Don't buy driftwood. There are many places to gather. For example, the southwest end of the Howard Franklin bridge on the "causeway" has absolutely EPIC pieces of driftwood from tiny to GIANT , dump trucks full. Bring you a little saw and have at it. Look down on the back sides of mangrove shorelines And you will find all sorts of various driftwood that is typically old and often dry. Areas near the saltwater are your places to look for wood.
So i found this place today. It is a good hunting ground for driftwood and i did get some pieces. You do need to get right into the mangroves, and to the shoreline. You're welcome to message me for more info.
I also wish i could have stayed longer. You see there's a lot of dubious activity going on down there, and frankly i don't recommend the site because of it. If i returned, it would be with a concealed carry no less.
When i pulled up i noticed several vehicles on the side of the road, and thought, well sure folks must just be fishing in the edge of the mangroves or something. One side of the road, was, the other side of the road it turned out (where there was better wood incidentially) contained random middle aged and older men wondering about the woods. No fishing rods, up to goodness knows what. Just standing there most of the time walking about....waiting.
Being a physician, i tend to talk to random strangers for better or worse. I got chatting to one of the guys as i was walking out with my arms full of wood, and eventually dropped the question, " what on earth is everyone doing here." His response was, you don't want to know what's going on here, although its not drugs. He also advised i got my wood and got out before i found myself in an uncomfortable situation/trouble. Needless to say i got the heck out of dodge.
I don't know if this is every day of the week or what. However, if there's a bunch of cars parked out there with random men wondering about, my warning is to watch out for yourself. Otherwise great driftwood prowl site, although know that there may be folks prowling you as much as you're prowling for driftwood. I think i have a good idea of what the site was all about, but i'll leave it off the public domain. Lets just say for a single, young male physician it was NOT the place i should have been this afternoon.