Gulf State Park Pier, Gulf Shores, AL.

                  Wednesday 11/6/2013

The Gulf State Park Campground, where we are currently staying, has a activity schedule. On Wednesdays at 10 AM, they have a Pier Walk scheduled with a park ranger. It cost $2 a person normally to walk the pier, but it is free on Wednesday if you are staying in the campground.

As we walked out on the pier, I took a shot of the Zip lines towers that opened this summer. There are 6 towers, that you zip line from tower to tower. When you zip line from a tower, you leave from the top of the tower. The zip line takes you to the next tower to the lowest level. Then you take the stairs to the top of that tower, and zip line to the next. The price is $54 to $79 depending on the season and how many are in your group. The price varies, because you have to have a guide with you as you go through the course.

Looking east from the pier, you can see the next town of Orange Beach, AL. way off in the distance.

The first section of the pier has Restrooms, Store, and Concession, and a Bar/Grill area.

Open Bar/Grill area.

Tables next to the Bar/Grill area is the first section of the pier.

The Gulf State Pier was built and open on July 23 2009. At the time it was the longest pier in the gulf at 1540 ft long and 41,800 sq feet. Since then the Navarre Beach Pier in Florida, has added 5 more feet to be the longest Pier in the Gulf at 1545 feet long. This pier was built to replace a pier that was destroyed by Hurricane Ivan in 2004.

Looking west toward Gulf Shores, AL.

Gulf Shores, AL has a population of 10,118 people, though the town swells with tourist in the summer and snowbirds in the winter.

We continued our pier walk out to the next sections of the pier.

Our park ranger stopped at the 2nd restroom area to get out of the wind to talk to us about the pier, birds, and fishing. Joe and I both had shorts on, and wished we had worn jeans, as it was much colder with the wind than it was in the campground just a mile inland.

We are introduced to Sam the resident Brown Pelican. Sam had a broken wing when he was a year old, and the state park rescued him and took care of him until his wing was healed and he could be released back into the wild.

Sam eyeing a piece of shrimp on  a fisherman's line. Someone discourages Sam from the temptation.

Sam is now 4 years old and is always on the pier waiting for hand outs from the fishermen.

These are the fish most often caught on the pier.

Someone catches a small shark. We are told that sharks can be seen swimming around the sand bar below when the waters are calm and clear. Because of recent rain, silt has come from 5 rivers that dump into the Mobile Bay and then into the Gulf, making the water real murky. The high winds also contribute to rough waters that stir up the water.

 

As we leave the pier, we see a couple of people enjoying the beach even though it is a bit cold that day.

You can buy fishing pier permits at a Daily rate of $8, Weekly rate of $40.00, Monthly rate of $80.00, Semi- Annual rate of $160,00 or Annually rate of $320.00.