Diving in Gulf Shores

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Phil_cotton

Registered
Messages
43
Reaction score
5
Location
Pell City, Alabama
# of dives
50 - 99
Anyone have and good recommendations for the Gulf Shores area - looks like the whiskey wreck is mostly covered and in around 6FSW - not hardly worth dragging the tanks down to the beach, but still may be my best option.

Thought about the 1.5 hours ride around to Fort Pickens and dont want to do the 2.5 hour trip to Morrison/Vortex from there.

Just looking to do some shore diving in a few weeks and will be down there for 3-4 days. Have daughter freshly certed so dont want to over do it, hoping some of the locals might have some good ideas for a fun dive, things to see and not have to spend all my time in the truck to get there.
 
  • Perdido Bridge Piers - 1st and 2nd columns on the East side of the bridge. Good parking, and should be able to unload your gear near the site, and then find a parking spot. Manditory dive flag as boat and fishing traffic will be high on the weekends and holidays. Dive on an incoming tide, and plan to be out of the water once the tide starts falling again.
  • Theo Barrs Bridge - Bridge that connects Perdido Key to the Pensacola Area and spans the industrial canal. I've dove the piers on the South side of the bridge. Same rules for diving tide-wise and dive flag-wise as the Perdido Bridge
  • Ft. Pickens - Your best bet. Same tide/flag rules, but there will be much more cool stuff to see. I've dove it 10 times, and still haven't seen all there is down there.
  • Gary's Gulf Divers - Runs a boat out of Orange Beach. He can give you good advice on local conditions, and has good prices on charters near and far. He also cooks a mean lunch, which is usually included in the charter.
 
Instead of diving the Perdido Bridge Piers you may just want to dive the jetty and/or seawall there. They are both great dives. It is commonly refered to as Alabama Point. Gary's Gulf Divers Gary's Gulf Divers, Full Service Dive Shops, Orange Beach, Alabama is close to there and is a perfect place to go and rent your tanks/gear for the dive.
 
They have built up alabama point, so it is a challenge to climb out over the rocks in all your gear, it is much easier to dive the bridge legs.
 
Got all my own gear and tanks but will probably refill with Gary if I plan to dive a few extra times - doubt it the Steel 130 in shallow water takes a while to empty. Going to be in Gulf Shores and trying to dive the last Friday/Saturday of this month(29th & 30th) Preferably that Friday since usually means less boats/fishing etc. If anyone is around on that Friday and wants to help us not get lost :)

From another thread looks like the Ft. Pickens road is going to open this weekend, so could be a possible there but will probably stick to the Gulf Shores area.
 
I've always enjoyed diving the Alabama Point Jetties. I've seen seahorses, turtles, 'rays and skates of all sorts, big fish, little fish, blue fish(HAa...), horseshoe crab, octopii, squid, nudi's, and all kinds of other sorts of critters out there.

Feeling frisky? You can always try to find the West Beach Paddlewheeler or Paul's Shrimpboat, both are beach accessible wrecks right off the beaches(think Whiskey Wreck, except not as well travelled).
 
What's the viz like at the jetty.


It's a typical shore dive. Sometimes you crap-out and get 5' viz and sometimes you get 20-25' plus. If you dive near high tide times you will usually get into 20' viz, but it's the gulf so no guarantees.
 
From another thread looks like the Ft. Pickens road is going to open this weekend, so could be a possible there but will probably stick to the Gulf Shores area.


Trust me when I tell you that the Ft. Pickens jetties are a great dive. You can get out to about 50 fsw, with an average of about 35 fsw. There is a ton of stuff to see and as long as you dive near slack tide it is absolutely worth the drive.
 
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