to college students in favor of more moneyed travelers such as families.

Another spring break hot spot, Panama City Beach, Fla., is also planning a different strategy. The city’s biggest night spot, Club La Vela, is slated for demolition later this year. And many of its older, inexpensive properties are being replaced with high-end condos and resorts.

“Spring break will always be here,” said Jayna Leach, a spokeswoman with the Panama City Beach Convention and Visitors Bureau. “It’s just that it’ll be more students with their parents coming to say in a condo than the masses of students that we’ve seen in the past.”

Other popular U.S. spring break destinations, including Lake Havasu, Ariz., and Las Vegas, leave marketing to individual hotels or attractions.

South Padre Island is considered an inexpensive getaway, compared to destinations such as Cancun, Mazatlan and Acapulco in Mexico, and Jamaica and the Bahamas. The city’s tourism officials market its proximity to Mexico, for students looking for an international day-trip.

The draw of South Padre hasn’t gone unnoticed by corporate marketers.

Coca Cola, which has hosted an event near the Radisson for a decade, isn’t the only corporate flag around, with promoters such as Sobe energy drinks, Bic razors, Trojan condoms, Close-Up toothpaste, Nintendo and Toyota’s Scion scouring city hot spots.

Arnie Creinin, managing director of the Bahia Mar Resort and Conference Center, launched an aggressive marketing campaign for college students this year, bringing in almost a dozen different promoters to create a more festive atmosphere.

“Our food and beverage sales are at least double,” Creinin said.

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SPI hopes for high turnout during spring break

March is quickly approaching and to most businesses on South Padre Island, the annual spring break migration to the beach is something to anticipate.

Spring break crowds have been declining over the past few years, according to South Padre Island Convention and Visitors Bureau Executive Director Dan Quandt.

Still, he added, the activity to date indicates it will be an important part of the Island's annual business again. "We already have advance people checking us out," he said.

Inertia Tours, which brought down a substantial number of visitors to the Island last year, is back at work putting trips together for students, he said. "At this point we're hoping to have about the same numbers we had last year," he added.

The economy, he feels, will be one big reason for that statistic. Fort Lauderdale doesn't welcome them anymore, he continued, and travel to destinations outside the country will probably be curtailed because of tight money. "I think that positions us very well to at least hold our own," he concluded.

Quandt explained that each time the CVB gets an inquiry from a student or from a group naming specific dates they intend to visit his agency gets the information into the hands of hotel and condominium management people all over the Island.

They, in turn, respond to the inquiries with how many rooms they will have available at that time and how much the cost will be.

"We only have the one major hotel, Isla Grand [formerly the Radisson], that will be open and operational," he said. "The Sheraton and the Bahia Mar will still be closed."

As a result, Quandt said, condo management firms are expected to play a large part in spring break rentals this year.

Troy Giles, who owns the Palms Resort on Gulf Boulevard, said his hotel is about 80 percent booked. "We only take students 21 or older," he added.

"Continuing spring break is important to the island's future. I can't tell you how many people have moved here as adults after visiting during their spring break," continued Giles.

Christy Bernal, of South Padre Beach Houses and Condos, said she still has rooms available.

"We have most of our units reserved, but we still have a few open," Becky Bradley, of AACE Rentals and Management Services, said.

All in all, considering that it's only the middle of January, Quandt's prediction of a good spring break seems to be on target.

Hotel and condo managers are among those who hope he's right.

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Are you a member of the media looking for an expert on spring break travel? Our Company President Chad Hart is available for phone, web, or in person interviews about a variety of student travel topics. Involved in the college spring break travel industry since 1993 and holding a Masters Degree in Businessfrom the University of Wisconsin, Inertia’s main Party Dude is here to assist you with your newsworthy story. Email Chad directly at: chad@inertiatours.com, or toll free 800.821.2176 x 1 at the Inertia Tours office.