Dauphin Island, Alabama

Dauphin Island, The Sunset Capital of Alabama

I happened to come across this little gem of an island while searching for a family beach vacation in Florida.  We always seem to go somewhere on the panhandle, which is great, but it gets tiresome going to Panama every year.  One thing I love about the HomeAway is that it lets you scroll your mouse on the map and it will bring up condos for rent above where your mouse is. I happened to scroll towards Alabama and saw this diamond.  So far during my research, I found that there are no huge resorts and it is basically a quiet little island with not much to do except go to the beach and enjoy the peace.  We have been looking for a beach house or condo for all 8 of us.  My Grandparents my brother and my Mom are going with us.  There are many options on the HomeAway app, and I found the perfect one!  It cost us $2451 for the week and has four bedrooms and is right on the beach.  That's not a bad price when you are splitting between 4 families (one family per room).  We have a pool and many amenities with our condo :)  The property manager was very fast at getting back to us about booking and very polite.  I hope this will be a fantastic family vacation!  You will hear how it all went after we get back I'm sure!  Now just to continue my research, make a list of things we must do, and count down to July!  The link to our condo is listed below:
https://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p3903189


This is what sold me on this property...Can you believe this view?!?


Location:  This island is south of Gulf Shores, Alabama.  You take AL 193 S (18 miles) across an ocean bridge.  The island is around 14 miles long and a little over a mile wide at the widest spot. There is also vehicle ferry that you can take.  The ferry will take vehicles across if that's what you need.  The cost of the ferry is minimal.  The website is listed below.  I would check it out for prices and hours of operation. 
http://mobilebayferry.com

Beaches:  So, I read in one of my sea glass books (Sea Glass Hunter's Handbook by C.S. Lambert) that this island is a great place to find glass.  I'm stoked about this!  It mentioned on the Odyssey website, which is in my helpful links on the side of my blog, that glass is mostly found by the piers.  I hope there is a ton to be found! Basically, as far as beaches are concerned, there is the gulf and the Mobile Bay behind.  On the gulf side, you will have the waves and more choppy waters.  On the bay side, it will be more calm.  There is a public beach that does have a small fee. There is also public access and the beaches directly in front of your condo or beach home. 

Things to do: There is actually quite a bit to do on this tiny island.  Some things to do include visiting Fort Gaines, seeing the bird sanctuary, learning at the Estuarium, beachcombing, and  make sure to visit the Indian Shell Mound Park.  As always, a vacation is only as good as you make it!  You all can guess what I'm mostly excited about! BEACHCOMBING AND A TAN!

Places to shop:  There are many places to shop, which include surf shops, gift shops, and small groceries. This island has all the essentials, just not any huge stores that your bigger places have.  Don't plan on going to the Wal-Mart to stock up on essentials for the week.  What I plan on doing, is getting toilet paper, paper towels, trash bags, foods that don't need refrigerated, and any other essentials at home.  Then basically, we will just need any food items that need refrigerated.

Places to eat: There are a few good places to eat, which include Pelican Pub, Skinner Seafood, JT's Sunset Grell, and Barnacle Bill's Marina Grill Inc.  I also found an ice cream place that had some good reviews, called Icecream Haven.  I'm sure we will be visiting this little place numerous times with the kiddos!

XOXO...Becky

Dauphin Island Pier