Today was a great day of chilling! We drove from New Orleans to Gulf Port, MS.. During I drive I was stunned to see how much damage stilled remained from Katrina. The evidence of her destruction is mostly gone to the eyes of someone whom has never been to this area of the country, yet even through my eyes it was clear the magnitude of what this region, both its land and its people, suffered at the hand of mother nature. What I have found to be consistent through my travels across LA and MS in talking with the people who actually lived through it, is that the media failed to accurately portray the devastation both its magnitude and the accuracy of what was being done to help. Unfortunately it seems the media continually fails to present an un-skewed view of the news both good and bad stories.
When we arrived in Gulf Port we boarded the Ship Island Excursions Ferry bound for Ship Island. Ship Island is 11 miles off the coast. Its a part of the barrier islands which serve to protect the mainland from hurricanes. It also a National Park because Fort Massachusetts is located on the island. The ride over was about and hour and quite pleasant. The breeze served to cool down the beaming rays of sun. Watching the schools of dolphins play brought many ooohs and aaahhhs! When we arrived we had a good long walk past several construction sites. They were rebuilding all of the facility that Katrina flattened and carried away. At the end of our walk we were greeted by the most beautiful white sand beaches and clear warm water. My kids beelined for the Gulf with smiled from ear to ear. Mema and I set up camp under an umbrella as the sun was blazing hot! I walked down and touched in a toe to discover the water was like bath water at a warm 84 degrees! The kids were delighted to find several types of sea life right along the shore, such as hermit crabs, live sand dollars, and a horseshoe crab although he was floating in the water dead. Whole sea shells were scooped up and given as gifts from my children. We saw schools of minnows and lots of little fish darting around us. They waves were very small and the shallow floor allowed for walking out a good distance.We spent 5 hours on the ferry and at the beach before driving to our hotel just 20 mins away in Biloxi. We checked in and dead tired, ordered a pizza. While waiting for the pizza we went for a quick swim in the pool which turned out to more like a giant hot tub! It was a really great day!
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