between pawn shops / different surf shops here I'm pretty sure you could find something in the 200$ range.. don't even worry about a wet suit, lol.. I've been rocking it in boardies for nearly a month already, the water is between 75/76 right now already hahha..
since galveston is much closer to you, i'd suggest going there when you catch a somewhat decent swell (rofl its texas
I'm headed to spi wednesday to kick it down there for two days for my birthday, surf is gonna be asstastic 2-3ft but oh well.. it was 8-10ft for the past two days down here but so wind blown that it was probably the exact opposite of what we can consider clean..