Freeport's working harbor is one of the busiest small ports on the Texas Gulf Coast, home to a commercial shrimping fleet, charter fishing boats, and a steady traffic of industrial vessels serving the petrochemical plants that line the coast. It is not polished or touristy, which gives it a genuine character missing from the more developed beach towns further up the coast.
The docks where the shrimping fleet unloads are the best place to buy directly off the boat — Gulf shrimp, sometimes blue crabs, and occasionally flounder or redfish. Several no-frills seafood restaurants are clustered near the harbor, serving boiled and fried seafood at prices far below what you pay in Houston. Charter fishing boats depart from the marina for offshore trips targeting snapper, king mackerel, and mahi-mahi, and for nearshore trips after redfish and trout in Freeport Bay.