Day 10 - Dauphin Island

We spent the tenth day of our trip in Dauphin Island. The barrier island itself is mainly sand, and is very unstable. The island moves with weather - sand is pulled from one side of the island and deposited on the opposite side. The houses on the island are constantly in danger of losing their land, while there are some properties which are now fully in the ocean.
In Dauphin Island we toured the sea lab, where we talked about the issues the island is facing and what can or should be done about them. Here we also visited a structure that was built to be atomic bomb proof. 
The first bit of our afternoon was spent on the beach, then we headed to Fairhope to check out the Windmill Market - a suggestion we got at the Sea Lab. We actually ran into the architects of the building (who had also designed the new building at the Sea Lab) who gave us a quick tour of the market. They suggested a great nearby sushi restaurant for dinner (Master Joe's). 
Driving towards Dauphin Island

View Behind the Gulf Breeze Motel












Storm Shutters

Raised Houses in Dauphin Island
Fairhope Windmill Market

Sea Lab Institute Of Dauphin Island

Dauphin Island is a barrier island at the mouth of Mobile Bay in Alabama. Once at the Sea Lab we met with Dr. George Crozier, the Executive Director of Sea Lab. George gave us a tour of the lab and of the Estuarium/Public Aquarium across the road as well as a personal slide show explaining coastal ecology. George geared the slide show towards architects and explained the complications and issues that we would face when building along the coastline.

A freak thunder storm came upon us within minutes. The rain was so intense that we had to wait until it stopped to cross the street. The storm only lasted for 30 minutes is quite normal on the island.


All of the plugs in the building are two to three feet above ground for flooding reasons.
Marine biologists will take out fish's ear bones and a machine is used to cut through them. Fish ear bones have growth rings which allow biologists to see how old the fish was.


The auditorium room. Unlike the auditorium in the Dal architecture building, this room, and all the rooms in the building are equipped with CO2 detection systems. Therefore when there are more people in the room and the CO2 rises a unit will kick in and force more air into the room.