Bay St Louis to Gulf Shores, Alabama – 4 March 2023
A couple of hours drive and we crossed into Alabama. In contrast to the last resort, Whispering Pines was a very well maintained and looking quite new, RV park. It also had a pool (albeit not heated) and was about 10 minutes from the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen. This has got to be the cleanest State I have seen. The roads, beaches and surrounding areas do not have litter.
Our first day here we drove to Gulfport beach which, as it was Saturday, was packed. The beach was beautiful with mile upon mile of white sand. No shells or seaweed anywhere. We walked along the boardwalk and then went to a restaurant called Picnic Beach for lunch. Drinks and food were good and Jax enjoyed the artificial grass they had on their deck. Gulf shores had tons of brightly coloured vacation houses – mostly on stilts, all along the coast. Several had their own wooden bridges leading straight down to the beautiful white beach.
The following afternoon we went to Hugh S Banyard park. This park is over 6150 acres and has about 26 trails. We walked the Catman trail which extended into the Rosemary trail for a little ways. I couldn’t help noticing carpets of white moss everywhere. Turns out that is Reindeer Lichen which grows in both hot and cold climates. Reindeer, Moose and other animals feed on it during the cold winter months.
Days in Alabama were consistently warm and muggy. During the day it was a little too hot to go exploring, so our days were spent working and then around 2.30 ish we would go out. We managed to do a couple of walks in the Gulf State Park. The Lakeview Trailhead was around Lake Shelby which is also a bird reservation. All trails were paved and very well maintained. The other trail was the Tortoise Gopher trail which had several boardwalks where you could look out across streams from Lake Shelby and see Lake Shelby in the distance. Didn’t see any Alligators although there are supposed to be several in the Lake. Did see an Otter scurrying across the road and a few birds. After the Tortoise Gopher trail we went to the Hog Wild BBQ for dinner. Being a Friday night, they had a couple of guys with Acoustic guitars playing live music which was great. Got to taste the Alabama BBQ white sauce – not crazy about it. It tasted a little like pickles.
We decided it was time to get close and personal with the alligators at Alligator Alley. It was a great visit and I learned some interesting facts about them. Alligators get their name from the Spanish “el lagarto,” which means “the lizard.” Alligators are the largest reptiles in North America. They can grow up to 15 feet long and weigh nearly one thousand pounds. Males are slightly bigger than females. Alligators have powerful jaws and can bite up to 2000 lbs of force. Because Alligators are cold blooded they rely on external sources of heat to maintain body temperature. They are most active at warmer temperatures and prefer 28 to 33 c. They stop feeding when ambient temperature drops below 21 c and become dormant below 13 c. If the alligator has absorbed too much heat in the middle of summer, they will dive to the bottom of the lake, burrow into the mud and slow their heart rate, as to not burn up the oxygen in their system. Alligators can stay submerged for long periods of time. In very cold water, they can last up to eight hours submerged. Alligators can survive 2-3 years without eating
Before we left we drove we were going to walk the Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge but unfortunately when we got there we discovered it was not dog friendly. So instead, we drove towards the end of the Gulf shores, a finger of land which had the Gulf of Mexico on the one side and Mobile Bay on the other. We were able to see several oil rigs off the ocean. Apparently Mobile Bay provides 60% of all oil production and 70% of all gas production in Alabama. There are about 27 oil rigs in this area. Alabama also produces oil in other counties and has implemented quite stringent rules to protect the environment from the drilling. We stopped on the Gulf side and let Jax run along the beach. Beautiful evening and we were once again treated to a spectacular sunset.
Whenever I think of Mississippi now I will always have visions of their beautiful beaches in the sunset.
