While some have been soaking up the sun lately at South Padre Island, others have been busy scrubbing off tar.

Some beach goers have said the tar balls have been hard to avoid.

According to a marine expert, the tar balls are not the result of a crude oil spill, but are a natural occurrence.

“It's coming off the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico pretty much all the time,” Tony Reisinger, Cameron County’s marine extension agent, said.

Reisinger says the oil that leaks from the bottom of the Gulf rises to the surface and turns into tar balls that then wash ashore.

“It happens all the time, but during the winter it's usually cooler, and you don’t really notice it because it's not softer,” Reisinger said, adding that it's more noticeable in late spring and during the summer months.

Tar balls are not a health hazard, just a nuisance.

If you get the tar balls stuck to your clothes, you can use WD-40 to remove it. If it gets stuck to your skin, you can use baby or cooking oil to remove it.

Watch the video above for the full story.