Ship Island Excursions — Attraction in Gulfport

The Ship Island Excursion was amazing! The boat ride takes about an hour to get to ship island from Gulfport. We bought our tickets online on the drive to Gulfport. When buying your ticket, you choose what time you would like to ride to the island (9am or noon) and then you choose what time you would like to come back (2:30pm or 5pm). After buying the tickets online, you can walk up to the boat and they will scan the code on your phone. From there, you can choose if you would to participate in a photo opportunity on the dock, and then you can walk up to the boat. There will be a person at the boat entrance to check your bag if you brought a cooler. As you step onto the boat, there is a space to store your bag/cooler for the trip. The boat is 2 levels. The first level has a cafe with coffee/juice/water to drink and lots of snacks and packaged baked goods. There is indoor and outdoor seating on the first floor. The stairs to the second floor are toward the back of the boat and are steep. The second floor is an open layout with coverage over a majority of the seating. I would recommend sitting on one of the sides or in the far back so you can watch the dolphins that follow the boat! When you arrive, you'll walk on a path that is raised above the ground/water. This path is very flat and would work easily with a wheelchair. The beach on the South side of the island does not have chair/float rentals. When you walk the path, Fort Massachusetts will be the first stop on your right. The fort tour is free and very neat! The fort is in good shape and there is a giant cannon! As you continue down the path, there is a snack shack and covered picnic tables before you arrive at the beach. There are restrooms on the island and on the boat. The beach sand has alot of black minerals so it gets very warm. The water is incredibly clear and there are many fish/crabs present. When you arrive at the beach, you can sit at any of the rental chairs and someone will come to assist you. The snack shack has floaties for rent and other beach essentials for sale. They also sell hot dogs/chicken wraps/other classic snacks. When you buy a fountain drink, you'll get a Ship Island cup with it and all refills are $1 with the cup. Overall, the excursion is worth every penny for how well maintained all facilities are and how easy the entire process is! I will definitely be...

Travelled from Baton Rouge to Gulfport to take the ferry to Ship Island. Took just just over 2 hours and finding parking and the ferry was quite simple. Check in was easy, just gave them our name and they verified our group, didn’t ask to see our tickets. Staff on the ferry were extremely friendly, the boat was clean, had bathrooms, and an air conditioned refreshment room with drinks, nachos, popcorn, candy, water, tables and chairs.

We booked the 9 am excursion and the ferry set sail few minutes after 9.

Ride was gentle, about 10 miles an hour, so it took just under an hour to reach Ship Island.

Being our first time visiting, we packed light, as suggested by the webpage. A backpack a piece with sunscreen, clothes, hats, and a small cooler. The island provides chairs and umbrellas, has several large pavilions, a concession stand, and several bathrooms. There was also a free tour of the Fort.

The island itself is extraordinary! Beautiful white sands on the south side, more brown and black sand on the north side. (The black sand is magnetic!). There was also tons of beautiful shells, and we saw dolphins, crabs, rays, a sea turtle, and tons of birds. The water was brown-ish but clear. We could see the bottom a good ways out, which made it easy to see all the marine life we saw.

I gave 4 stars only bc the side of the island with the chairs and umbrellas was closet to marsh, so the horseflies were quite a problem. We could not really sit in the shade of the umbrellas bc they tore us up. So it was either stay in the water or go the pavilions (with no view of the water). I also saw that people could bring chairs and umbrellas of their own, which is what we will do next time we go. And bring bug spray!! Their website may have mentioned this, I am not sure, I just don’t recall it being mentioned.

So going back, here’s what I would do differently…

Pack own foldable chairs, umbrella, (some had half tents, not the pop up canopy.)

Bug spray. Even if we set up on south side, I didn’t see shells so if you cross the boardwalks to the north side to shell, will need bug spray.

Set up on south side or further away from the crowds.

Overall tho had a great time and would...

An absolutely outstanding family day and worth the money. Took two grand daughters (13 and 10) on a pre-school vacation trip on a Friday to avoid any weekend crowds. Recommend visitors read ahead, do what is suggested (i.e., wear shoes on the ferry) and bring plenty of water and maybe snacks. Budget to rent a beach umbrella and a couple of chairs ($20) because you will need them. The sun was hot so ensure sun screen is used. No jelly fish but plenty of crabs in the water. However, they ran from people. Snack bar food was reasonable and the place was spotless. There are outside showers to rinse off the sand and salt. The entire experience from boarding the ferry at about 8:30 a.m. to returning to Gulfport was professionally handled by a great crew and shore-staff. If you are not used to being on a beach all day, recommend returning on the 2:30 ferry. The Parks Service tour of the fort was also informative. Some guy insisted on taking photos upon boarding under the pretense of "security" and those photos just happened to be available for sale upon return for $10. No big deal and a good idea in the event of an accident and a need to match up people with others they embarked with; and, just like the delete key on a computer, no one forced anyone to purchase a photo. Some actually did which is what free enterprise is all about. About the only negative aspect was my eye strain from having to look at all of the "eye candy" and trying not to be an obvious letch. I don't recall when we have had a more enjoyable uncomplicated day in a perfect family environment. Well worth the...