Biloxi Bay Bridge: Walking Over Water … and More

Sunday, 21 April
Shields RV Park — NCBC Gulfport, Mississippi
Temps: Lo 50F / Hi 71F (10C / 22C)

Another beautiful day of sunshine and comfy temps.  Giving us two such days in a row, Mother Nature repays us for the overcast, muggy days — not to mention soaking rains — we experienced during our first few days in Gulfport.

We had no real plans for the day, except that we knew we wanted to walk the Biloxi Bay Bridge (BBB), which carries US-90 over the water and connects Biloxi to Ocean Springs.  At 1.7 miles (2.7 km) each way, the BBB is shorter than the St. Louis Bay Bridge (SLBB), which we walked last Saturday (post here).  But there are some similarities.  Like the SLBB, this bridge was also severely damaged during Hurricane Katrina.  And like the SLBB, the renovated bridge has a pedestrian/bike path that is decorated with copper panels designed by local artists. The panels, I have since found out, are actually copper plates from the old bridge.

The new Biloxi Bay Bridge opened to service in late 2007, a little over
two years after the original bridge was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.

Rather than park at the casino, which was teaming with gamblers despite the early hour, we drove across the bridge to start our walk from the Ocean Springs side.  Our reason for doing so was two fold: easy parking at the foot of the bridge; and a chance to photograph a beautiful mosaic mural while the light was right.  Plus, this direction put the sun behind us while it was still low on the horizon.

This shot captures three of the four panels that make up the mosaic mural.

The 120-foot (36.5 m) long, wave-shaped, multi-panel mural is simply beautiful.  The Gulf Coast magazine we picked up at the visitor center describes it as: “… Four large mosaic panel pieces, depicting the natural beauty of the Mississippi Gulf Coast make up this one-of-a-kind piece of art.  The mosaic is a combination of artwork by local artists Patt Odom, Chris Stebly, Susie Ranager and Ching Walters, with artist Elizabeth Veglia arranging the overall placement and installation.  The entire mosaic process took one year to  complete.”  Unfortunately I was unable to find a vantage point from which to photograph the entire “wave.”  But here are some details shots from each panel.

If you find yourselves near the BBB, I highly suggest making a detour to see the mural; you won’t regret it.

Two things that make this bridge different from the SLBB … the grade on the BBB is slightly steeper and longer.  Still easily doable, though — especially since there are conveniently placed benches along the way where walkers/bikers can take a load off.  The longer SLBB doesn’t have anywhere to sit en route.  Of course, you can also take a break by stopping and pretending to study the copper plaques installed every 1/10th of a mile.

The benches would make a great spot for sunrise, but we’re too late for that today.

A beautiful day; few vehicles; and even fewer walkers/bikers … makes for a great bridge walk.

It was 11:00a when we returned to the car.  A little early for lunch, so we decided to check out the Davis Bayou area of Gulf Islands National Seashore.  Primarily we wanted to look around the campground operated by the National Park Service (NPS).  We were told that this first-come, first-served campground had some big-rig friendly sites.  A couple of them looked like they might work for us and we might stay there on another pass through the area.  No photos of the campground … the place was packed and I didn’t want to invade anyone’s privacy.  But to the left is a photo I took of an exhibit at the visitor center, where we stopped to chat with the ranger on duty.  Looks like they may have to eliminate some of those great ranger programs we all enjoy if they have to reduce the number of rangers on duty to just one person due to the sequestration.  What a shame!

The bonus for stopping in at the visitor center — a mosaic compass rose on the floor near the entrance!

Another beautiful Elizabeth Veglia mosaic; it stretches 8 feet (2.4 m) across.

On our way back out of the park, we stopped at a boardwalk bridge crossing over the bayou for a quick look-see.  We were rewarded not just by beautiful, peaceful scenery, but also some wildlife at Gator Pond.  There was a woman throwing rocks into the pond to wake a sleeping alligator, but she quickly skedaddled when she realized I had seen what she was doing.  You know, kids may do stupid things like this, but a full-grown adult?!?  Somehow I expect better of us big ‘uns.

You mean you can’t see the gator behind and to the left of the clump of
grass on the far side of the pond? …

… Yeah … it is well hidden, but here’s a glimpse of it.  And …

… sharing the pond are a couple of yellow-bellied sliders that provide us with
a “double the pleasure” photo-op.

We don’t have time to do the park justice this time, but we’ll plan a longer visit next time we come through the area.

On that note, we drove back across the BBB and made our way to McElroy’s Harbor House for lunch.  I’m sure there are other places with better ambiance (and better seafood) in Biloxi, or Ocean Springs, but we spied this place during our brief stop at the Town Green yesterday and thought its location at the small craft harbor across the channel from Deer Island would make a great place for lunch.  Despite arriving at the peak of lunch service, we were seated at one of the few tables on the balcony.  Sure it was on the cool side in the shade and with the breeze coming off the water, but that was easily solved with a light fleece jacket.

A couple of Blue Moon beers to toast a beautiful day …
with Deer Island …  and Laughing gulls … as a backdrop.

The gulls were plentiful, but they didn’t bother us.  Can’t say the same for the empty tables where, as soon as the patrons left, the gulls did a parade fly-by in hopes of whisking away a tidbit or two.  The busboy was too fast for them, however, and only a few got away with stealing lunch!

Speaking of lunch … no photos of our meal ... I was having too much fun watching the gulls.  I will say that the broiled flounder fillet we both ordered was good, but nothing to rave about.

No sooner did the woman behind Mui vacate her table that the gulls showed up en masse.

The day was just too beautiful and we weren’t ready to go home after lunch was over.  We’d come prepared to spend time at the beach, so that’s where we headed next.  We had no problem snagging a beach-side parking spot, which made it easy for us to carry our paraphernalia to a patch of sand that we called our own for a couple of hours.

A well-deserved break after walking nearly 17,000 steps today — or 5¼ miles (8½ km).

So glad we bought this easy-to-set-up beach shelter; a few stakes in the
sand and it’s not going anywhere.

This is the life!
(No swimming today; the muddy waters of the Mississippi Sound is not to Mui’s liking!)

And thus we bid Mississippi farewell … for this year.