Alabama Point Jetties and 3 Mile Barge(Orange Beach) Reports

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Dove the Alabama Point Jetties on 8-7-5. Water was around 85ºF, visibility was in the 15' range and the there were several flounder out in the middle of the day, even between tides. We bagged 6 between my buddy and I before he was getting hooked by a few fisherman on the surface and called the dive. These were the first flounder Patrick(my buddy) had ever shot so I let him show off the catch. We both shot 3.

Dove 3 Mile Barge, 3 miles south of Perdido Pass(Orange Beach, AL) tonight, 8-11-5. Visibility was in the 25' range and the water was in the mid 80s. We saw several grouper that were too small to take but I still managed to pop 3 flounder and a sheepshead. Patrick popped a single flounder and found another that someone had accidentally dropped off the stringer(we gave it back on the boat since he only had one other fish to feed 2 people). I guess I should be looking alot happier, but I'm tired

We took everything with polespears.

 

[Florabama]

This brings back a lot of old memories.

When I was a kid, we used to dive Alabama Point a lot. We also ran the sea wall. Back then, there was an old sea wall that had fallen in the pass, and the water got up to about 20 ft. It would be covered with all sorts of sea shells and fish. Depending on which way the tide was running through the pass, we would either go in at the bridge and float down to the jetties, or vice versa. The last time I was over there, I was sorry to see that the old sea wall had gotten covered up by dredge sand from dredging the pass.

Back then, in winter you could shoot huge blue fish around the jetties.

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

I haven't dove the seawall, there are almost always too many fisherman lining the top for me to want to try. Even at the jetties, my buddy got hooked twice and he called the dive this past Sunday. Maybe during the winter time things will calm down a bit.

I've seen some cool stuff at the jetties though, tons of stingrays, horseshoe crabs, an assortment of tropical fish, ect. I've heard of others seeing seahorses and stuff too. I've heard there is a VW body over by the islands, one of these days I'm going to do a little search for it to see if its still there or covered by hurricanes/dredges. There's supposed to be a 57 chevy towards the middle of the channel by the bridge too, but I'm nearly certain its been covered.

 

[Florabama]

I haven't dove the seawall, there are almost always too many fisherman lining the top for me to want to try. Even at the jetties, my buddy got hooked twice and he called the dive this past Sunday. Maybe during the winter time things will calm down a bit.

I've seen some cool stuff at the jetties though, tons of stingrays, horseshoe crabs, an assortment of tropical fish, ect. I've heard of others seeing seahorses and stuff too. I've heard there is a VW body over by the islands, one of these days I'm going to do a little search for it to see if its still there or covered by hurricanes/dredges. There's supposed to be a 57 chevy towards the middle of the channel by the bridge too, but I'm nearly certain its been covered.

The dredging messed up the water too. There were times back in the 70s, when the water in the pass was crystal clear, and on occassion we used to find stone crabs on the jetties. They were hard to get out of the rocks though. Those little buggers are strong. We used to make night dives on the pass side of the jetties and then snorkel the beach side with pole spears. Often we would fill an ice chest with flounder. When the tide is slack, going under the bridge can produce some big flounder and sheephead, too.

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

There was about 2 weeks last summer('04) before Ivan came around when the water in the pass during high tide and all along the beaches had over 50'+ of visibility. We were diving the Whiskey Wreck and could see the entire length of the hull and past it to another portion of the wreck that was seperated from the main bulk. The past few weeks is the best I've seen the beaches this year and its only in the 15-20' range. You can still find plenty of stone crabs out here.

I'd get nervous diving the bridge, there's so much traffic coming in and out. It'd be a PITA to do some kind of emergency ascent.

 

[Wayward Son]

Sounds like a fun place to dive. Any camp sites in the area? That may make a trip there possible a bit later for us.

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Johnson Beach in Perdido Key offers camping on the beach. The sites are primitive, no designated sites, no electricity, no water, and require a bit of a walk. Basically, its the best kind of camping

I believe there are some camping areas with electricity/water/and designated sites crammed ontop each other in Gulf Shores near the intercoastal waterway bridge and/or maybe on Ft. Morgan Road. I live close enough that I haven't really looked for campsites, so I can't really be of much help. I'm sure a Google search would get you some better answers.

 

[Florabama]

There was about 2 weeks last summer('04) before Ivan came around when the water in the pass during high tide and all along the beaches had over 50'+ of visibility. We were diving the Whiskey Wreck and could see the entire length of the hull and past it to another portion of the wreck that was seperated from the main bulk. The past few weeks is the best I've seen the beaches this year and its only in the 15-20' range. You can still find plenty of stone crabs out here.

I'd get nervous diving the bridge, there's so much traffic coming in and out. It'd be a PITA to do some kind of emergency ascent.

I've always wanted to dive the Whiskey Wreck, but never have. How far from Alabama Point is it?

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Its less than a mile west of Highway 59, not too far from AL Point jetties. Its mostly covered by sand at the moment thanks to Ivan and beach 'renourishment'. If you ever want to get out there, lemme know, I can find it pretty easily nowadays, but like I said, not much to see at all at the moment. 6-12" of relief from one side of the hull in 2 stretches, one reaching about 5' long and the other about 10' long. This time last year there was 5-6' of relief. Dec '03, there was 12-13' of relief and both sides of the hull were visibile as well as alot of the wreck. Eventually, it'll uncover itself again, the sandbar just needs to shift inland and the surf needs to erode alot of the new beach away.

 

[Corigan]

Patrick looks stoked in that pic. Cool pic, thanks for sharing.

Matt