Day 47 - Dauphin Island, AL to Gulf Beach, FL

This morning we were chased back into our hotel rooms to eat our breakfasts. Tiny sand fleas were biting all over, and insect repellant didn't work on them.
From the public beach by the motel, I counted nine offshore platforms (see photo of two). Some extract natural gas.
Today we rode 53 miles. Our schedules today revolved around the ferry from Dauphin Island across Mobile Bay to a peninsula with Fort Morgan. Most of us took the 9:30am ferry. So we helped Julianne pack the trailer, then rode to the east end of the Island and saw the outside of Fort Gaines, now a state park. This fort and Fort Morgan controlled access to Mobile Bay and the city of Mobile. During the Civil War, Mobile was a strategic point connecting Southern states by rail and for shipping cotton. So in 1864, U.S. Navy Admiral David Farragut attacked the Confederate Navy to capture Mobile. The Confederate ironclad ship "Tennessee" was wreaking havoc and the battle was not going well for the North. So Farragut issued his famous "Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!" order for his ship. (Torpedoes were mines.) He gambled correctly that the waterlogged mines would not explode, and won the battle. Later when cleaning up the harbor, nine out of ten mines were found to be inert. He was lucky; the sailors heard thumps as his ship hit mines, like the one shown in the photo with Bob Plant.
Near the ferry landing was a sign: "Not a working dock". This led to some speculation. Was the dock on vacation? Goofing off?
In the photo ready to board the 9:30 ferry are (left to right) Bob Pedersen, two other riders, Bob Plant, Bob G, Ken, Rhodri, Andre, Bruce, Flynn and Jerry. Terry is out of the picture; Linda and Carol took the next ferry (more below). Flynn's goal is to ride his bicycle coast to coast. So as a matter of principle he clipped into his pedals and sat on his bike the whole way over. The last ferry photo is of Bob Pedersen rolling off.
Fort Morgan, also a state park, is right by the ferry landing. So we briefly toured its interior (see photo).
Linda and Carol stayed on the island to visit the Estuarium, which they highly recommend. The facility's visual and interactive exhibits cover the plants, animals and other natural resources of four key habitats of coastal Alabama: the Mobile Tensaw River Delta, Mobile Bay, the Barrier Islands, and the northern Gulf of Mexico.
After seeing Fort Morgan, we rode 20 miles east on route 180. Very flat, past sandy beaches alternating with houses and condo developments. Classic seaside resort housing. We stopped at Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge and walked a mile on a nature trail (see photos).
We stopped for a late lunch at The Hangout in Gulf Shores. A fun interior with hundreds of Pez dispensers and school lunch boxes (see photos). Also a fine view out to a beach and the Gulf. Rhodri and I had fish tacos that were so-so. Others liked the mahi-mahi and tuna.
After lunch we continued to follow the coastline through Orange Beach. Just before the Florida state line was a traffic jam. We thought there had been an accident. Turns out it was a mullet throwing contest, where you pay $25 to throw a (dead) mullet fish from Alabama into Florida. OK ... what do Floridians throw back?
In our last state line photo are (left to right) Flynn, Julianne, Carol, Bob Pedersen, Bruce, Bob Plant and Rhodri. Thanks to Jerry for taking the photo.
It was a good day for seeing wildlife. Rhodri spotted a snake (garter?) with its head sticking up a good foot in the air. During our evening map meeting, a curious armadillo came out of a bush and within a foot of my chair. Perhaps it needed directions?
Andre cooked swai for dinner tonight. Twice now he's done fish over two Coleman stoves. I don't know how he pulls it off. The meal was excellent.
We are camped at Big Lagoon State Recreation Area, next to a loud group of teenage girls. I miss the tree and bull frogs!
Bruce