Summer is in full swing, and it’s time to get your beach on! Before you head out for fun in the sun, make sure you have these essentials packed for your day at the beach. Since everything you bring must leave with you each day, these ideas will help you pack light and transport your beach gear to and from that beautiful sugar-white sand. 1) Your Seat on the Sand If you’d like to bring beach chairs, consider those with a [...]
In just 10 or 15 minutes, you can go online and book an amazing spring visit to Gulf Shores and Orange Beach. Whether it’s a long weekend or a full week, you and your family get to enjoy all the sun, sand and surf our area provides. It takes about that same amount of time to pack up your chairs, cooler, beach toys and umbrella after your day on the sand. And it’s important you do that. If you’ve visited [...]
When you visit our beaches, it’s important to know the rules and restrictions. Leave Only Footprints regulations prohibit leaving any items overnight on public beaches in Gulf Shores and Orange Beach. In addition, several items are prohibited anytime on the beach, including: Glass containers Metal shovels or excessive digging Litter Tents or structures larger than 12 x 12 Overnight camping Fireworks Loud music Fires Pets Vehicles The reason for many of these restrictions concerns safety, others are for the comfort [...]
Spending your winter on our beautiful Alabama beaches? We’d like to ask you to keep those beaches clean and help preserve them for future generations. How can you do that? Glad you asked. First, just follow our Leave Only Footprints rules. Basically, the regulations prohibit leaving anything on the beach overnight. That gear you tote down to the shoreline - things like chairs or umbrellas - needs to be removed each night. If items are left on the sand, crews [...]
Kids like keeping their planet healthy and clean. They love the beach and want to take care of it. You can help them do that during your visit to the Alabama coast this summer. Below are the basic Leave No Trace principles that kids can learn and implement. Know Before You Go. Learn the Leave Only Footprints rules that prohibit leaving items on the beach after sunset. Teach your kids this rule and let them help you tote the beach [...]
Do you know the regulations in the Leave Only Footprints program in Gulf Shores and Orange Beach? It’s pretty basic: Any structures or equipment left on the beach an hour after sunset will be removed and disposed of by beach patrols. That includes chairs, tents and toys. Regulations also prohibit tents larger than 10 feet by 10 feet, as well as fireworks, pets and glass bottles. You can’t go wrong if you just leave the beach a little better than [...]
Beach-goers, especially kids, love digging in the sand. They bring their buckets and plastic shovels and get to work. But the holes can cause problems. The most obvious one is that holes - of any size - left unattended can be a tripping hazard for anyone walking on the beach at night. For that reason, digging big holes (more than one-foot deep) is prohibited in Orange Beach and Gulf Shores. In addition, metal shovels are not allowed on beaches in [...]
If you’re out and about on the beach, you may run into someone who shares the rules of the beach. Don’t be alarmed. There’s a good chance you are meeting a member of the city’s beach patrol. Lisa Graham of Orange Beach has been involved with the Leave Only Footprints beach patrol program since its inception in July 2015. She had patrolled the beach for 15 years as a Share The Beach sea turtle volunteer, and in that capacity she witnessed local [...]
So you are preparing to hit the beach. You know what to put in the beach bag, right? A beach towel, sunscreen, sunglasses, hat. Plenty of water and snacks. Maybe a good novel to read while you pass the time. But do you know what does not belong at the beach? There are items you need to leave out of that beach bag due to local, state or federal laws or ordinances that prohibit them. On the Alabama Gulf Coast, [...]
