The Gulf Islands National Seashore is one of the prime places to paddle along the Mississippi Coast and is headquartered in Ocean Springs. Petit Bois Island is the easternmost island located south of Pascagoula. The island originally extended about 7 miles east of the Alabama-Mississippi state line and was effectively located in both states but between 1933 and 1968 the eastern end of the island eroded due to the effects of hurricanes and natural shoreline movement. The island is now approximately 6 miles long and serves as a habitat for gulls, terns, plovers, alligators, and other wildlife. Petit Bois in French means “little woods” and was so named by the early French explorers due to a small wooded section on the eastern end that is mostly non-existent since Hurricane Katrina. The island consists mostly of sand and scrub.