Casino Buffets and Gumbo Pizza

The Gulfport Municipal Marina is large and busy, and the staff here are very nice and helpful, but we didn’t meet very many people here. There was a pup that belonged to one of the boat owners on our dock that greeted us almost daily, but we didn’t run into other boaters very often.

It is in a convenient location if you want to go to the beach next door, the casinos down the street or catch a bus to various other towns. We started our stay here with a trip to the Island View Casino Resort. We are not really gamblers; frittering away our hard-earned money on slots brings us no pleasure, unless I am out with my mother-in -law who can’t seem to lose. She doesn’t gamble much either, that I am aware of, but we did go to a casino on a trip to Louisianna once. We each brought $100.00, I lost mine and she doubled hers. She was kind and split her winnings with me so I wouldn’t feel like such a loser. Lol.

We only went to the casino here because someone told us about their new members deal…it doesn’t cost anything to sign up and they give you a $20 voucher for the buffet and a $20 voucher for the slots. We are not ones to turn down a free meal and as tired as we were from our trip we really needed to get off the boat and stretch our legs, so we decided to take the mile long walk. The buffet was good enough for free and it took us all of about three minutes for both of us to lose our $20.00 vouchers on penny slots.

We spent the afternoon enjoying the sunshine, hanging out on the sandy beach. I’m not going to lie to you; this isn’t a great swimming beach. It’s shallow and there is a lot of trash in the water. There were people wading in it, but most seemed to bike, walk or sunbathe on the shore.

The next day we rode the free trolley that travels from the marina to the bus station every 15 minutes, even though it’s not necessary to take the trolley as the bus station is just across the street from the marina. There is even a nifty bridge for just walkers and cyclists to safely cross Highway 90.

From there we jumped on the bus that took us to Rouse’s grocery store and walked about 2 miles to Ocean Adventures Marine Park. We were about halfway there when Chris asked me if I had bothered to check their hours to verify that they were indeed open. I had not.

I pulled out my phone to check, and yes, they were open until 2:00. It was 1:30 and we still had a mile to go. I gave them a call to see if they were really closing at 2:00 because that seemed early to me. I found out that they sell their last admission tickets at 2:00 but allow guests to stay until 4:00. Whew!

We arrived just in time and were the only visitors in the park. Still, the staff introduced us to the birds in the aviary, let us meet one of their resident milk snakes (along with a very informative talk), and even performed both their dolphin and sea otter/sea lion show for just the two of us. It was very, very cool!

We even got to hear about the rays, bamboo sharks and other inhabitants of the large touch pool. We saw a shark egg up close and held it in our hands. It has a kind of rubbery feel and seaweed look to it and had I found one in the ‘wild’ I probably would have thought it was a plant pod of some sort. Again, a very, very cool visit; definitely worth the walk. We highly recommend you check it out for yourself should you ever find yourself in Gulfport.

On the way back we stopped at the grocery store to do our provisioning for our stay. It’s nice to have the convenience of a bus route to nearby grocery stores.

We spent a rainy day wandering the mall. We went out for pizza at Tony’s. Chris doesn’t like to share food, that goes double for pizza. So, he ordered a large pepperoni for himself. Normally that would irk me, but it gave me a chance to sample the gumbo pizza which Chris had no interest in trying, but I liked it and would order it again.

We didn’t do much in Gulfport, except eat maybe. It rained a lot which meant extending our weeklong stay into a ten-day hiatus. Honestly, the 5-day trip over from Rockport really took its toll and we felt the need to rest up, clean up, and catch up on boat maintenance and chores.

On Mother’s Day, the Mississippi Aquarium, across the street and next to the bus station, offered free admission for moms. We were going to skip this venue because of the cost of admission (which is twice as much as Ocean Adventures). Where Ocean Adventures has an ultra-miniature Sea World kind of vibe, the aquarium felt more like touring an aquatic zoo. We enjoyed all the various birds in aviary as they were mostly birds we had never seen before. And the dolphins were amusing. They were grabbing their toys in their mouths and throwing them forward then swimming up and grabbing them again. They just swam around entertaining themselves with this game of catch and it was funny to watch.

We also took the bus to the smallest West Marine store on the planet to pick up four items for our boat: a couple cleaning supplies, an EPIRB (which transmits your location to search and rescue teams in an emergency) and a new radar. None of which they had in stock. They assured us they could get them the next day, but we decided we’d just wait and try again at our next port. Then we got into a conversation about sailing with a fellow boater who worked there and by the time we headed out the door we had missed our bus back to the Gulfport station. Since our shopping trip was a bust, we were not lugging around an awkward and possibly heavy radar dome. And we had already spent $12.00 on 1-day passes for the bus. Therefore, we decided to make use of them by heading in the opposite direction to see what there was to do in Biloxi.

Having arrived at Biloxi station we had chose to board the Beachcomber to Treasure Bay, for their buffet of course! And then we got off at the wrong stop, hopped on the Casino Bus and went to The Palace Casino Resort instead, which boasts the title of “Best Buffet on the Mississippi Coast.” After having eaten there, I have no doubt that’s true.

Because of the price of meat these days, Chris and I rarely buy beef anymore except the occasional splurge for a burger when our willpower is weaker than our wallets. That being said, we made sure we ate our money’s worth in Ribeye! Faultlessly delicious, cooked to a perfect, tender, mouthwatering, medium rare with potatoes, veggies, salad bar, seafood, dessert and so much more...worth every penny.

By that time, it was necessary to get on the last bus heading back to Gulfport that evening. That is where our trip finally got interesting, but I will have to save that story for another post!

Yes, we feel as tired as we look!