Gulf Islands National Seashore Review

The islands making up this park stretch from the west end of the Florida Panhandle across Alabama and Mississippi.  The sediment from the flow of the Mobile River makes sand on more westward islands and the water around them darker while the sands from Gulf Shores eastward are bright white and the waters clear increasingly.  As you continue to move east they begin to have a beautiful aquamarine tint like those of the Carribean.  These long skinny islands more or less parallel the coastline and help to create the intra- coastal waterways.  This review will focus on the Gulf Shores and islands to the east.

 
Pensacola Beach is the break on Santa Rosa Island, the easternmost island of the group, and not a part of the National Park.  If you here to sunbathe and party, this is the place.

 
The best known historic significance of these islands is the three point defense of Pensacola Bay with Ft Pickens on Santa Rosa Island, Ft Barrancas on the Mainland (now NAS Pensacola) and Ft McRee on Perdido Island. 

 
The road to Ft Pickens washed out during Hurricane Ivan and has not been rebuilt.  It is accessible by water taxi and camping is now available again. Part of “Jaws” was filmed here, the sequal I think.  A beautiful paper mache’ light house was erected and it was convincing enough to confuse daytime travelers who were not local.

 
Ft Barrancas is the prettiest of the three forts with it’s grassy setting.  It is reminiscant of other brick Spanish forts in Florida and Georgia. While on the open portions of NAS Pensacola visiting Ft Barrancas, you may also see the lighthouse and the Naval Air Museum with its IMAX theater.  If you come during training the Blue Angels may fly overhead. Pensacola is a good place to see a show as well. There’s just something about performing for the hometown crowd and the view from a boat on the water is completely un obstructed.

 
Ft McRee took heavy damage during the civil war and erosion did the rest, but people still refer to the easten point of Perdido island by the name.  Accessible by private boat, this is a popular place to anchor, camp or have a party, sometimes even a wedding. This stretch of the park extends to Rosamond Johnson Beach, accessible by car from Gulf Shores.  Park boundaries are very clear as high rises com up to the edge.

 
Barrier Islands shift slowly over time. Periodic large storms wash away large parts of the islands. In active tourist areas where the expense is cost effective massive machinery puts it back. The barrier islands of this park are no exception.  Hurricane Ivan is the most recent storm to washed away large amopunts of sand and the road. The dunes are currently in recovery, much flatter than before and the sea oats that help to secure the sand are greatly reduced. Still this is a beautiful beach to visit and less crowded than many.  The beach has life guards and facilities and there amenties nearby.  The roads on Johnson Beach have been rebuilt and primitive camping is once again allowed half a mile past the end ot the road.  I personally like the solitude of primitive camping, but not the primitive part.  For primitive camping that is this easy to reach like this is, I’ll have a nice meal somewhere else and bring only the tent, drinks and marshmellos or other snacks to the camp.  Some people have made light hand carts with fat tires that will roll on the sand.

 
Among the more nototiousof nearby attractions is the FloraBama lounge.  Once a small bar among fishing shacks tag lined as tha last great american roadhouse, this well known bar is famous for straddling the Florida-Alabama state line, the mullet (fish) tossing contest, and the polar bear dip in winter and though it has grown larger over time, it also has become dwarfed by neighboring high rises.

 http://www.nps.gov/guis/