Dauphin Island Scuba Diving/Spear Fishing

[msubryan]

I am planning a trip opening week of Snapper season to Dauphin Island to fish/Dive. I am not finding a lot of information, and I have a couple questions:

1) Is there a dive shop on island that fills tanks?

I will be taking my own boat so any information on sites would be helpful. I am seeing that a lot of people go to the triple rigs from DI, but I do not want to go to the west as I dive all of those rigs very regularly from Mississippi.

2) Are there rigs to the South East of DI in 60+ ft of water? Would really like to get closer to 100 ft if possible.

3) Are there any wrecks worth diving in the 15 to 20 mile range?

 

[Hetland]

1) Is there a dive shop on island that fills tanks?
No. Closest shop by car is Gulf Coast Divers. It may be easier to rent a few tanks rather than making a bunch of trips back and forth. They usually have a ton of aluminums and a handful of steel HP tanks to rent. The guys at the shop can probably give you better numbers too, as they dive DI frequently.

2) Are there rigs to the South East of DI in 60+ ft of water? Would really like to get closer to 100 ft if possible.
That's a hard question for me to answer as I haven't dove it in a while, and rigs come and go in that area. I'll give you some numbers I have, but it will be up to you to find them. I believe some of the rigs that have been moved, still have structure at the bottom, so there may be something worth diving there even if you can't see a platform. Finally, I can't vouch for the accuracy of these numbers as I always dive off someone else's boat in DI.
(65ft) RIG N30 02.638 W87 51.844
(50ft) MO-9151 RIG N30 04.665 W87 57.825

3) Are there any wrecks worth diving in the 15 to 20 mile range?
Same Disclaimer as above. The bridge spans are pretty cool, but they're heavily hunted. The liberty ships are basically huge canoes, but they hold snapper and slippers.
(80-90ft) EDWARDS -LIBERTYSHIP N29 57.931 W88 06.597
(80-90ft) ANDERSON - LIBERTYSHIP N29 59.041 W88 04.305
(80-90ft) SPARKMAN TUG N29 59.676 W87 43.050
TENSAW BRIDGE SPAN N29 56.300 W88 02.439
TENSAW BRIDGE SPAN N29 56.543 W88 02.440
TENSAW BRIDGE SPAN N29 57.753 W88 02.691
TENSAW BRIDGE SPAN N29 57.329 W88 02.327
TENSAW BRIDGE SPAN N29 58.357 W88 06.566
TENSAW BRIDGE SPAN N29 58.277 W88 06.562

You can find more public numbers here: http://www.outdooralabama.com/fishing/saltwater/fisheries/artificial-reefs/reef_brochure.pdf

 

[msubryan]

Thanks...have you dove any of the military tanks?

 

[Hetland]

Thanks...have you dove any of the military tanks?

Not off Dauphin Island, but a few South of Pensacola and Orange Beach. They're good if you're hunting and doing bounce dives, but you'll see all there is to see in 10 minutes or less. They see less dive pressure, so you can usually find some decent snapper, and maybe a bug or two. What works best is having two divers sit on opposite ends as far out as they can while still viewing the tank. The snapper will circle, and each diver "chases" snapper to the other.