Ship Island
Island · Gulfport, Mississippi
A barrier island about twelve miles off Gulfport, reached by a ferry that takes an hour each way, and the only place on the Mississippi coast with clear water and real Gulf surf — the mainland beach sits inside the Mississippi Sound, which the barrier islands themselves shelter and the river keeps brown. Fort Massachusetts stands at the western end, a brick coastal fort finished during the Civil War, from which the Union staged the capture of New Orleans in 1862. Hurricane Camille cut the island in half in 1969 and a federal sand project has since closed the gap.
Gulf Islands National Seashore, ferry from Gulfport Small Craft Harbor, Gulfport, Mississippi, 39501, United States
FREE to visit — National Park Service land within Gulf Islands National Seashore — but reachable only by a SEASONAL FERRY from the Gulfport Small Craft Harbor, generally March to October, roughly an hour each way, run by a concessioner and charged separately. Sailings thin at both ends of the season and sell out at summer weekends. There is no ferry in winter. Fort Massachusetts is open when the island is; ranger talks run in the main season.