Located near Grand Isle, directly across the inlet from Grand Isle State Park. Pirates were kicked off this island in 1814 so the government could built a fort. Named in the plans as Fort on Grande Terre Island until 1833. Construction did not start until 1841 however. A lighthouse was built nearby in 1856. The fort was briefly occupied by Confederates, but never saw combat. Placed in caretaker status in 1866. The guns were removed in 1872. Abandoned after a hurricane destroyed most of the structure in 1893. Some ruins remain. It was built similar to Fort Barrancas in Pensacola, Florida.

"Click Here" For information on Fort Livingston and Oil Rigs and the link below to see the movie in Quick Time.

You may also want to visit this site for a short movie on Fort Livingston; "Click Here".

"Click Here" to see an aerial photograph of the Fort Livingston and more information.

Ricky, Liz and I load into the boat and Ricky heads out and under the bridge of Caminada Pass and enters the Gulf of Mexico. Ricky then heads east down the Gulf side of the island toward Ford Livingston which is located just across the pass at the east end of Grand Isle. The idea was to get some pictures of the old Fort and also any other pictures of interest. The sun was out and the sea calm, it was just a perfect March day and the water was clear and then we notice that the Dolphins were everywhere. Liz and I began to try to get some good pictures of the Dolphin as they came up to the surface for breath. There were hundreds of them all over the place. It didn't take long for us to see just how hard it is to get a quick shot of a surfacing Dolphin, It has always amazed me at just how little time it takes a Dolphin to get a fresh breath of air and then go under, stay for several minutes and then come up in a location you are not expecting. Liz was using Ricky's OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA Model = C2100UZ and I was shooting a Nikon 950, all digital cameras, at this time these were the top of the line digital cameras and they were taking great pictures but nothing like the digital cameras you can purchase these days in 2005. Liz I must say beat me to the punch every time on these Dolphins as they surfaced and I wound up not having a single keeper. For all you Dolphin watchers I would suggest that you come on down and either rent a boat and guide for the day or if you have you're own boat head to the area we're speaking about here, and I'm sure you will have a ball. We spent quite some time chasing the Dolphins and Ricky patiently tried his best to maneuver the boat so we could get the best pictures possible. The Boston Whaler is a heavy but very stable boat and it's just the thing and provides a stable platform for taking pictures while on the water.

Next we turned our attention to the flocks of shore birds that were hanging out on the beach in front of Fort Livingston, again Liz won out and has all the keeper pictures on the trip and you can "Click Here" for a gallery of the bird shots she got at Fort Livingston, I can't say enough about the digital cameras, you don't have to buy film, you just can't beat them, if you're a webmaster, they can save you hours in scanning time and post processing. Today I own a Nikon D70 model and this is quite a camera, Liz want beat me to the draw ever again, although the Nikon 950 is no slouch of a camera and I don't believe you can buy a better camera for taking macro shots. I do have a gallery of fine pictures taken with that camera and spent many hours in the back yard and around Ricky's Motel. I love walking the pier at Ricky's Motel to take pictures of the customers and their catch of the day, it's loads of fun.

We advised Ricky's that it's time to head for Queen Bess Island "Bird Island" the locals call it, the Brown Pelicans should now be in there beginning nesting phase and we were not disappointed when we arrived there. I have never been to any place on this earth where there is such a congregation of pelicans and shore birds. We saw Oyster Catchers, Sea Gulls, Terns and many other species to including the wading species such as herons and others. If you make the trip to Queen Bess island be careful not to scare the birds, this is their nesting time and they need to raise their chicks without being disturbed.

Well it was a great day, we hope you enjoy the pictures taken and here are the links of the two galleries for the day.

Gallery at Fort Livingston

Gallery at Queen Bess Island

Enjoy

The Webmaster