Ferrying Over to Dauphin Island and Mississippi (Day 9)

Day 9 was a very busy day on our trip.  This was the day the girls and I headed over to Mississippi to go on an airboat tour to look for alligators.  Norah was not feeling great, but she really wanted to go, so we made it happen.  

We left early in the morning to get on the Mobile Bay Ferry that crosses between Fort Morgan and Dauphin Island.  The girls have never been on a ferry before so they were excited to get out on the water, especially with our car on the boat.  The ferry takes about 40 minutes to cross the bay.  The cost was $15 for our car and then $6 per person for the girls and I to make the trip.  The girls had a blast climbing on the tree as we waited for the ferry to arrive to cross the bay.  

Once on the ferry, the girls and I exited the car to take pictures.  While on the upper deck, I felt a tap on the should and it happened to be my friend and beer buddy from Pennsylvania named Dave.  I knew he was down in the area, but what are the chances that we were on the same ferry that morning?!?!  So it was a lot of fun to catch up.  

As we got into Dauphin Island, we had to drive a bit to get back into Mississippi where the alligator air boat tour was taking place.  The drive up Highway 193 over the Dauphin Island Bridge and then along Highway 188 was great.  You could see forever across the water.  It honestly felt like you were driving on the water.  

To get to the Gulf Coast Gator Ranch and Tours you had to drive through Bayou La Batre.  For those of you who may recognized that name, that was where Bubba from the movie Forrest Gump was from.  It's a pretty small boating town with a cool drawbridge.  We stopped there for lunch at a local Subway and McDonalds.  

Just over the Mississippi border was Moss Point, which is where the Gator Ranch was located.  I went on a swamp and alligator tour once when I was in New Orleans, but this was the first time for the girls.  They love alligators and fast boats, so this was perfect for them.  We bought some cups of food to feed the alligators on the ranch while we waited to get ready to head out on the boat.  

The boat ride was fun.  We did not see many alligators in the wild (although there was one right at the dock as we loaded into the boat), but the girls loved zooming around the swamp.  We eventually saw a few alligators and that made them happy.

After the swamp boat tour, we drove down to the Dauphin Island Sea Lab.  This is an aquarium pretty close to the Mobile Bay Ferry that had a bunch of fish and exhibits.  It was a cool little sea lab that we spent about 90 minutes exploring.  

We knew when the next ferry was, but we decided to see if we could find a beach for the girls to go swimming.  Unfortunately the beaches in Dauphin Island were still under a rip current advisory and so we decided to head back to the AirBnb.  The ride back was windy and wild.  Waves were crashing over the bow of the boat and splashing us.  

It was a long day and with Norah coming back from being sick, we just opted to lay low and eat at the AirBnB.  We had so much fun on this day!