I have been to the Chandeleurs only twice. Once, several years back I paddled solo from Biloxi to East Ship Island where I slept and paddled the next day down to the Chandeleurs. In 1994 Arthur Hebert and I paddled from Venice LA out through Main Pass to Breton Island and then on up the chain, made an easy but memorable night crossing to E Ship and then took out at Biloxi. I've not been back since but sure would like to go. The Chandeleurs, as I have known them, pre Hurricane Georges, were a continuous unbroken strip of low sand dunes with a Gulf face east and marshy tidal flats west. I understand that Georges dispersed a lot of the sand and that they are no longer an unbroken chain but consist of several smaller islands. There are no trees hence no natural shelter from the sun but otherwise plenty of dunes to camp amongst. Mosquitoes were no worse than you'd find at any of the Gulf Islands from Cat to Dauphin but can be harder to avoid because you can't easily move to a more mosquito friendly site as you can at the other Gulf Islands. My practice in such a situation is to get in the tent at dusk, cook and sleep and pee inside and not come back out until after dawn. (I'm not a fan of bug dope and have never tried mosquito specific clothing). It is quite desolate out there. You may pass days completely alone save for fishing boats on the horizon. The fishing is awesome! I once trolled from my boat there with a hand line on a spool and lost all my (2 or 3) lures in rapid succession. Since I still had some bare hooks I rigged one up with a small piece of blue rubber band, caught a white trout and lost my rubber band. I then dangled from the bare hook a small shell fragment that had a hole in it and caught another white trout immediately. By the time I'd grilled the fish the mosquitoes were getting thick and since I didn't want to bring the dripping fish into my tent I waded out into the water and squatted down so that only my head and hands were exposed. That made for some very anxious eating in that I'd seen a large number of small sharks in the one foot surf earlier that day. Easier to access are the islands in and adjacent to the Gulf Island National Seashore: Cat, E and W Ship, Horn, Petit Bois and Dauphin. These are mostly wooded , almost entirely undeveloped and teeming with wildlife such as ospreys, eagles, alligators, river otters, wintertime loons and occasional magnificent frigate birds, a host of herons including the reddish egret which can be seen leaping and cavorting at the runoff of tidal lagoons. Larry Koenig ----- Original Message ----- From: <gpwecho_at_juno.com> To: <paddlin_at_home.com> Sent: Wednesday, August 25, 1999 11:19 AM Subject: Re: [Paddlewise] Kites > Larry ... > > I saw your post in reference to the Chandeleur Islands and am trying to > get some info. What's it like out there ? Camping ? Mosquitos ? > Where do you put-in ? Any trip reports you can share ? I have paddled > a Sea Lion for 3 years now ...getting away from W W kayaking in Arkansas. > I mostly paddle and camp on large-small inland water, but find that I am > getting interested in the Gulf area of LA and MS. I live in West > Monroe. Any info or sources of info would be appreciated. Thanks ! > ...Peyton (Louisiana) > ___________________________________________________________________ > Get the Internet just the way you want it. > Free software, free e-mail, and free Internet access for a month! > Try Juno Web: http://dl.www.juno.com/dynoget/tagj. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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