Helicopter, Car & Boat...Gulf Shores, Alabama...

Saturday, January 30, 2021 would be our first full day in Gulf Shores. I began my day by noticing our surroundings in our hotel room. This is not right to me. Can you spot what might not seem quite right to me.?

I look at this and call it a near miss. Truly, I am not tied in knots about decorating. Things can come close and be okay in color, etc. But this, this is just not Feng Shui enough for me. I believe that lamp should be in the corner of the desk. That would allow the two pictures to be closer to the television and down even with the top and bottom of the television. Not a big deal. Maybe I should get my own show on HGTV!!

We went to the Sunliner Diner for our first meal of the day. We passed this place driving in and I saw it in my searching for how to spend our time in Gulf Shores. It looked like fun and it was. It is a 50's style diner. I enjoyed pancakes and Claude had a Southern Pride burger which had a fried green tomato on it. He pronounced it yummy. I did not receive any syrup with my pancakes. Not and issue. I don't usually put syrup on my pancakes. I just put lots of butter instead. I had no syrup and no butter. I saw our server having a conversation with two other servers. I walked to her and requested butter, lots of it, and no syrup. She said she would bring it to me. I returned to my seat and she continued to talk with the other two servers. I thought maybe they were discussing the situation so I waited. My pancakes were getting cold and I wanted that butter to melt into them. When they finished, our server stood there and looked around. She started to talk to others and I determined another conversation with me was in order. I stood up to walk back to her and she saw me move. She turned and headed to the back. I returned to my seat and she brought me lots of butter. I think she forgot when she finished her conversation with the two servers. We enjoyed our experience and had a really good food to start our day of being tourists.

The menu for Sunliner Diner is a little newspaper. I was born in 1950 and therefore found myself enjoying this little section about 1950's slang.

Next we found a car wash. My poor car left Kentucky in snow and collected all kinds of road grime along the way. She needed a bath. We found a car wash and got my Buick all cleaned on the outside.

Gulf Shores has the longest pier anywhere on the Gulf Coast. However, it was severely damaged by Hurricane Sally in 2020. It had been closed. They were opening the part that was repaired this day. We found the parking lot and went to explore The Pier. The entry sign has a turtle and Claude got this lovely picture of me with my favorite animal.

Usually the pier is used by lots of fishermen. It also usually has a place to give instructions about Gulf Shore critters and the water. The fishermen are back but it will take a while to get the building for instruction rebuilt. These are pictures taken on the top of the pier. In the center of the third picture is our hotel. 

Then we walked under the pier. These are pictures from there.

After the pier, we were off to find Zeke's Marina. We located where it was with a little effort. These marinas are behind the row of businesses that front the main drag. This particular marina was really mashed to smithereens by Hurricane Sally. In addition, they were reconstructing a hotel in front of it. Lots of construction equipment and warning signs but no sign that said Zeke's Marina. We finally saw handwritten signs pointing marina customers to walk this way through the construction area. 

Once we knew where we needed to be, we had a bit of time before we needed to be there. What to do? What to do? We walked from the parking lot to the strip of stores along the main street. There was a shop named Sweet Cone Alabama. We went inside for a refreshing ice cream cup. I had peach and Claude enjoyed a coconut ice cream with chocolate and almonds running through it.

We walked back to the car to pick up my camera. As we did we passed this lovely palm tree laden with fruit. 

We found the spot at which we would meet Matt but he wasn't there yet. I busied myself taking pictures of the birds around the marina.

Before long Captain Matt arrived in the boat that we would cruise in for two hours. My request was for a sunset cruise. I opted for two hours so we had other time to explore other things. Two hours was plenty. It is always colder on water than land. Two hours was just the right amount of time. The first picture is Captain Matt tying up our boat. The second picture is what remains of Zeke's Marina. There was actually heavy equipment pulling pilons out of the water. Clean up first, then rebuild. 

Our cruise started about 3:30pm and would go until 5:30pm. The bulk of our time was spent in Cotton Bayou. Matt first cruised us to one end of the Bayou where the water tank is for Orange Beach. He took a picture of us at this point. In the first picture, if you look at the tip top of the tree, you will see a big bird with it's wings spread. 

Matt would turn the boat around and leisurely cruise back down Cotton Bayou to the bridge. What I learned here and would see happen again in Louisiana was a rule about boating. You can't make a wake where there are homes or it is a crowded area. Once you get past a certain point, you can go as loud and fast as you please. This leg of our trip was the slow and relaxing part. I really liked the swings people put on their personal docks. Claude enjoyed the buildings built the colors of the sea. There was lots of evidence of Hurricane Sally and the damage she did to homes and docks. The water fowl are especially fun for me to watch and try to capture in a picture. 

Next Captain Matt would take us under the bridge between Alabama and Florida. This area is called Perdido Channel. Perdido is Spanish for 'lost'. The channel was formed by a hurricane. Now they keep it dredged to get into Cotton Bayou. Captain Matt wanted us to see the dredging operation. There is a platform set up in the water with large piping. The water is pumped through the piping from the platform and sprays out onto land leaving sand on the land. It was fun to see. We watched this in the Panama Canal a few years ago. The water was definitely rougher as you left the safety of Cotton Bayou and headed into the Gulf of Mexico. 

We would go back into Cotton Bayou and travel further away from our beginning point. Captain Matt was on the search for dolphins. Claude did see one in Cotton Bayou. I never saw any but that didn't dampen my enjoyment of the boat ride. We were taught a bit of history on this leg of our journey. These three picture are of that history. The first picture is of Ono Island. Ono Island was originally known as 'Goat Island' or 'George Kee's Island'. This island belonged to Fred Scott who brought goats to the island and allowed them to roam freely. Hence, 'Goat Island'. His caretaker was a man named George Kee, hence, 'George Kee's Island'. George Kee built himself a little house on the island. There were some wild hogs on the island and Kee let anyone shoot them. The island was really not an island back then. There was a spit of land that connected it to the other areas. In 1916 a hurricane created a new opening on the west end of the island making it a real island. Florida tried to lay claim to the land. Alabama legislators said, "Oh no you don't!" giving the Island the name Ono Island. Today the island is an exclusive community unto itself. The only way in and out is a gate that is closed and only opened if you have someone open it for you or you know the combination. The lots sell for $2,000,000 and a lot with a home run in the $6,000,000 range. I found it interesting that Hurricane Sally didn't care how much money you had. It ripped your private docks apart just like everywhere else. Roofs were being replaced just like other place we encountered on this trip. Weather does not know how much money one has in their pockets. It just does it's thing.

We passed this beautiful tug boat from New Orleans, Louisiana. Then we were in the 'go fast' zone! And Captain Matt did just that. He would find a little bay area and we slowed down in it to look for more dolphins. We did not find any but it was very scenic.

It was getting closer to time for the sun to set. Before Captain Matt turned the boat around to headed back toward Zeke's Marina, he stopped the boat and point out Florida in one direction, Alabama in the other, the Gulf of Mexico in another. Since we had entered several cove type areas, Claude I were a bit turned around. After Captain Matt told us these locations, I had my bearings again. 

Claude and I love watching the wake of the boat. This was a good time to do just that. While the boat was going fast, we hit a wave and water came into the boat. I looked at Claude and we laughed at being a bit wet. I told him, "When we get out of this boat later and it looks like I wet myself, please know I did not!" Funny thing was, when we both got out of the boat at the end of our cruise, we both looked like we wet ourselves. 

Captain Matt found a nice spot where the boat could just idle as we watched the sunset. Simply beautiful. Captain Matt took one more picture of us at sunset. 

Such a splendid afternoon on the water. All that fresh air made us a mite hungry. There was a restaurant right by Zeke's Marina named The Shrimp Basket. We decided to go there for dinner. Turned out to be a good choice. We both enjoyed a cup of seafood gumbo to warm us up. Claude enjoyed a shrimp po-boy and I had crab cakes for our meal. I was particularly taken with a sign on the wall. It read, "Sandy toes and Salty kisses are Welcome Here!" 

Sunday, January 31st, we started our morning by watching the Zoom broadcast of Sacrament Meeting from our home ward. 

Our first meal was lunch. We opted to take the suggestion from Captain Matt to eat at The Gulf. This restaurant is at the base of the bridge on the Alabama side we boated around the day before. It is open air. All seating is outside. Clearly it is a play and party place when it is busy. We were there as they were opening and had the place to ourselves most of time. Two other couples came as we were finishing up. You go to a counter and place your order. You are given cups and you get your soda. Our food was brought to our table. Claude had a lobster roll and I had shrimp tacos. The food was delicious just as Captain Matt said it was. Great fun to enjoy the fresh air while we ate.

These pictures make a panorama as we sat at our table.

This is our table with the device that lets them know where to deliver your food.

When we finished eating, I took more pictures of this area. 

Time for this day's big adventure. At the west end of Gulf Shores is Fort Morgan. It is located so that part of it faces the Gulf of Mexico and the other side is the mouth of Mobile Bay. Way across Mobile Bay is Dauphin Island. There is usually a ferry going back and forth between the two places at the mouth of Mobile Bay. Alas, Hurricane Sally severely damaged the dock for the ferry so there are were no ferries running at this time. I thought that would have been a great trip back and forth. 

Fort Morgan was used during the War of 1812. At that time it was called Fort Bowyer. In 1819 Fort Morgan was constructed to provide a stronger fortification. It figured prominently during the Civil War, the Spanish American War, and World War II. Today it is a historical site. There is a visitor’s center with a small museum. We toured it first. 

You are free to roam the grounds as you will. We were given a leaflet to help us in that process. It was full of information about Ft. Morgan and its place in American history. I have scanned it and will share it here in case you are a history buff. 

Basically, Fort Morgan was originally started with a 10-sided structure called the Citadel. This housed the soldiers. Then the actual brick fort was built around this Citadel. The Citadel was destroyed in a fire and any usable wood was used in the fort. Today the area where the Citadel was built is the grassy area in the center interior of the main fort. Outside the brick walls of Fort Morgan is a dry moat. Actually, today there is a little stream running in it which I find amusing. As the years went by and new technology in weaponry was developed, other batteries would be added to house this new armament. Thus, Fort Morgan spread over a good deal of land on the end of Gulf Shores island.

We left the visitor center museum and went to Tour Marker 1. From that point I took these pictures to form a panorama of the entry area to the fort. 

Time to enter Fort Morgan. The entrance is through the earth embankments around the outside of the fort. These embankments are a first defense when under attack. Between this earth embankment and the brick walls of the fort is the dry moat.

After you leave the tunnel through the earth embankment, you are in the area of the dry moat and find the entrance into the brick walls of the fort.

The brick walls of the fort are thick and have arched openings. There are rooms in these walls that served are barracks, offices, laundry, meeting rooms, placement for cannons, etc. 

From the walls, you enter the open area that once housed the Citadel. We saw no remains of the Citadel. These pictures are of this center area. Note the arched walls of the casements and how they open into rooms.

One of the batteries added over time was Battery Duportail. The cannon that sat on this battery was HUGE. It could be raised and lowered when used. Evidence of the technology needed to use this cannon is in the rails in the floors and ceilings of the fort. The cannon does not exist. The metal in it was needed during World War. 

From this top layer of Fort Morgan one can see the importance of this Fort in protecting Mobile Bay and the land surrounding it. 

We then went down to Battery Schenck. The view from this location again afforded us a view of the Gulf of Mexico and how strategically placed this fort was. We could look back to the visitor's center. Beyond the visitor's center were more fortifications which we did not go down and walk through. And we had a really good view of the earth embankments, dry moat and entrance through the brick walls.

We have toured many forts in our years of marriage. They are fascinating places and speak of a time in history when this was the cutting edge of defending the country.

As we drove back to our hotel, we stopped at Bon Secour Wildlife Refuge. The dune areas are closed off so you can't roam around those. But there are paths that lead to the Gulf of Mexico and other places. We found one with a path to the Gulf and walked out to enjoy walking on the beach one last time. 

Dinner this night would be a Doc's. It was a place we saw when looking for a Mexican dinner the first night. Claude really was taken with it and wanted to try it out. They say they have 'the best fried shrimp ever'. I had the fried shrimp and it was indeed excellent. They batter it and fry it instead of breading it. Really, really good. They also had little cups with a spoonful of horseradish in them on the table. You simply take one and add catsup, which is also at your table, and make cocktail sauce to your liking. I really liked this idea. This place also had three older people providing music. One man played bass guitar, a lady sang, and another man played guitar and sang. They were very good. 

When we got back to our hotel room, Claude gave Bonnie, his mother, a call to see how she was doing. This always makes me happy.