Tell me about Gulf Shores, again

[shakespear]

Looks like I am headed there in September to do some beach diving.

Anyone recomend a good hotel?

Should I rent from my LDS or a shop there?

What can the wife and kids do in town?

 

[wjefferis]

You can rent your gear/tanks here in Gulf Shores. Try Gary from Gary's Gulf Divers www.gulfdiver.net ,as far as a good hotel i'll let others comment on that.

 

[tom wicker]

Keeping the wife and kids happy should be an easy task, we have several amusement parks here no entrants fee on most of them you pay as you play. There is also plenty of shopping from beach front shops to the larger Tangier mall just up the road in Foley.
As far as Hotels if you are on a tight budget you might want to think about one of the hotels just before you get onto the Island which is only still a short distance to the beach but pretty close to half the price. Along the beach itself there are a few hotels with beach access spread between Gulf Shores and Orange Beach with is just a short distance apart.

Own you way down 59 you will pass a Burger king at a redlight just about half a block south of it you will come to Down Under Dive shop Stop in there and ask for Brain he will help you out on recommendation on shore dives and might even have a map or two for you I might be mistaken but I believe they charge some where around $50.00 a day for complete scuba rentals there a pretty cool bounce.
Area shore dives that might interest you are the Whiskey Wreck the Paddle Wheeler the old Gulf State Pier and of course the Jetties down in Orange Beach

Speaking of Orange Beach there is also another Dive shop there called Gary’s Gulf Divers It’s a smaller more personal shop with a friendly staff that always welcomes divers to the area. A load of information can also be obtained from there also

And if all else would for some reason fell we have our on personal Mr. Beachman himself the Bugman Mat. This old boy lives and breaths sandy beaches . If you meet him in person pay no attention to his gills behind his ears. He makes for an excellent guide for the easy price of a Hooter post dive or Bahama Bob’s

Are neighbors over in Pensacola has a great beach dive also you might want to check out if you make it over there I highly recommend you check out MBT divers they have some awesome prices on trips and gear. Not to mention some great DVD’s.

As time gets closer feel free to give me a shout for any info you may need further . But I’m sure the other local divers will be along shortly to fill you in some more

 

[tom wicker]

double post

 

[shakespear]

thanks for the info.

I am looking for a first post-cert dive. I figure beach diving woudl be easy. I know about the wreck, is there anything else?

or another dive I should do?

 

[tom wicker]

We have two wrecks along the beach along with the old Gulf State pier. The Jetties can be pretty cool at times you just have to catch the tides right. Myself every now and then I like diving the East side of the (Alabama point} bridge checking out the Pylons they can hold some interesting tropicals. Here’s a good place to start if you want to check out some of our local diving. Look up Destin sharks . Com they have an add-on software for Google earth all free called MBT dive sites download it to desktop and have a look. It will show you the different sites plus give a brief description of it

There are also several dives just offshore ¾ of a mile or so to check out to if you were to rent a boat.

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

There are more than two wrecks, you'll likely only get directions to one(the Whiskey) - which is, in all honesty, more friendly to diving. Its got public access, a shower, and an open bar onsite - three necessities for any dive.

September is a long ways away, but I'll likely be available to dive if you want someone along who's done the shore diving in the area before...