The Point

Located about 50 miles south of Lafayette (LA) via LA 90, LA 83, and LA 319 is the town of Cypremort Point. The last few miles of the approach into town pass through salt marshes.

The Point, as the locals call it, extends into Vermilion Bay, separating Weeks Bay to the northwest from West Cote Blanche Bay to the southeast.

The Gulf of Mexico is about a 10-mile boat ride through Southwest Pass, just west of Marsh Island. And when talking about the Gulf, there is the ever-present possibility of hurricanes.

This risk, and the extensive salt marshes, may explain why Cypremort Point is the only town located near the Gulf between Cameron and Grand Isle that can reached by car.

Steps to counter the effect of the storm surges caused by the high winds have been taken by building homes on stilts. The "first floor" is either open and used for storage or screened in and used as a patio.

Others creatively meet the require-ments for storm surge protection by building a concrete slab and then parking their RV (their living quarters) under a canopy. A couple of the more colorful homes on the outskirts of The Point are the one named
"Sunflower"
(above) and the one named Port Off (sic) Call (right).

At the main intersection of town is this indication of the town's primary industry--fishing. We are guessing that these traps are crab traps.

Also, harvesting shrimp, crawfish, and oysters combine with sport fishing to provide a lot of activity around the town's docks.

























This row of homes along a very short channel from the Bay and






this home at the point of the land had views that would prompt one to say, "This would be a wonderful place to live."

But we suspect that a person enjoying a moment of daydreaming about that lifestyle would be jolted back to reality by the information in the scene on the left.

It was hard to imagine the scene when anything less than 12 feet off the ground was under water (Rita 9-23-05). Other recent daydream shatterers were Ike (9-12-08) and Gustav (9-1-05).