Davis Bayou Area - 12/07/15 - Ocean Springs, MS

Monday – December 7, 2015
Gulf Islands National Seashore
Davis Bayou Area
Oceans Springs, Mississippi

Pleasant sunny days with temperatures in the middle sixties, with no pesky bugs or mosquitoes, provided an ideal environment for enjoying outdoor activities here at the Gulf Islands National Seashore, Davis Bayou Area, in Ocean Springs, Mississippi. We are so appreciative our continued good health and financial resources allow us to travel extensively throughout the United States, experiencing new scenic adventures.

When we arrived at the Davis Bayou Area on Thursday, December 3, 2015, we intended to stay only two days. On Friday, we decided to extend our stay another three days and depart on Tuesday.

The Gulf Islands National Seashore is a place of sparkling blue waters, magnificent white beaches, and fertile coastal marshes. There are historic forts, shaded picnic areas, trails, and campgrounds. The park includes 12 units stretching eastward 160 miles from Cat Island, Mississippi, to the Okaloosa Area east of Fort Walton Beach, Florida.

Congress established Gulf Islands National Seashore in 1971 to provide recreation and to protect the wildlife, barrier islands, salt marshes, historic structures, and archeological sites along the Gulf of Mexico. Although 80% of the park is submerged lands, the islands are the most outstanding features to most visitors. The national seashore islands are long and narrow, composed of white sand carried seaward by rivers draining the Appalachian Mountains. Dunes of snow-white sand give the islands a distinctive look. Held together by a network of stems and roots, the dunes are composed of fine quartz sand that originates in distant mountains.

Besides the islands, the national seashore includes four parcels of land on the Florida and Mississippi mainlands. Here the visitor will find fortifications built by the Spaniards and Americans. Forts here span from the Spanish colonial era in the 1700’s to World War II in the 1940’s. See the site of the first federal live oak plantation and reservation, archeological traces of American Indians, and forests and marshes with a variety of wildlife.

There is no beach within the Davis Bayou Area but public beaches are nearby in Ocean Springs.

Tomorrow another adventure begins.