2018 01 05-07 USS Alabama, Beauvoir and Audubon Bird Sanctuary

Friday, January 5, 2018

Toured the USS Alabama. 

These are shells for the front two "big guns". We are in the turret barbette which is the protective circular armored support for a heavy gun turret. We didn't get to see this area in Hawaii when we toured the USS Missouri. 

It was a nice sunny day but still chilly in the 40's and 50's. 

Bob "working" the machine guns. 

Behind me is the original teak decking throughout the main deck. I asked why a wooden deck. The Navy believed a wooden deck would be less slippery once it got wet. But is it not more dangerous from exploding shells. The guide says teak shards do not cause infections.  

Glad we were not on this Duck tour. When it tried to leave the dock the front end got stuck in the mud. They rocked it back and forth trying to rev the engine enough to clear the mud. By the time the Duck was free the engine was smoking in two places.  

Late lunch after the ship tour. Wintzell's has been in business for 75 years and is an historic landmark. 

The waitress was so nice to mention that she would hold off on running the tab until Happy Hour when our plate of "naked" oysters would be half off. They were very good spritzed with lemon, resting on a cracker and dabbed with cocktail sauce. 

Beautiful sunset at the beach. Neither dog seems to appreciate the views.

Saturday, January 6, 2018

We decided to travel to the neighboring state to visit the Mississippi Sandhill Crane National Wildlife Reserve. Initially we thought this was a NWR in Mississippi that housed Sandhill Cranes. Cool. But we were wrong. It is a NWR for the Mississippi crane which is different from the standard crane. We were psyched to see something that does not exist anywhere else. Sadly, when we spoke with the ranger he said they have only 100 birds in 28,000 acres so the possibility of seeing one was nil. Such a disappointment. 

We visit the summer home in Biloxi which had been purchased by Jefferson Davis. The original owner named it Beauvoir which means "beautiful view" which was what she saw when she opened the front doors and saw the Gulf of Mexico just on the other side of her front lawn.  

The raised floor is to allow air to cool the rooms above. All of the windows are floor to ceiling and open with three sections, again to allow the breeze from the north side (the back) to cool the house. There is many fine furnishings left by Jefferson Davis' daughter, Margaret. We were sad to hear that Hurricane Katrina did break through the front door, shattering the original glass and flooding the entire house with 18 inches of water. The furniture has been restored, the walls have been replastered and the door glass has been replaced. 

The front (south) veranda. You can see the front door on the left and the triple sectioned window. 

Reproduction of the Hayes Pavilion which was built as a haven for itinerant Methodist circuit riders. The original was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.  

Sunday, January 7, 2018

Fort Gaines on Dauphin Island. This one and Fort Morgan across the mouth of Mobile Bay were designed to defend the bay.

Our girls really like to explore the fort except for the stickers (burrs) in the grass that get horribly tangled in their fur and are very painful in their paws.

One really nice feature of this campground is that it backs up to paths accessing the beach and the Audubon Bird Sanctuary. After lunch, we decided to seek the protection of the trees from the wind and see if there was any wildlife. 

The osprey was so easy to see as he sat above the lake. I doubt it was a fishing perch since the lake was probably not big enough for hunting purposes. More likely he hunted on the bridge side of the island or in the Gulf. 

Bob, what happened to your hand? Didn't you read the sign? Not to worry, folks. There was no alligator...nor anything else that we could see in the lake. We were heading back home and passed the informational sign about the various raptors that visit. I mentioned how I have never seen a Great Horned Owl and really wanted to see one in the wild. Five minutes later we heard hooting. We thought it was another hiker but as we kept walking it sounded again and this time it was definitely closer.

Lo and behold, we spied this Great Horned Owl in his roosting place. We watched for about 30 minutes without any movement. Suddenly, a group of small warblers became agitated by his presence and were flying by twittering angrily. The owl  began hooting again and raised his "horns" but never did turn towards us. It was still awesome. 

In the swamp area we saw a male Pintail, Great Blue Heron and a couple male Mallards. 

Huey, Dewey and Louie. Two female Mallards and one female Black Duck. Good thing we ran into a few guys on the way back home. One of them was an ornithologist by profession and had seen the swamp occupants or we might have thought the middle one was just a hybrid mallard.