Where the South meets the sea

Southern Living, Spring 2003 by Lingo, Karen

The largest national seashore is Gulf Islands. It begins on the eastern tip of Santa Rosa Island in Florida and ends 150 miles away off the Mississippi coast at Cat Island.

Solitary Beauties

Mississippi's Ship Island, now actually two islands after Hurricane Camille sliced it in half in 1969, is one of the more remote parts of the Gulf Islands National Seashore. A ferry takes passengers 12 miles out in the Gulf to West Ship Island to play on its beach, fish, and explore old Fort Massachusetts. But Horn Island, which became a wilderness area of the national seashore in 1978, tells the most enchanting story. From the mid-forties to the mid-sixties, it was a haven for the late artist Walter Anderson. You can see his work at the Walter Anderson Museum ofArt in Ocean Springs. Beach Drives

U.S. 98 as it skims along Florida's upper Gulf Coast is one of the best beach drives anywhere. Detour across Navarre Bridge onto State 399, and cruise through the dunes on Santa Rosa Island near Pensacola, or loop off onto State 30A, west of Destin, to see the lovely community of Seaside and its newer neighbors.

State 1 out of Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, which becomes State 528 as it crosses into Maryland and heads to Ocean City, is another good beach drive. So is State 12 as it slices down North Carolina's Outer Banks and through much of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore.

State AlA down the eastern coast of Florida definitely has it moments, but the granddaddy of all coastal drives is the 113-mile-long Overseas Highway-U.S. I south of Miami to the Florida Keys. You won't see miles of white sand beaches, but you will see spectacular views of both the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. Like pearls on a string, 42 bridges accent the way.

Shelling at Its Best

Almost any stretch of sand along the coast is a good place to collect shells, but some areas were created a bit better than others. Shell Island, an uninhabited beauty off the coast of Panama City, can be excellent. But you have to catch the first boat of the day over from St. Andrews State Park to find the best shells before the crowds arrive.

Bull Island, in the Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge (northwest of Charleston, South Carolina), is also a choice spot. The only way to get there is by ferry, and you have a treasureladen 45-minute walk across the island from the boat dock to the beach.

You'll find the best shelling of all, though, on Sanibel Island near Fort Myers, Florida. The east-west position makes this barrier island a catchall for treasures from the sea, earning it the title of one of the top shelling sites in the Western Hemisphere and the best on the Gulf You can find 50 to 60 different kinds of shells here within a single day. Wherever you collect shells, please leave the live ones behind.

Luxury by the Sea

Sanibel and its sister island, Captiva, are also popular resort areas. Others along this stretch of coast include lovely Marco Island and nearby Naples-home to a bevy of resort hotels, among them the five-star The Ritz-Carlton, Naples.