Details for Horn Island

Thursday, January 1st, 2009 - The intent is to have everyone at the dock in Biloxi by 9 am, so departure time from New Orleans should be 7 to 7:30 am. It is approximately 85 miles from downtown New Orleans to downtown Biloxi almost all of the miles on interstate highways.

At the pier, please help move all the group and personal gear, boxes of food and bags onto the schooner and into its hold. Keep your day bag with you on the deck. This bag should have your rain gear, most of your warm clothes, snacks and personal kit of sunglasses, lotion, chap stick, etc. During the crossing, we sit on the deck out in the weather, which may be pleasant or nasty, so you really need to have your extra clothes available.

It will take two and half hours to motor to the island and then another hour to transport everyone and everything to the beach. The schooner crew will use a small motorized boat to ferry everyone and their gear to the beach. Keep your personal day bag with you as you transfer to shore.

Once everyone is on Horn Island along with our gear, we will have a couple of hours of very hard work. A group of 20 campers will have an estimated 2,000 pounds (a ton!!!) of equipment, food and water that needs to be transported to the kitchen and individual tent sites. Every camper is expected to help carry group gear and food to the kitchen site which will be about two thirds across the island in an open area. Please make at least one carry of group gear before you carry your own gear to your tent site. Make two trips -- one for the group and then one for you. Once the gear is moved to the kitchen site, then volunteers are needed to set up the kitchen using lumber that we have left on the island from previous campouts. As for a tent site, pls choose a site at a distance that is out of sight of the kitchen. When this is done, it enhances the spaciousness of the island.

January 2nd and 3rd - These days are open for exploration of the island. Breakfast will be served between 7 and 9 am. Everyone is then urged to take a daypack with lunch and water and spend the day exploring.

In the past, individuals have done some serious beach combing collecting seashells and other oddities from the beach. Each time we visit Horn Island, there is something different to find. Often for unknown reasons there are different kinds of marine life scattered about the beaches in great abundance. Examples over the years have been hundreds of starfish, horseshoe crabs, cabbage looking jelly fish and untold numbers of pastel colored seashells.

Birds are the most obvious forms of wildlife on the island. A pair of eagles are nesting at about the mid way point. We observe them only at a distance! Brown pelicans are often in the lagoons or cruising just inches above the water to rise and then crash into the water for dinner. Shorebirds of different sizes and colors either sedately walk along the beaches or frantically run in and out with each incoming wave. A pair of binoculars or even a spotting scope would be very handy to have.

For the hikers and strollers, there are different routes that run the length of the island. One can walk next to the water on hard damp sloping sand or higher up on the loose dry sand but that is much harder or further inland next to the marshes and lagoons. Be aware that there are at least two tidal lagoons with inlets that cross the inland beach. These inlets can be several feet across and inches deep or a couple of feet deep depending on tide and wind.

Also many campers like to make a point of observing the sunsets and sunrises. The sun will set conveniently about 5 pm and the sunrises will occur about 7 am. Both daily events are often times to pause and observe.

For this year’s campout on Horn Island, we will have a first quarter moon. The light of the moon will detract somewhat from the night sky.  Still the winter stars of Orion, Canis Major and the Gemini Twins will be brilliant in the east after sunset and followed by Leo the Lion later in the evening.

Everyone needs to know that there is much to do and observe and experience while on this wilderness island. After saying this, some campers bring a book and enjoy the serenity of the island.

Sunday, January 4th, 2009 - This last morning will be spent breaking camp, taking apart the kitchen/group shelter and moving the gear to the beach. The schooner will be coming about noon to pick us up. After transferring everyone and everything to the schooner, we will head for the mainland. Arrival at the dock in Biloxi will be about 3 to 4 pm. In the last few years, most of the campers have enjoyed eating together at the buffet at one of the local casinos.