davis bayous area gulf islands national seashore

The temperature was hot and humid outside the visitor center in Davis Bayou. Gulf Islands National Seashore Davis Bayou Visitor Center Access to other islands may be arranged through private boat charter licensed as National Park Service operators for Cat Island, East Ship Island, Horn Island and Petit Bois. The park facilities and restrooms on the island were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and never rebuilt.

Pin shows location of West Ship Island, the only island accessible by National Park Service concessionaire ferry â€œPan Islesâ€ at Gulfport, MS from March to October. Mississippi coast region of Gulf Islands National Seashore Gulf Islands National Seashore operating hours and seasons for different park areas in Florida and MississippiĪ – Naval Live Oaks Park Headquarters â€“ Gulf Breeze, Floridaī – Fort Pickens Visitor Center â€“ Pensacola, FloridaĬ – Fort Barrancas Visitor Center â€“ Pensacola, Florida Sea charts from 200 years ago for the coastal region show some islands have shifted as much as 6 miles to the west in the past two centuries. The barrier islands are still shifting sands in the Gulf of Mexico. Â Barrier islands were also strategically important militarily in the past as the main line of defense against enemy attacks on Gulf Coast ports in Florida, Alabama and Mississippi. These barrier islands serve as the main line of defense protecting the mainland from tropical storms. These islands are actively shifting sands in the sea and home to sea turtles, some of the highest concentrations of dolphins in the world and decaying military fortresses that served to protect the mainland harbors for more than two hundred years. Gulf Islands National Seashore was created to protect the barrier islands off the Florida and Mississippi coast. There are six park areas in Florida for the National Seashore with two eastern park visitor centers in the Florida Panhandle around Pensacola and a western park center in Ocean Springs, Mississippi. Unknown to me and unplanned was an excursion at Ocean Springs, Mississippi into Gulf Islands National Seashore, the largest national seashore in the USA stretching 160 miles east to west. 90, the road that hugs the white sand beaches of Mississippi. Gulf Islands National Seashore, Davis Bayou Visitor Center, Ocean Springs, MississippiĪs soon as I was out of the traffic congestion of Mobile, Alabama on Interstate 10, I saw a sign for â€œBeachesâ€ and exited the interstate for U.S. There are four other islands off the Mississippi coast that are part of the Gulf Islands National Seashore, however, they are accessible only by private boat. Visitors can access West Ship Island off the coast of Mississippi from a ferry concessionaire in Gulfport, MS. This was an unanticipated find for me as I drove U.S. Gulf Islands National Seashore park center at Davis Bayou is a mainland visitor center three miles east of Ocean Springs, Mississippi. Still, I visit and write about parks and the outdoors whenever I have the opportunity to visit some place new.īeach on Santa Rosa Island, Florida National Park Service photo

Iâ€™d love to make my writing career focused on parks, but that kind of topical writing does not pay my bills. Each of the past three years I have had the opportunity to visit at least two National Parks on my drive out of Florida road trips. 2016 is the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service.

Davis bayous area gulf islands national seashore