Take
a trip to the edge of Louisiana to Grand Isle for fishing,
boating, birding, crabbing, swimming or sunning on the four
miles of beach, or just relaxing. Grand Isle is an island
community, eight miles long and is bordered by the Gulf,
Caminada Bay and Barataria Bay. A road does lead into Grand
Isle, LA Hwy 1, connecting it to the mainland.
If
you are traveling in a RV or camping, then Grand Isle State
Park gives you the best of RV sites. Just two hours south
of New Orleans, (the only state-owned and operated beach
on the Louisiana Gulf Coast, Grand Isle State Park) offers
excellent facilities (a 100 acre beach). To reserve a campsite,
call 1-877-CAMP-N-LA toll free (877-226-7652).
Don't
have a boat? No problem! Grand Isle State Park's 400-foot
fishing pier is one of the highlights of the park, giving
access to the waters of the surf fishermen where an abundant
of species of fish await your hook The children keep the
crabs busy as they hastily waddle out of reach of the children
chasing them.
Over
280 species of fish are known to make their home in the
waters off the coast of Grand Isle. The community of fishermen
here will gladly share information with you, help you get
a charter, find you a qualified guide, and assist in anyway
that they can. This is not a luxury resort! There are no
usual dining chains or famous restaurant names you will
find in the city, or large discos with Las Vegas lights
flashing ñ these are hard working people, and when night
comes it is time to rest before they have to be up ñ in
many cases before first light fill the boats with
fuel, get the nets ready, or rods for the fishing party.
For
the bird watchers this is an interesting area. Brown pelicans
(the state bird) dive into the water after a meal while
the seagulls lazily glide the air waves above.
The
web site at http://grandisle.btnep.org/
will direct the dedicated bird-watching crowd to
information such as: ìThe Grand Isle Birding Trail is managed
by The Nature Conservancy of Louisiana (TNC). Free
Birding Trail maps are available at the Grand Isle Port
Commission Visitor's Center on Hwy. LA 1. Look for warblers,
orioles, tanagers, thrushes, buntings and other tans-gulf
migrants.
The
Grand Isle Birding Trail links
several birding areas through the best remaining tracts
of oak-hackberry forests on Grand Isle. Grand Isle is the
only barrier island along the Gulf coast that supports a
live oak dominated plant community. The trail includes a
281 foot-long elevated boardwalk that overlooks 22 acres
of salt marsh tidal ponds.
Grand
Isle Port Commission Marsh (22
acres) . This property
includes a 281 ft.-long elevated boardwalk that overlooks
22 acres of salt marsh tidal ponds, located at the corner
of Medical and Ludwig Lanes.
Lafitte
Woods Preserve .
(13 acres). This site includes mature live oak and hackberry
forest. It was originally established through a donation
of 10 acres by Xavier Grilletta of B&G Services in 1998.
In January of 2001 TNC acquired an additional 3 acres of
forest adjacent to the initial preserve. Look for a parking
area surrounded by a wooded split rail fence located on
Hwy. LA 1 between Coulon Rigaud Ln. and Grand Isle Parkway.î
My
trip to the unique Grand Isle introduced me to some of the
friendliest, happy-to-see-you , glad-you-are-here,
people you would ever hope to meet. They cooked tubs
of shrimp, baked cakes, served up boiled crabs, served gumbo,
and served some very cold drinks from numerous ice chest!
It is not difficult to find outstanding fresh seafood in
this location! This is Buggie Vagas,
harbormaster
and owner of the Bridge Side Marina. Buggie can be
found at the heart of about any activity in the interest
of Grand Isle. Personally, I would go there just to
have a party with him!
I
would double-check the major fishing tournament times online
to be certain my vacation was not at the same time due to
the small area the eight mile long Grand Isle occupies.
This can be done at:
http://www.grand-isle.com/events.htm
.
The
some 1,500 population can swell to many more that that during
a major tournament. Most of the time it is an atmosphere
of a sleepy fishing village town. The web site
at http://laflyfish.com/info/guides.php
offers some information about fly fishing in the
area, and there are plenty of excellent fly fishing guides
in Grand Isle that will take you out to fish for tarpon
to redfish.
Some
interesting facts can be found at: http://www.city-data.com/city/Grand-Isle-Louisiana.html
. Happy Traveling.
