Things To Do in Gulf Shores, AL or Nearby

I hesitantly agreed to taking a vacation in mid April to Gulf Shores Alabama. We will be with my wife's family for about a week. Their idea of a vacation is golfing, sitting at a pool, sitting at a beach, golfing some more, repeat. I on the other hand will go crazy after about an hour or two at a beach and royally suck at golf, so looking for other things I can sneak away to do. My boys are pretty young (1,3, and 4) but I thought a little fishing would be fun for the older two. Any other thoughts on things to do in the area? Sites to see, things to do, etc.? I've never been to the area before. Thanks much.

Peir fishing is good.

Trap beaver! Plenty in the area.

The surf fishing should be good mid April, especially if it warms up nicely this spring. Do yourself a favor and get some Royal Red Shrimp to eat, there amazing!! When i was there all i did was fish, eat, and drink. Take some bug spray, they have these dang things they call No See Ums and they can be brutal.

Keystone - Chiggers is what we called them in Indiana!

2nd

Had some fond memories around Laporte, back in the day! Dunes etc.

2nd

They have an alligator farm with what they claim is the biggest alligator in captivity in USA. This place is not more than 40 min north of the beach . Don’t remember the name, been too many years.

Charter a day trip fishing at Perdido Pass. Ride out to Fort Morgan. Catch the ferry from there across to Fort Gaines and Dauphin Island. See the Sea Lab Aquarium next door to Fort Gaines.
Ride up the Mobile to see the Lucky A or USS Alabama battleship plus the Gato class submarine USS Drum plus a collection of military aircraft. Then there's Fort Conde a reconstructed french fort. Pensacola isn't far away either.

If you're camping at Gulf State Park you need two things, DDT and steel lock boxes. The salt water mosquitos see you coming and rise up in a black cloud to feast on human flesh. The raccoons are highly skilled lock picks and pick pockets. They'll steal your car if you ain't careful.

How could I forget, Flora-Bama. A legendary watering hole on the beach on the state line.

Eat at Lambert's in Foley, the alligator farm was pretty neat. There is a Dolphin cruise that is really cool I will see if my wife remembers the name of it.

When my boy live down there we would go out on Fort Morgan point and fish. I love it out there, not many people and the bay on one side and the gulf on the other side. Or sharks on one side and gators on the other side. Man it was nice out there, good fishing at times also.

Fishing on the beach has worked for our family at Orange Beach just a few miles away. Should be about the same.

Lamberts-Home of the throwed rolls!
We used to go to Dauphin Island for Spring Break with the kids and take the ferry across to the Gulf Shores. I love the food and the people.

The boys would enjoy the Gulf Shores Zoo, it is small but is set up so you can actually see the animals. There is a great aviation museum at the Naval Air Station Pensacola. The Blue Angels are based out of NAS Pensacola and if they are in town you can go over and watch them practice in the morning, by far the best Blue Angels demonstration I had ever seen because of the close proximity to the flight line. The museum and practice are free. It takes a full day to see the air show and tour the museum if you actual read the information and watch the video clips.

I can tell you one thing if you go shore fishing down there, them little devils can bait pick better then a gray fox. I believe them fish go to school on bait stealing.

Thanks for the suggestions. We will probably take the kids to the zoo, the aviation museum and others mentioned above. Any specific suggestions on fishing with young kids? Probably something near shore. We are flying down so I won't have any equipment with me. Probably wouldn't know what I'm doing anyways. Any suggestions on guides that would put up with a couple young kids?

Fish in the bays, lot of speckled trout, sting rays, etc. in it usually.

The aviation museum in Pensacola is just great. Your kids will love it! Go to Moe's BBQ in Orange Beach (25603 Perdido Beach Blvd) Absolutely the best!! There's a place in Mobile that does airboat rides and you'll see some gators. Airboat Express (3733 Battleship Pkwy) in Spanish Fort, AL.

The Spanish mackerel will be running on the pier that time of year. You can rent a pole for like 6 bucks and break the line, the pole, or the reel you just take it back to the pier shop. I'm a "pier rat" and fish about 3 days a week during summer when school isn't in session. I'm not sure if your boys like to fish but the Gulf State Pier can be real fun to see new things and catch some fish. Lots of people are shocked to see as many sharks as they do on the pier. It's common to see 6-7 sharks cruising the pier.

My boys like to fish, but they are pretty young (4, 3, and 1), so the attention spans are short. The Gulf State Pier looks perfect for young kids. Any advice for early April? We would have to rent rods and reels.

I sent you a pm.

We took our first family vacation this fall down to Dauphin Island. Drove up to Mobile and saw the big boat...I had more fun buying shrimp right off the boat at Bayou LaBatre. Its where they filmed part of Forest Gump. I had never seen a shrimp boat or large pile of oyster shells......I know I am uncultured. Buying fresh shrimp directly off the boat was a blast - bring several coolers or be prepared to buy some - I had never seen fresh shrimp so big.....they were and are tasty.....we brought back like 40 lbs. We met a local fisherman guide and he hauled us around the island and we saw dolphins right next to the boat. Snapper season had just ended and so had tourist season - Dauphin Island after mid September was very nice with not hardly any tourists left.

There's a pile of things to do in and around Gulf Shores. The Gulf State Park Pier is nice and will keep your kids entertained although at their early age you'd have to keep a close eye on them and probably not get much fishing done. Unbelievable places to eat, clean beaches to walk on, and small amusement park for the kids. Best of all, you'll be there before the Summer boom.