Information on Alabama Point Jetties and Perdido Circalittoral Reef

[Peter McDougall]

Hi all,
Apologies if this information is available elsewhere (I looked but didn't find). Happy to accept links rather than having people rewrite info. We're drafting a guidebook for the Florida panhandle and want to include a few of the Alabama sites that are popular -- we're include LuLu, New Venture, the Alabama Point jetties and the circalittoral reef on Perdido Key. It's the latter two sites I'm looking for information on, mostly access and description type stuff. Can you dive both sides of the pass for the jetties? How deep does it get at the jetty point. Any important must-know info for folks that might want to go explore the site? Same basic request for the circalittoral site... how deep does it get and what have people seen there so far?

Thanks for any help/info you can provide. And happy to provide more detail about our project if you want/need.
Peter

 

[txgoose]

Man, based on goggle maps, that will be some serious hiking with gear. Still, I'm here for info as well.

 

[Peter McDougall]

@txgoose yeah, it's a bit of a hoof depending on what you are used to, but for a lot of the shore diving in this region, it seems to be par for the course. (It also depends on how "big" the beach is at the time, given that currents and seasons can make the beach wider or narrower.

 

[Peter McDougall]

Just posting this link here to some super helpful information about diving the jetties in case someone finds their way here looking for that.
Deep Dixie Divers: Favorite Local Dive Spots Directory
I'm still curious if anyone has dived the new circalittoral reefs just east of the jetties, and if so, what they think of them?

 

[paulwall]

Thanks for the info, I didn't know about the new Orange Beach snorkelling reef. Down Under dive shop has the coordinates at 30°16'25.2"N 87°32'31.2"W, which is close to the next public beach access East of the bridge. I've dived the West Jetties from the bulkhead out around the tip and back in the past, but now, you have to park in the parking lot by the Restaurants and hike to the entry point. The rocks are perilous with dive gear on, but it can be done. It's a nice dive, but I've been hooked by fishermen more than once, and chased by a green sea turtle. Octos, crabs and tropicals are common. Catch it on a slack or incoming tide for best visibility. Two weeks ago, the water was super clear, but the winds were howling.