We have a wonderful Guest Services team here at Jubilee Suites and Jim and I count on them every day for both their local knowledge and for their love of serving our guests. As we’ve grown together, they’ve become more like family every day.
I’d like to introduce Caitlyn, our Beach Manager, who has added so much to everyone’s enjoyment of Jubilee Suites and our waterfront property on Mobile Bay. She initially groomed our 200′ of beachfront on the Bay, removing unwanted debris and providing the pleasant sitting areas we now enjoy. Over the months, she’s added a big swing, a hammock high in a tree, a firepit always ready to be lit, and pretty places to enjoy a picnic or a sunset view. We never know what we’re going to see next, all the product of Caitlyn’s boundless imagination and hospitality.
We learn something new about Caitlyn quite often; her background is fascinating. Although she has lived all over the globe, served in the Coast Guard, and used to camp 3 months of each summer on a family-owned uninhabited island 30 miles north of Cuba, her roots and her heart are here on Mobile Bay. Caitlyn’s knowledge of the Bay comes naturally, since her earliest relatives were among the original settlers in Daphne and she enjoyed it as her playground growing up.
Sorting crabs to throw back the females.Caitlyn is also our jubilee guide and she’s got an instinct, born of experience, for when they are about to happen. Not everyone has heard of jubilees, which are a local phenomenon found only here on Mobile Bay and possibly also on Tokyo Bay in Japan. When the summer weather and everything else is just right, the water in the Bay becomes depleted of oxygen and it forces the bottom feeders to surface or even beach themselves in search of oxygen. The cry of “jubilee” goes out to friends who show up in the middle of the night with rubber boots, nets, and even laundry baskets to pull in the crabs, flounder, shrimp and fish that swarm to the surface looking for oxygen.
Caitlyn tells of her father awakening her at 3 am, walking out on the bluff toward the Bay and learning to sense that a jubilee was happening, even before they walked down to the beach. The combination of a rising tide, just-right heat and humidity, wind direction and speed, and even the sound of the water all indicated whether or not they were going to experience a jubilee. On those nights when there was a jubilee, they netted their catch together and would have a big seafood dinner the next evening. And on those nights when the jubilee missed them, Caitlyn and her dad still walked the beach gathering found objects brought in by the tide and sat on the pier talking about the constellations.
Caitlyn’s early childhood sounds magical!
Among other interesting adventures, Caitlyn recently found a spearhead on the Mobile Bay beach and followed up with an expert at South Alabama University to learn more about its origin and age. Turns out it was about 4000 years old and probably carried here by a hunter since the raw materials come from at least 200 miles north of here. Fun find!
Since the pandemic began, Caitlyn has turned to her art as a way to entertain and express herself. We recently hosted a showing of her “doodles”, as she calls them, completely original and complex abstracts that delight the imagination and invite the viewer to speculate on what each one represents. In the past year she has completed over 2000 pieces! She displays some of them here on her website. You can contact her there if you’re interested in seeing any of her artwork in person.
Caitlyn brings all these memories and experiences to the guided kayak and paddleboard tours we offer our guests. We love to go out with her and see through her eyes the ospreys and eagles flying overhead with fish in their claws, shore birds of every description perched on posts and piers, schools of jumping mullet being chased by much bigger fish, and the occasional alligator, manatee or dolphin pod. Caitlyn paddles with our guests along the beach from the Fairhope Pier to the marina at Fly Creek and beyond, with up-close sightings and stories of the wildlife, beach houses, piers, and boats that define our waterfront life here in Fairhope, AL.
Be sure to book a kayak or paddleboard tour with Caitlyn while you’re here. We never cease to be amazed at everything she knows about our beautiful Bay and the unique things we see when we’re with her. Kids love her too and family tours are not to be missed! For more information about our guided Bay tours, see our Amenities and Experiences page. Also know that we can accommodate any length or type of tour you and your family would like. Our sunsets are gorgeous here and it’s a great time to be out on the water in a kayak.
To reserve a stay with us, check our Suites page for full descriptions of each of individually decorated suites and lots of pictures. You can also book right there. We’d love to share our home and our hospitality with you and your family. Come see us!
#loveneverfails
