Sunrise made us very happy to have moved to a “front row” site at Buccaneer State Park.
Sunrise view from the van.
Simply a field with hook-ups by the street, these sites do provide a great view and easy access to the gulf. Just cross the street and you are on the seawall. A small sand spit is a two minute walk if you want to put your toes in the water.
Buccaneer has an extensive water park, so is probably a hopping place in the summertime.
Hurricane Katrina destroyed most of the structures here in 2005 with a thirty foot storm surge. It took eight years to rebuild the park with storm tolerant structures like this elevated tower for electrical boxes.
Heading east along the coast brought us to Bay St. Louis where a slight elevation had prevented much of the hurricane damage.
A restored train station housed the visitor’s center
and a surprise display of local Mardi Gras costumes.
Smiling fish sculptures adorned the park next to the train station.
This oak tree saved four people and a dog in Hurricane Katrina. They “…held on for several hours as the waves washed over them, until the eye passed, and they were able to jump down and find shelter for the night.” The tree didn’t survive and was later carved into this memorial.
New construction along the shoreline has buildings elevated in anticipation of future storms.
Plaques show where the high water of past storms would have reached on this new bath house.
Continuing east to Long Beach, Beth directed us onto the grounds of the University of Southern Mississippi to see the “Friendship Oak,” one of the oldest and largest oak trees.
Dated to 1487, this impressive old tree comes with a legend saying “Those who enter my shadow will remain friends through all their lifetime.”
The Biloxi lighthouse is hard to miss as it sits in the middle of a divided highway.
A nearby parking lot allows access to the Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art
and the Biloxi Schooner Pier where two schooner replicas take the public out to experience a different era.
I coaxed Beth to wandering out on the pier, where the waters were teaming with schools of mullet.
28,188 miles 2:00 PM
Reached our spot for tonight at Dauphin Island Campground. Our neighbors are in the smallest class C camper we’ve seen yet, traveling from Germany with two boys.
There are lots of mosquitos here so we are going to walk out to the water where the breeze from the bay might keep them away.
We’re here so Intuition can get a chance to sail on the Mobile Bay Ferry tomorrow. The ferry departs right across the street from our campground. The ticket agent assured us that there would be no problem getting aboard in the morning and reservations are unnecessary in October.
Dauphin Island has several attractions surrounding the campground. Between a bird sanctuary, fort, and Estuarium (brackish water aquarium), we elected to visit the Estuarium where we met this lobster and enjoyed watching an octopus.
Fort Gaines was hosting a Society for Creative Anachronism event so looked crowded and had a high entrance fee for the short time remaining today.
The Dauphin Island Sea Lab was a bit of a disappointment and could use some clean-up and more funding. I don’t know how much damage has been suffered from hurricanes. We’re spoiled from visits to the NC Estuarium in our home state.
After the estuarium, we walked out to the fort and checked out the extensive boat launches available adjacent to the campground.