March 7, 2016 - Grand Isle, LA

Edith was not too sure if she missed the sunrise, but dressed hurriedly, walked to the beach.  She missed it by few minutes, but went ahead and took pictures.  The sunrise rose  above the ocean's horizon at 7:18 am and Edith got to the beach at 7:23 am.  Hopefully, she will be up earlier tomorrow morning.

We took a stroll around the campground, then walked to the beach. 4 tents were pitched on the beach.  Not many shorebirds.  Saw few tarballs on the sand.

The beach at Grand Isle

Tent pitched on the beach

Tarball
It is a blob of petroleum which has been
weathered after floating in the ocean

Nature Sanctuary was where we hiked two years ago.  We wanted to hike there today, took the Jeep to go there.  Saw few songbirds, but there were not that many.  At end of the trail we walked on the road, saw hen with 12 chicks. A guy was feeding them bread pieces.

Thistle

We drove into Elmer’s Island.  Two years ago we went in the Roadtrek and the roads were almost impassable, so we did not venture further.  This time we could because we have 4x4 in the Jeep.  Took two side roads to the end.  Saw spoonbills, Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets, Great Blue Herons, Pied Billed Grebes.  On our way out Edith spotted several dolphins in the little creek looking for fish.

Spoonbills, Herons and Egrets 

Dolphin

We went by Cheniere Caminada Cemetery not too far from Elmer's Island.   

We wanted to check out Bridge Isle Marina/Store, went inside to look around. Not much to see or buy.  Last time we were here they were clearing the land for RV campground and now have 80 campsites with full hookups. They are still adding more. Also, they are now building a rental unit building.

There were not many restaurants or dining places that were open for business today.  Starfish Restaurant was open for lunch and we had 8 piece fried chicken with french fries and fried corn on the cob.  We could not finish our lunch and had 4 pieces of chicken and rolls put in a to-go box.

We needed groceries (remember it was closed yesterday), so we stopped at Sureway Supermarket, Grand Isle’s only grocery store, picked up few items including Mike’s Hard Lemonade. Cheaper than most stores we have been buying from.  Sureway is a grocery/hardware/paint store under one roof.  If you want to use the restroom you will have to go to the office to get a key with wood block and go to the very end of the store, walk inside the storage area, turn left and there is the bathroom!

Back to the campground we chilled out for a while. Erwin took one hour of nap while Edith edited pictures she took today.

We were not exactly very hungry, had tomato/fresh mozzarella salad for supper.  

Edith went to the tower again for sunset photo op.  She was surrprised to see that she was the only one there.  It was very windy at the top and Edith did not have a jacket on, stayed just long enough until 3/4 of the sun was down.