5 – 9 Dec Hurricane Alley - Gulf Shores, AL

We are right in the middle of Hurricane Alley but as it was the official end of the hurricane season on 30 Nov we felt quite safe.  The Gulf Islands National Shoreline stretch over 160 miles along Mississippi, Alabama and Florida and are barrier islands which act as a buffer to storm surge.

Pelican landing on Gulf Shores Pier

Fisherman lands a Ray

The Gulf shores State Park provides a number of educational Nature activities and talks.  We met an Eastern Screech Owl who had been given a home here after being hit by a car – she had lost an eye.  We had a guided talk on the Pier and watched fisherman land a Ray.   

A lot of this area has been rebuilt after hurricane Ivan in 2004.  The Pier is now hurricane proof with decking which can be removed when there is a hurricane threat.  The beach has miles of beautiful white sand.  The water gets deep very quickly and from the beach we watched Rays in the water and the Pelicans diving for mullet – there was a massive shoal and a fisherman caught them just by throwing a net.  At Various points of the Islands are old forts which wer used by the US Navy to protect this area during the Civil War in the 1860s.  Fort Pickens was also used to hold Apache prisoners 1886-88 - one of whom was Geronimo.




Sanderling with a small
Portugese Man of War Jellyfish

We had a camp site by the river and Paul caught a Red Fish which we had for breakfast one morning.  We saw and heard a pair of Great Horned Owls one night.  As well as alligators there are bobcats and coyote on the island and also a cougar but we never saw any of the larger mammals only the sea birds.   

Pair of Horned Owls at Sunset

We chatted to a number of park residents who are ‘volunteers’ at the state park in exchange for living there without paying ground rent – a lovely place to spend the winter.