Exploring Fort Barrancas … and More

Sunday, 9 September
High Temp: 89F (32C); low humidity

It was still dark when we woke up at 6:30a, but we didn’t have to wait long to find out that the forecast for a beautiful day of sunshine with low humidity was going to hold true.  Eating our breakfast on the balcony, we planned out our day and enjoyed the great weather.

Next, a walk on the beach was in order.  A nice breeze, and temps around 70F (21C) made for extremely comfortable conditions.  In one direction, the scenery was bathed golden by the sun that was still low on the horizon.  Heading that way, we enjoyed the herons and the shorebirds silhouetted against the sky and surf.  We even came across a heron chasing another off its territory … a bit of wildlife drama.  Boy, what I wouldn’t have given to have my DSLR handy at that moment.

I didn't even see the fish jumping out of the water when I took the photo (center right edge).

Reaching our turnaround point, we stopped to look down the length of the beach.  That’s when the “attack of the biting black flies” commenced.  It turns out that these flies are a common occurrence in August, giving rise to the term, “the dog days of summer.”  Because there was so much rain last month, they are apparently a little late this year.  What a pain!  We had to quick-step our way back to escape the flies; as for stopping to enjoy special moments — like the pelicans flying in formation, or one of the Navy’s elite Blue Angels taking an aircraft up for a spin — forget about it.

The only escape seemed to be in the water.  So, Mui decided to go for a swim.  A glutton for punishment, I continued my walk towards Pensacola Lighthouse on the other end of the beach.  The flies were just as bad there.  I quickly learned the art of composing-pictures-on-the-walk and stopping for a second to click the shutter.  Of course, when reveille sounded at 8:00a, followed by the national anthem, I had to suffer in silence, but standing in knee-deep water helped a bit.

Finding Mui still enjoying his dip in the warm, green-brown waters of Pensacola Bay, I joined him for a brief swim before we returned to the room to prepare for the day ahead.  Our plan was to have a bit of fun first, then do a recon-run related to our domiciling appointments, and bring the day to a close with more fun.

We didn’t have to go far for our fun.  Located just down the road from the Navy Lodge on NAS Pensacola is Fort Barrancas (Fort B), which is part of Gulf Islands National Seashore.  Built in the 1840s on the bluffs (barrancas) overlooking Pensacola Bay, Fort B “served as the lock on the gate from potential foreign invaders.”

Fort Barrancas and the Water Battery from Taylor Road.

We were too early for the 11:00a ranger-led tour, so we grabbed one of the leaflets from the box near the gate and headed off to explore the fort on our own.  A few other visitors came through while we were exploring, but they did not stay long, so we had the place to ourselves. 

From the water battery, gunners could fire smoothbore cannon shots at ship masts
or skip shots across the surface of the bay, hoping to hit wooden hulls at the waterline.

Fort B wasn’t the first fortification built in the area.  In 1698, concerned about the French and British colonization, the Spanish constructed a fort here.  Later, the French and the British took their turns occupying Pensacola.  Eventually, during the American Revolution in 1781, the Spanish recaptured Pensacola and built new fortifications on the barrancas: San Carlos de Barrancas and Bateria de San Antonio (the water battery).

Fort Barrancas is surrounded by a dry moat on two sides.
Assaulting infantry entering the ditch would suffer heavy casualties from
muskets and cannons fired through the loopholes in the walls.

The white stucco structure to the left of the fort is the water battery built
by the Spanish in 1797; it was modified and armed by the American military while
the current Fort Barrancas was being built in the 1840s.

The Americans seized the two Spanish forts in 1814 and 1818 and made improvements to them after Florida became part of the US in 1821.  The current fort was built between 1839-1844 over the ruins of the Spanish fort.  Fort B played a role during the Civil War as well, seeing action from September 1861 until the Confederates abandoned Pensacola in May 1862.  The fort continued to be an important part of the coast defense system until 1947 when the coastal forts were declared surplus.

The United States built Fort Barrancas and 41 other fortifications as part of a
grand system to protect the nation’s 35,000-mile coastline.  Built between 1816-1870,
this was the third such system in the nation’s history.

From the overlook, we walked the short distance to go inside Fort Barrancas.  Of course, we couldn’t pass up a Two to Travel photo op at the drawbridge.

A harmless shot fired by a guard on this drawbridge on the night of 8 January 1861
is considered by some to be the first shot in the American Civil War.

Taking our time, we wandered the scarp and counterscarp galleries; peeked through the loopholes; peered through the bars into the locked magazines that once held gunpowder, arms, provisions, and other goods; and checked out the parade ground with its lone 24-pounder.

Peeking into a magazine in what was once the Guard Room.

A series of arches in the scarp gallery supported the sand fill above and allowed
access to the loopholes for muskets.

Loopholes in the counterscarp (left) and scarp galleries allowed soldiers
to fire upon enemy that entered the ditch between the walls.

The Parade Ground, located in the center of the fort, held a hot furnace where
cannonballs were heated for firing at wooden sailing ships.  It was also where
some of the big guns installed to defend the coast were located.

Leaving the parade ground behind, next we walked through the tunnel connecting the fort with the Water Battery, which was originally constructed by the Spanish.  From here, cannon fire was skipped over the surface of the bay to hit ships at the waterline.

This tunnel leads from the fort to the water battery; Mui is standing atop the bombproof.

Infantrymen would have been stationed atop the bombproof to defend
the battery during an attack.

A peek through the door gives us a glimpse into a restored magazine in the bombproof.

View of the bombproof and Fort Barrancas from the ramparts of the water battery.
The higher walls of the fort allowed canNons to be fired over the top of the
battery at enemy storming Pensacola Bay.

It was just after 11:00a when we left the fort.  Programming the address for the Office of the Tax Collector into the GPS, we headed off to scout out where we’ll be going Wednesday to get our all-important Florida driver’s licenses — key to completing the domiciling process.  From there, we decided to find our “residential address,” so we headed over to American Home Base.  Not only has this company been helping us with the domiciling process, but it will give us a street address in Florida and forward our mail to us while we’re living on the road.

Business taken care of, we decided a seafood lunch was in order and tried to program the GPS for Perdido Key.  When it came up with Perdido Beach, Alabama, we figured that was close enough.  Wrong!  A long, boring drive dead-ended at the edge of the water, but it was nowhere near where we wanted to be.  Luckily, we recognized some of the street names from our exploratory drive yesterday, so we winged it sans the GPS and got where we wanted to go.

This Google Maps image shows (from top right to bottom left) the locations of American
Home Base (blue flag), the Office of the Tax Collector (blue flag), Fort Barrancas (camera),
the Navy Lodge (bed); the Crab Trap (fork & knife), and Alabama’s Gulf State Park (tent).

There seems to be a dearth of eateries along the Florida part of Perdido Key, and we were getting awfully hungry.  Noticing the well-populated parking lot at the Crab Trap, we decided to eat lunch there.  It turned out to be just OK.  Our experience might have been better had we been able to eat al fresco, but the biting black flies had us scurrying inside before we could even sit down.  We each ordered a Caesar salad, and split a basket of popcorn shrimp and crab cakes — nothing to write home about.  But we made up for it later with some Hershey ice cream — yummy!

Today’s lunch was at the Crab Trap …

… dessert was at the Hershey Ice Cream store further down the road.

Continuing our drive across the Florida-Alabama stateline, we passed through some heavily built up areas with high-rise condominiums and plenty of attractions, including restaurants.  It all stood in stark contrast to the beautiful, natural beach areas of the Gulf Islands National Seashore.

We’d heard a lot of good things about Alabama’s Gulf State Park, so we made a detour to check it out.  ($1 to drive around the campground.)  With nearly 500 sites, the campground here is huge and has all kinds of facilities to keep snowbirders entertained, including a newly opened Nature Center.

Liking what we saw, we headed over to the park headquarters to check out availability, only to be told that they are booked solid for December through March.  The manager suggested calling back in November when campers apparently start canceling their reservations, but he didn’t hold out much hope that we’d get in.  Still, it might be worth making a few calls to see if we can get a couple of days sometime in late January; it would make a nice stop-over on our way to Red Bay where we plan to get a head-to-toe check-up on the Phaeton.

After filling up at $3.48/gallon — the best price we’ve seen in the few days we’ve been here; even on base gas is $3.69/gallon — we crossed the stateline into Florida and returned to NAS Pensacola.  A swim and a quick-step walk to avoid the flies on the beach wrapped up the day.

We get glimpses of a beautiful sunset from our balcony.

A simple al fresco dinner is the perfect end to our day.

Not sure what we’ll be doing tomorrow.  Initially, this was going to be a “domiciling day,” but we managed to get our vehicles registered in Florida several weeks ago (with the help of American Home Base), so we have a free day.  I guess we’ll just play it by ear.