SOUTH PADRE ISLAND.

Meeting on the Tropical Tip South Padre Island is described as the "Tropic of Texas" for good reason. Surrounded by the tranquil waters of Laguna Madre on one side and the Gulf of Mexico's glittering surf and expansive beaches on the other, South Padre Island is a natural attraction for both tourists and meetings delegates.

South Padre Island, on the southernmost tip of Texas only 30 miles from Mexico, offers more than 5,500 hotel, motel, and condominium units, with a 1,200-room city-wide room block available for meetings. Of the 19 area hotels and motels, four have meeting space totaling a combined 30,700 square feet.

These four meetings-oriented resorts all feature tropical beachfront settings, elegant amenities, and facilities for numerous outdoor activities. The recently renovated Radisson Resort features 186 cabanas and two-bedroom condominiums, two pools, and nine meeting rooms encompassing 10,000 square feet. The Sheraton Fiesta Beach Resort has 203 guest rooms in a high-rise beachfront hotel including 40 two-bedroom condominiums. The resort offers 8,500 square feet of meeting space in nine rooms, as well as a 6,000-squarefoot pool and sun deck.

The Bahia Mar Resort & Conference Center has 347 guest rooms, 4,212 square feet of meeting space, two pools, and tennis courts. The Holiday Inn Resort has 227 guest rooms, more than 8,000 square feet of meeting space in seven rooms, two pools, tennis courts, and a poolside bar and grill.

The South Padre Island Convention Centre offers 45,000 square feet of meeting and exhibit space, including up to 22,500 square feet of column-free exhibit space adjoining the lobby, a 200-seat auditorium, and 9,000 square feet of flexible meeting rooms. Its exterior also features a spectacular, 153-foot-long "Whaling Wall" mural painted by the renowned environmental artist, Wyland.

Aside from its meetings facilities, the island is world famous for its leisure- time activities with beautiful beaches, outstanding fishing, diving, golf, and tennis. The South Padre Island Golf Club is a special treat, with an 18-hole, championship course that opened in 1997 along the Laguna Madre bay.

South Padre Island also is a delight for naturalists with the 45,000-acre national wildlife refuge, the Laguna Atascosa, offering a glimpse of indigenous plant and animal life such as eagles, ocelots, flamingos, swans, and alligators. Bird and wildlife viewing is even available next to the South Padre Island Convention Center on the Laguna Madre Nature Trail, a boardwalk extending across four acres of wetlands.

The South Padre Island Aquarium is the area's newest attraction. Featuring sharks and other marine life found in the Gulf of Mexico, the aquarium even offers a shark cage for those daring enough to take a dip.

Access to the island is convenient, with two airports serving it: Rio Grande Valley International Airport (Harhngen) and Brownsville/South Padre Island International Airport.