Fort Gaines & Crabbing

Fort Gaines, Dauphin Island

Fort Gaines is pretty interesting and definitely worth checking out. It is a self guided tour and the cost is $8 for adults and $4 for children.  You will get a brochure that lists everything you can see by number.  The number correlates with the item once outside.  We did our own thing and just started walking and checking stuff out.  The kids enjoyed all of the secret passageways and the stairs.  This Fort is where the famous saying "Damn the torpedoes.  Full speed ahead" comes from.  This would be a great excursion for the history buffs because it does have some historical items on display inside the Fort museum.   

Fort Gaines from "The Duke"

The entrance

One of the many passageways

Braden and Sophia

 The cannon on top of the Fort

Help!  We are trapped!

Hull from a boat found after a hurricane washed it on shore.  Supposedly it's from a ship wreck that was dated to the 17-1800's

Crabbing

Every single time we have a vacation near an ocean, we HAVE to take the kids crabbing.  Last year, Sophia wouldn't even hold the bucket of crabs she was so terrified of them, but this year she was catching them just like the boys were! The crabs we are after generally make their appearance at night, but can also be seen during the day as well.  The crabs are white sand crabs and they are everywhere!  We each take a flashlight and go searching.  I usually hold the bucket and take pictures.  The kids have a blast doing it and I highly recommend it for anyone!  You can't beat the price==FREE!!    All you hear on the beach is kids giggling and squealing and you see dozens of flashlights.  If you get near the ocean, you can find the big blue crabs that you can eat, but good luck catching those bad boys!  Brad caught one by accident while fishing, and he only got it because it was trying to steal his bait and got its claw wrapped up in the line. 

 

All three kiddos on the boardwalk for some crabbing fun

Crab bucket

They found one!

Their bucket got pretty full after this and the crabs started to try and climb out

We released them into Sophia's sandcastle

Next time you go on a vacation on the Gulf, go crabbing!  It's a load of fun for ALL!

XOXO...Becky

Sharks, The Duke and a Lighthouse, Oh My

The water on Dauphin Island was very murky the week we visited.  The captain of the Duke told us that they never get very clear water down there but that week was exceptionally bad, and was related to the crazy tides they were having.  This brought on the conversation of sharks. I get a bit scared when I can't see my feet in the water.  I will swim in creeks, ponds, and lakes with murky water back home where I am sure there are no alligators or sharks, but NOT oceans.

What is it?  Shark or Dolphin???!!!  We had seen so many dolphins while swimming, beachcombing, and enjoying the beach; however, none of them acted like this. 

"The Duke"

Wishing us farewell as we leave the Marina

 These two are enjoying the ride

 
While we were on the boat, we visited the lighthouse.  He informed us that the water is around 26 feet deep around the lighthouse and only 8-10 feet in depth in the bay. Near the lighthouse, the Captain told us that it is a major hangout for bull, tiger, and black tip sharks.  He also said that it is an excellent place for fishing.  I was amazed at the current.  We were told it was about 10 knots.  It looked very dangerous.  The lighthouse was built in 1838, was rebuilt in 1873 and then taken out of usage in 1933.  The lighthouse used to have a sand walkway to get there but Hurricane Katrina wiped it out.  Now it stands alone.  It is a federal offense to step foot on the rocks because the town does not want it vandalized. 

 You can see the current around the lighthouse.  It was pretty strong!

Up close view.  Too bad this lighthouse is no longer lit.  I would imagine it would be a beautiful sight.

We had a ton of fun on The Duke.  After talking about sharks and seeing the lighthouse, it was time to put out some shrimp nets.  After the nets were put out, they were drug for about 15 minutes.  The nets were taken out and dumped onto a touch table.  All dangerous creatures were removed and all passengers were able to look at and even touch the catch.  There were so many starfish that we each came home with one to dry out and keep for ourselves.  There were plenty of small fish which the kids got to throw to the birds and dolphins.  There were some squid that inked all over the place and some hermit crabs.  Overall, it was a blast and the kids learned a ton about ocean life. 

 

My family with my brother and his girlfriend on the tour

 The birds were hanging around to catch some of our catch from the shrimp nets

 Lots of interesting finds in the nets

 Squid!

 Our Starfish

 Sea anemone

 Dolphins were hanging around waiting on the kids to throw over some of our catch

Overall, I highly recommend this tour.  If we would have done it earlier in the week, I would have booked the fishing tour and the sunset tours with them as well.  Overall, they had excellent customer service.  One thing I would have liked is if they had waters and snacks for sale.  We had to bring our own.  To reach them for pricing and booking, go to www.actionoutdoors.org 

XOXO...Becky

Sea Lab and Bird Sanctuary

Dauphin Island is home to the Sea Lab and a Bird Sanctuary.  Both were a fun time and I would recommend them if any of you ever visit the island. There isn't much for kids to do on the island other than the beach and one putt putt place.  The Sea Lab and the Sanctuary are something to do when the kids get a bit worn out from the beach.

The sanctuary is off of Bienville road and it is recommended to have something to drink and I wouldn't go in the hottest part of the day.  This is a physical activity and not for those in a wheelchair.  There is not cost for entering the park and parking is limited.  We didn't see any birds but we could hear them.  We aren't avid bird watchers, by any means.  We found an eagle's nest (we think). We ran into a couple that were finding Geo Cache.  They found one under a log and just had to put their name down.  The highlight of the park was Gaillard Lake.  It was home to many fish, turtles, and an alligator.  The kids LOVED seeing the alligator and it was very active the day we went.  We saw it eating things, chomping with is big mouth, and going under the water and putting on a bubble show.  After we saw the gator, we left.  There were quite a few trails but we opted to head back to the condo. 

There were so many turtles! 

 I wish my camera lens would zoom a bit more.  We still

aren't certain if this is an Eagle nest or not. 

This guy was pretty hungry and gave us a show!

 Of course we had to get a family selfie!!!

The Sea Lab was very interesting and we learned a lot about the local sea life.  I loved that it had some hands on activities for the kids.  I was disappointed at how small it was.  I expected it to have much more to see than it did.  The girl at the counter taking our money was not rude to us, but was not very personable.  The cost for adults was $11 and children, seniors and students were $6. The price wasn't bad at all.  We walked around and saw all we could see.  The kids loved it and they especially loved the touch tank.  There was a sting ray, a conch, and some hermits that they could pick up and explore.  Outside there was a touch tank with some more sting rays and a manta ray.  The rays felt like rubber when we touched them.  It was a neat feeling.

They had some Lion Fish so that the children could be

educated about some of the invasive species in our oceans.

All three kiddos were getting a kick out of touching the rays

 We didn't know what to think of this creature.

XOXO...Becky 

Dauphin Island Sea Glass

So, my Husband really got into sea glass while on Vieques.  He is a hunter and is a bit competitive, so I'm positive that he got into it because of those qualities.  While on vacation in Dauphin Island, he was bound and determined to find some sea glass.  I just wanted to sit my bum in the sand, but he wouldn't let up.  I had told him before we left that one of my sea glass books mentioned the island as a place for sea glass.  As soon as we got there I had already blown it off because of the white soft sand.  I assumed we wouldn't find much.  You know what they say about assuming things.  He searched and scoured the internet until he found a blog.  The blog is www.christianson5.wordpress.com and she talked about finding sea glass on the island.  Brad came to me ecstatic and said we had to go check it out right then.  So up I got out of my comfortable beach chair and we made our way to the condo.  My brother and his girlfriend decided to tag along because they had never heard of it before, and they were intrigued.  The spot the blogger spoke about is the east side of the island across from Fort Gaines, and it mentioned lots of creepy crawlies on the rocks.  When we got there, all I saw was numerous fishermen and huge boulders lining the beach. Once I got close enough, I could see the bugs crawling.  I was very hesitant.  After only a minute or two, Brad yelled that he found a piece.  The rest is history and I threw caution to the wind and decided a few creepy crawlies wouldn't stop me from finding some sea glass. I found many pieces in various stages of tumbling.  We had to teach my brother and his gal how to tell if glass has been tumbled enough and what to look for.  It didn't take them long at all to start finding some awesome pieces!  We searched for about 45 minutes and decided to try it again the following morning.  As we were leaving, Brad happened to run into a fisherman who asked what we were doing on the rocks and what we were searching for.  Brad explained that we were looking for sea glass and the fisherman told us about a beach as you are leaving the island to the right of the fisherman's pier.  Well it was game on, then!  I was getting excited and the thoughts of sitting on my bum disappeared rapidly.  The following day, we left to find more sea glass.  We started on the bridge and found the pier.  We looked to the right and all we noticed were private property signs.  Brad went to the pier office and asked where we could go along the beach for some beachcombing.  The cashier explained that we needed to drive just a few hundred feet past the signs and that we could park along the road and look for glass to our heart's content.  We found a lot of great pieces along this stretch of beach as well!  We had to dig through some shells and search in more rocks, but it was well worth it.  I wasn't ready to go back because we were doing so well, but the NO-SEE-UMS got to us and we quickly decided we had enough.   

   I didn't take the best of pictures, but some of my finds include a crab leg, a star fish, some shells, driftwood, some tile and lots of sea glass.  The blue glass you see in the picture is not tumbled enough.  It is still somewhat sharp and shiny.  Blue is so rare that I couldn't bring myself to throw it back! 

This is the picture I took after Brad found the first few pieces at the beach across from Fort Gaines

XOXO...Becky

Dauphin Island, Alabama

Dauphin Island, The Sunset Capital of Alabama

I happened to come across this little gem of an island while searching for a family beach vacation in Florida.  We always seem to go somewhere on the panhandle, which is great, but it gets tiresome going to Panama every year.  One thing I love about the HomeAway is that it lets you scroll your mouse on the map and it will bring up condos for rent above where your mouse is. I happened to scroll towards Alabama and saw this diamond.  So far during my research, I found that there are no huge resorts and it is basically a quiet little island with not much to do except go to the beach and enjoy the peace.  We have been looking for a beach house or condo for all 8 of us.  My Grandparents my brother and my Mom are going with us.  There are many options on the HomeAway app, and I found the perfect one!  It cost us $2451 for the week and has four bedrooms and is right on the beach.  That's not a bad price when you are splitting between 4 families (one family per room).  We have a pool and many amenities with our condo :)  The property manager was very fast at getting back to us about booking and very polite.  I hope this will be a fantastic family vacation!  You will hear how it all went after we get back I'm sure!  Now just to continue my research, make a list of things we must do, and count down to July!  The link to our condo is listed below:
https://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p3903189


This is what sold me on this property...Can you believe this view?!?


Location:  This island is south of Gulf Shores, Alabama.  You take AL 193 S (18 miles) across an ocean bridge.  The island is around 14 miles long and a little over a mile wide at the widest spot. There is also vehicle ferry that you can take.  The ferry will take vehicles across if that's what you need.  The cost of the ferry is minimal.  The website is listed below.  I would check it out for prices and hours of operation. 
http://mobilebayferry.com

Beaches:  So, I read in one of my sea glass books (Sea Glass Hunter's Handbook by C.S. Lambert) that this island is a great place to find glass.  I'm stoked about this!  It mentioned on the Odyssey website, which is in my helpful links on the side of my blog, that glass is mostly found by the piers.  I hope there is a ton to be found! Basically, as far as beaches are concerned, there is the gulf and the Mobile Bay behind.  On the gulf side, you will have the waves and more choppy waters.  On the bay side, it will be more calm.  There is a public beach that does have a small fee. There is also public access and the beaches directly in front of your condo or beach home. 

Things to do: There is actually quite a bit to do on this tiny island.  Some things to do include visiting Fort Gaines, seeing the bird sanctuary, learning at the Estuarium, beachcombing, and  make sure to visit the Indian Shell Mound Park.  As always, a vacation is only as good as you make it!  You all can guess what I'm mostly excited about! BEACHCOMBING AND A TAN!

Places to shop:  There are many places to shop, which include surf shops, gift shops, and small groceries. This island has all the essentials, just not any huge stores that your bigger places have.  Don't plan on going to the Wal-Mart to stock up on essentials for the week.  What I plan on doing, is getting toilet paper, paper towels, trash bags, foods that don't need refrigerated, and any other essentials at home.  Then basically, we will just need any food items that need refrigerated.

Places to eat: There are a few good places to eat, which include Pelican Pub, Skinner Seafood, JT's Sunset Grell, and Barnacle Bill's Marina Grill Inc.  I also found an ice cream place that had some good reviews, called Icecream Haven.  I'm sure we will be visiting this little place numerous times with the kiddos!

XOXO...Becky

Dauphin Island Pier