89 Dauphin Island, Alabama

#89  Dauphin Island, Alabama

Saturday Nov. 30, 2019

Back across more waterways and we said good-bye to Florida after spending 3 weeks in that state.

Welcome to Alabama!

More waterways! More bridges! More birds!

Hello Mobile, AL!   The USS Alabama rest in the harbor and cruise ships dock not too farther down.

This tunnel through downtown Mobile took on a holiday feel when brake lights hit the white tiled walls.

At Mobile we turn south.  More bridges and we arrive on Dauphin Island.

Once you come off the bridge the main street runs about 10 blocks before it stops at the cross streets.  The cross street runs east and west for a total of about 6 miles. I believe it is the only street on the island. Dauphin Island Park and Beach proved interesting to just get in. We were unable to make the sharp turn and had to pull into the boat parking area to unhook and try it again.  Our site was a “pull through” of sorts.  Basically, it was a large rectangular area next to the road.  You pulled off the road, drove over tree roots and rocks, perpendicular to the rig immediately behind us. We had to move it out about 10 feet to get satellite.  But we were parked.

We could see the beach access trail directly in front of us.  A short walk through the hummocks took us to a boardwalk that led to the beach.

These signs greeted us.  The now familiar warnings about the sea turtles and the usual leash law.

A bird sanctuary abuts the park, so these signs are to protect the birds.  Although a walkway through the sanctuary can be accessed from the main road and the park.

This sign just cracked me up!  These Dunes aren’t Made for Walking!   Cute way to say protect the dunes and use designated paths.

The white sands of this quiet beach invited in. 

Off-shore oil rigs sat on the horizon. We spotted about 20 from where we stood. According to the information Derrille found the Gulf has about 175 oil rigs, 1862 platforms and 27,000 abandon rigs.

A helicopter was practicing drills near the rigs one day.

The sun made interesting shadows on my photography.

On the way back to the campground we marveled at the vegetation, and the distinct species lines of the trees.

Dauphin Island exemplifies a funky, laid back community.  It does run a ferry between and Dauphin Island and the next island over.  The space between the chain link fence holds 50 cars.  The one photo shows the ferry passing the oil rigs.

Historic Fort Gaines occupies the east end of the island. We didn’t choose to go tour the fort….been in quite a few lately.

The main island road winds around the fort and ends in a parking lot.

The Estuarium looked like an interesting place to visit, but we were kind of done with touring.

Dauphin Island’s entrance road displayed signs of Christmas. We went out one night to see them. Unfortunately I didn’t have much luck in capturing the lights.

We enjoyed a nice dinner in front of the Christmas tree while we watched the sun set into the west.

Dauphin Island turned out to be the beginning of the end. Both Derrille and Jay picked up some kind of sinus infection with a cough.

Our next big stop will be South Padre Island, Texas.