Friday, September 6, 2019

Dauphin Island Sea Lab Adventure

When I'm out adventuring with my husband, I don't get many opportunities to leisurely stroll around and take photographs. He likes to get from point A to point B as quickly as possible, not exactly a stop and smell the roses kind of person--but his mom is!

Judith and I decided to have an exploration and chill day on Dauphin Island, Alabama--less than an hour drive from our homes on the Eastern Shore of Mobile Bay. We had such a wonderful adventure! So many interesting sea creatures at the Estuarium at Dauphin Island Sea Lab!


The admission fee was only $12 for adults, which I felt was a very fair price for the experience. (See hours of operation, and all admission fees here.) We happened to show up while three classes of elementary school students were running around in wonder, which didn't dampen our experience at all. There was plenty of room for all of us and it was fun to see how excited all of the children were to experience the lab. I wish I could have visited such an amazing place on a field trip when I was growing up in the mountains. I remember visiting farms and some neat museums, but it would have been so amazing to pet a manta ray as a kiddo!

I made a YouTube video of our experience, linked below. Watch swimming manta rays, lots of fish and turtles, a slithery snake, and a curious puffer fish, to name a few. (Note that I no longer use the Instagram handle linked at the very end of the video.)


After leaving the Sea Lab around noon, we turned to Google for guidance on where to eat lunch. We chose a restaurant called Pirate's Bar and Grill, simply because it was a seafood restaurant on the water. Our expectation was to find a seafood shack, perhaps near a marina, but instead we discovered a fascinating building with a Jetson's vibe on a stretch of pristine beach. There was seating upstairs or downstairs, both had an incredible view from almost any table. Good, affordable food; lovely, simplistic atmosphere and friendly wait staff. We certainly felt like pirates finding treasure when we discovered this place!

Pirate's Bar and Grill
100-A Orleans Drive, Dauphin Island, AL 36528



Until next time.
Carpe diem, my friend!

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