I just spent several happy days in dauphin island. I am not a beach person, but time was short, and my options were few. so I just got in the car and headed east, with an idea of relaxing on a beach.
I drove on Highway 90. you can just stop on sit on the beach for many parts of the drive. one of the coolest things, is that there are carved wooden statues in the median along the way. Statues of dolphins, owls, pelicans, fish, etc.
On the drive there, I stayed at Buccaneer State Park in Mississippi. I do not recommend it. However, I did see a bird of prey, maybe a small falcon, sit on my picnic table. a few minutes later, I saw the bird carrying away dinner, probably a mouse, in its claws. I also tried Shepard state park, but the torrential rains dissuaded me from tent camping.
At Dauphin Island. I camped. it was just $22/night for a tent site. the beach off the campground (there is only one campground) is much less crowded than the public beaches. the crowd is local (alabama, ms) and nonintrusive, i felt. The person that ran the campground told me she grew up there, just around the time that the bridge was built. they would come for the whole summer and just camp in a tent right where the now only public campground is. She said now, a lot of people camp there RV/camper for the whole summer, but go back to the mainland to work every week.
Here is what I did: go to beach. set up small umbrella. relax. read. go in the water when it got too hot. go back to umbrella. repeat for hours.
I really enjoyed the Estuarium. I also took some time in the bird sanctuary. you can just walk around a lake and a swamp, with deserted beach access as well. --saw some huge primitive-looking... herons. (I have to look up what they were).
The fort is interesting also.
