Dauphin Island

“There are days I come here, and I don’t see anyone on the beach,” says Neil Shanahan, a Dauphin Island resident. “I don’t think you see that in Florida, anymore.”

Neil slowly rounded the loop at the end of the island at Ft. Gaines as we watched the HMS Alabama leave full of cars, motorists and pedestrians making the 5 p.m. ferry across Mobile Bay to Ft. Morgan. Neil is the general manager of the ferry, which is likely where you’ll see the most Dauphin Island residents at any one time.

The dock of the bay definitely had more bustle than terra firma, if you consider a sandy shore that erodes a fraction of an inch each day as firm ground. I photographed fishing boats cruising opposite the ferry while a natural gas rig loomed larger than life in the background. The rig seemed out of place. I searched my memory, but couldn’t recall offshore derricks during my last visit to the island in 1984. Oddly, everything else, and I mean everything, seemed exactly the same as 23 years ago. As I snapped more photos, made a mental note to retrieve real snapshots from that trip to prove my island time-warp theory. The sensation was more than your run-of-the mill déjà vu. ...

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