Ship Island is the only island in the Mississippi unit of the Gulf Islands National Seashore to have public ferry service, making it the defacto most popular island in the park. During the summer the ferry can bring up to 1,000 people a day. As would be expected, the spring and fall crowds aren’t nearly as large. I visited once in mid-March and once in mid-April, and there were only a couple hundred other beachgoers each time.
The ferry arrives on the Mississippi Sound-side of the island; the Gulf of Mexico beach is on the other side. It is a little over a quarter mile-walk across the island to the beach on a boardwalk path.
Ship Island beach is about the most convenient undeveloped beach you will ever find. You can rent chairs and umbrellas (credit cards accepted). Bathrooms with a changing room are located on both sides of the island, near the ferry dock and at the beach. The ones on the Gulf side have indoor showers, though I don’t believe they have hot water. There are also plenty of the outdoor “rinse off showers.”
On the way to the beach from the ferry dock you will pass Fort Massachusetts, a mid-1800s military fort that is open for exploring. However, if you came just for the fort, it won’t take up much more than an hour of your time, so you had better enjoy the beach because you still have three or more hours to spend on Ship Island. Nearly everyone walks right by the fort, for it is the beach that is the main draw.
Ship Island is long enough that if you want to get away from the crowd it is easy enough to do, requiring no more than a five minute walk down the beach in either direction. If you were to walk a half mile, you’d probably be on your own. Despite the possibility of seclusion, nearly everyone parks themselves right near the end of the boardwalk, which is where all of the facilities are located.
At the snack bar they sell hot dogs, nachos, pretzels, candy, ice cream, bottled water, soft drinks, beer, and other canned alcoholic beverages. Prices are typical of what you’d expect at a beach, ballpark, or other facility where you have nowhere else to turn to for refreshments. In addition to selling food, you can buy just about anything needed for the beach. I forgot sunscreen. No problem. If you don’t mind spending money, you could visit Ship Island without carrying anything but a towel and a change of clothes.
The beach is about as nice a beach as you will find anywhere in the country. It has the softest sand that I have ever come upon. I don’t have much interest in the beach, but I brought my daughter with me and she loves it, so I sat down and spent my time fixated with taking handfuls of sand and rubbing it between my palms, for it was like butter. I’ve never felt sand like that. By the way, in early April the water was a little too cold for me, but for kids…kids will swim with icebergs floating around.
The only negative aspect of Ship Island Beach is the gnats. They’ll eat you alive if the wind isn’t blowing, especially if you sit in the rental beach chairs. The chairs are very close to the marsh grass, which is where the gnats live. If you sit close to the water they won’t get you, but you can’t move the rental chairs. I rented chairs and an umbrella on a very cool day in mid-March and eventually had to apply insect repellant, which is the first and only time I’ve ever had to do that on a beach.
Other than the fort and the beach, there is nothing else to do on Ship Island. There are no trees on the island—the interior is just dunes and grass—so the only escape from the sun would be a beach umbrella, the covered pavilion, or a casemate in Fort Massachusetts.
You can collect shells as long as nothing is living in them. About the only other rules that aren’t common sense are no glass containers on the island and no wheelbarrow or cart to haul your gear, though you can have a cooler with wheels on it.
It is possible to swim on the bay side of Ship Island as well, and this is not a bad idea for those with toddlers, for the waves are much smaller. The bay is also much quieter because 99 percent of the people head over to the Gulf where the bigger waves can be found. There are bathrooms and a picnic pavilion on the bay side.
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Last updated on April 30, 2022