Page 148 - South Mississippi Living - December, 2019

once you smell it
story by Mavis Newell photos by Donn Hupp and courtesy of Mavis Newell
Once you smell it, that is the Gulf salt air, you are hooked just as sure as the fish that are caught. You begin to smell the salt air long before you reach the
water’s edge.
Many people who have lived here lifelong sometimes
move away only to be drawn back. They are homesick for the look and the smell of the Gulf. It is wonderful to watch the waves as they move onto shore and watch the sunset. See the seagulls swarm the piers where the fishing boats are tied. See the fishermen coming into the harbor, most of the time with smiles on their faces, ready to sell the fresh-caught seafood right from their boats.
It is a bonus to walk the piers at night with the boats making
shadows in the water, to listen
to the clanging of the tied down
sails of the boats as they rock back and forth. These are just a few of the things that make
us want to call the Gulf Coast our home.
The Mississippi Coast is abundant in sunshine,
sand, wildlife and even nightlife. In my opinion,
it is one of the most wonderful coastlines the United States has to offer.
You cannot travel any farther south in Mississippi without
falling into the Gulf of Mexico.
Living on the Coast is pure joy. As I watch the brown pelicans at sunrise from my front porch while sipping my hot coffee, where the Jourdan River meets the St. Louis Bay is sheer beauty.
Newcomers to the Coast marvel at the gracefulness of the pelicans in the air. That is, until they splatter headlong into the water to scoop up the fish they had eyeballed from high above. It is comical to watch such clumsy landings.
Once full of fish, they will sit for hours on decaying posts or pilings. Anywhere along the 26-mile-long sandy beach, you can spot them up to their same antics.
All along the shoreline you will see the small least tern and their nesting grounds, a bird that Mississippi sheltered from extinction. Then there
148 SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living • December 2019 FOR MORE REFLECTIONS OF THE GULF COAST >> www.smliving.net
Gulf Salt Air