Grand Isle, The Northern Most Caribbean Island

The question comes how did we ever land in Grand Isle (GI). It was Feb 02 when cabin fever was setting in. We were thinking about where we wanted to go for spring break that was coming up in a mere 8 weeks. (I really do hate winter.) Carrie and Eric wanted to meet us in New Orleans for Easter weekend. Sounded like a plan. Eric had to go back to duty and Jude and I had another weeks vacation. We have always liked to travel to the end of the road, so where from The Big Easy could we get to the Gulf of Mexico and find the end of the road?

OK, get out the Rand McNalley. We had been east of New Orleans before so the direction needed to be west. We have followed the roads next to the Mississippi in the past. They are always rather disappointing because of all of the levees you cannot see the river anyhow. The next road to the west that heads south is LA1. This looked like a good idea. Next step, check it out on the internet. The lodging choices seemed rather slim, but the rates were off season. April, off season, right on the beach? It sounded even better now. So Grand Isle it would be.

Upon leaving our hotel in New Orleans, the bell man warned us to watch our speed in Golden Meadow. I am glad he did. I have heard stories where they have ticketed other police, in their police vehicles, for doing 4 mph over! Off to Grand Isle. One hour out of New Orleans we got sidetracked. There was a Cajun jam session at the library in Thibodaux that night. That was our first experience with the people down here. We had a great time. Checking out of the Holiday Inn in the morning reminded me we were down south. I left the door open while I was fetching and toting and a 3 inch cockroach wandered in.

It was time for us to head on to the end of the road. As we traveled we were presented with sights never seen by us. As we drove south we were following a slow moving river (now I know it is properly called a bayou). The further along we went, the more boats we saw. Not a lot of pleasure craft, but all different sizes and shapes of shrimp boats. After about 30 minutes of driving we went over a little hill (levee) and entered the salt marshes of the coast. This was something that we had never experienced, a unique beauty.

Another 30 minutes of travel brought us to the “town” of Grand Isle. April 2, 2002 and the place was nearly deserted. We stopped at the little tourist office (seen on left with the new butterfly dome) and asked the girl working there what there was to do on the island. Her reply was rather simple, “fish.” I noticed a sign on the wall of the place that said “We will take you sailing for a smile.” Okay, so I bite on that. She makes some phone calls and we are set up for a 4PM sail. We then ask her about a nice place to stay and she tells us that she is from Cleveland and has only been on the Island a couple of weeks. Hmmmmm, she works in the tourist office?

We end up getting a room at the Breakers motel, right on the beach. We drag out the lawn chairs and proceed to get sun burned. By about 3 PM I am getting a little more curious about our upcoming sailing trip. I figure this guy Captain Andy has one of three things on his agenda:

1 He is a Southern Baptist trying to convert us,

2 He is going to try to sell us Real Estate.

3 The guy likes to sail and doesn’t want to screw around with getting licensed and insured.

Time for a phone call. “Hey Andy, this is Rob and we are supposed to go sailing this afternoon. Do you want me to bring something; soda, beer, chips?” His answer was “Whatever.” Well at that point I knew he was not some Baptist trying to convert us.

We get to the boat and meet up with Andy and Sue. Also along for the ride is Linda, the girl that set up the whole thing and her friend Wayne. Wayne is also a sailor. Now, what makes this unique is that there are only 2 sail boats on the Island, Andy’s and Wayne’s. So basically all of the sailors on the island are on board. Off for a fantastic sail. This was the first time sailing with the dolphins, great fun. After a couple of hours, we ended back at the dock and finished drinking what ever we had brought. Out of booze, no problem, we all head back to their house. We sit there for another hour and drink up all of the wine they have. It must be time to eat, so off us all head to the local restaurant. By the time the evening has ended, we have made some new friends. So I wake up the next day, my birthday, feeling the way I should the day after my birthday.

Skip ahead to 2005. I had just retired from Corunna and Katrina made its first landfall just east (a mile) of Grand Isle. Two weeks later Rita hits to the west of Grand Isle. We were to head out in the RV for our first winter south and decide we should do some volunteer work. We contacted the Red Cross and got caught up in their red tape. So, we give Andy and Sue a call on Grand Isle. “Do you need any help down there?” So in October 2005 we get down here and helped a number of people clean up their mess. We stayed in Sue’s campground, ate our noon meal with all of the others at the Red Cross feeding station, and worked our butts off. While doing this we made some tremendous friends that we will have for the rest of our lives.

We have now come back for our 3^rd winter down here. There is nothing to do but fish, sail, read, play on the computer, and hang out. There is one grocery/hardware store (doubles as a bank, it has an ATM), two gas stations, three restaurants (none of which are very good), and a bunch of bars. It is a 45 minute drive to the nearest town to shop, and that is just a Wal-Mart. It is an additional hour drive to Houma, or a two hour drive up to New Orleans.

Oh yes, one thing I have since learned since arriving here is that this is not the end of the road, it is the beginning!

Rob