Located 45 miles east of Gulfport, MS, and 27 miles southwest of Mobile, AL, Bayou la Batre is a small fishing village off the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway that is primarily a safe haven for commercial shrimpers that harvest their catch from the local Mobile Bay and Gulf of Mexico waters.

The image above is a view from the south looking north over the narrow entrance to the creek that empties south past most of the town an eventually into Pass au Herons. If you look closely at the left bank of the creek, several boats can be seen washed into the marsh as a result of Hurricane Hurricane Katrina. The area is additionally famous as the hometown of fictional character Bubba Buford Blue, who was the best friend of Forrest Gump in the movie (fittingly) “Forrest Gump.”

Master Marine has a facility here with limited tie ups and fairly spartan accommodations (again, this is a shrimping town) , but the owners will do their best to give you a place to safely tie up. A real treat is buying a load of shrimp off one of the boats that arrive each day to unload their catch.

The primary entrance light for the approach to Bayou la Batre is located in the vicinity of N30 19.254 W88 17.811, which should put you right near flashing red “16.” Once you have safely picked up flashing red “16,” pick up and follow ing green buoy “17,” red buoy “18,” flashing green buoy “19,” red daybeacon “20,” green daybeacon “21,” flashing red “22,” green daybeacon “23,” and finally quick flashing red “24” and green daybeacon “25,” which are visible in the image above. Depths range from six to eight feet.

See our “Local Notices to Mariners” blog for updates on the latest conditions and advisories for this area.