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Some of the rig structures are unmanned and monitored via telemetry back to shore.  Even though they are small when compared to other rigs, they are pretty big and are excellent fish havens.

This is a double rig that is due East from the East end of the island. This one is manned and produces "sweet" gas, meaning no refinement is necessary to remove contaminants.

  The famous Dixie Bar is a long shallow drift sand bar that runs from Fort Morgan on the Eastern side of the ship channel to near Farwell Buoy out in the Gulf.  It is about 4 feet deep in some places and is always rough.  Two foot high swells heading in from the Gulf will turn into 5 or 6 footers when they hit the shallow bar.

Sand Island Lighthouse has existed for years.  It once was a large piece of land that had quarters for the light keeper and his family.  They had cattle, pigs, chickens and pretty much stayed on the small island full time. It is now sealed off and is protected only by rocks and pilings.  Work is underway to try to preserve it. It does not have a light now, the replacement beacon is at Fort Morgan on the East side of the mouth of Mobile Bay.

Currently, just to the West of the Lighthouse is a jack-up drilling rig.  They use these to drill new wells and to clean out existing wells.  These are huge.  Notice the yellow gas rig beneath the jack-up and the huge crew boat to it's left.

Those tires that are fitted over the steel pilings are about 3 or 4 feet wide.

Notice the drilling derrick is positioned over the existing wellhead. They are re-drilling or cleaning out this well.

Here you can see the toothed legs of the rig and it's hull.  Huge gears raise and lower the legs to whatever depth they need.  To move it, they just raise the legs and let it float on its hull and tow it with a couple of very big tugs.

Most of all offshore rigs have helicopter landing pads.

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Luckily, we got these pictures early in the day on the 3rd.  We ventured down toward Pensacola in the Gulf while waiting for more tall ships to arrive and when we got back to finish taking pictures, we noticed a nice ship heading in under sail.  As we sped toward the lighthouse to get a shot of a 2 masted schooner coming in, we developed engine problems and only got a couple of pictures of it as it passed.  As you can see, our anchor barely caught before we went on the rocks, but the picture was a winner. Enjoy the pictures.

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Dedicated to those who can't be here with us all the time.  You will find a collection of pictures from our various adventures here on our little slice of heaven known as Dauphin Island. Hope you enjoy them and come back often as we will be adding often. As of June 21 we have started counting to see if this is something our friends enjoy, you are visitor number