The coast in the winter months can be a tough place to find stories, but persistence often pays off.
Don Meaux, is one of the 20 or so permanent residents who live down on Cypremort Point. He calls this place home along with his wife Kris, who he says is the reason he first came to the area and the reason he’s still around.
Even in the winter months living on The Point can seem idyllic. Cruising around in golf carts, eating food pulled straight from the sea, and running into the small store for extra provisions. The view isn’t too bad either.
Meaux was also brought down by a life long love of the water.
“When somebody is on a boat and you pass them they’re waving and if you do that in a car everyone is like who’s that,” says Meaux. “It’s calming, it’s peaceful and I think I’ll live a little longer being on the water.”
His earlier days were spent diving and taking underwater pictures. And while he still takes plenty of shots, they’re taken above the surface rather than below it.
“When I moved down here I got back into it,” he says. “I don’t do underwater anymore, but I do sunrise, sunset, wildlife, and shrimp boats.
As many of us know, however, beach life at times has it’s added risks.
Meaux recalls when Hurricane Rita devastated the Texas-Louisiana coastline, bringing 12 feet of water and waves into the camps here.
Don moved down to Cypremort Point a year before Rita smashed into the coast. A marker alongside his house serves as a permanent reminder of the damage that can be done.
Along with other things that washed up during the storm, Christmas trees from an erosion project started by then USL in the 80s and 90s and a coconut that Meaux says travelled all the way from the Yucatan.
“It blew up on the rocks,” recalls Meaux. “It came from somewhere in South America all the way to Cypremort Point.”
Don knows that the hurricanes aren’t going anywhere, but he still feels that living on the coast is worth it.
“We take the good with the bad,” he says. “Being retired and living down here is well worth it in my opinion because we love it so much.”
That love is why Don will be staying put for good. Leaving the busy life to those who are truly missing out on this small piece of paradise.
“If I have a heart attack and die at least I’ll be looking at this instead of buildings and stores,” he says.
We left Don to his life on the beach but not before, he sent us on our way to Sunset.
