The Gulf Shores Intracoastal Canal: Access to the Gulf and Fun on the WaterThe origin of the Gulf Shores Intracoastal Canal, officially known as the Intracoastal Waterway, can be traced back to 1907 when Congress passed the Rivers and Harbors Act, authorizing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to begin surveying a water route along the Atlantic coast. The canal is also known to many as the Intercoastal Canal.The canal route eventually grew into a 3,000 mile waterway extending from the unofficial beginning at the Manasquan River in New Jersey to Brownsville Texas on the Gulf of Mexico. The canal is divided into three non-contiguous segments, the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway that extends from Norfolk, Virginia to Key West, Florida, the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway that runs from Brownsville, Texas to Carrabelle, Florida, and the Florida Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, beginning at Tarpon Springs, Florida, and extending south to Fort Myers, Florida. The canals were originally planned to be connected to another canal running across northern Florida. Environmental concerns has prevented that from becoming a reality. To service the big barges, the original canal specifications called for a minimum depths of twelve feet, however that has been difficult to manage. In some places on the route watercraft has to manage in depths as low as seven feet. The Alabama Gulf Coast portion of the canal more than meets the original twelve feet specifications. It was debated whether to bring the Gulf Shores area portion of the canal through the three lakes in Gulf State Park and Little Lagoon, but a more northern route through marshlands and forests was selected. In those early days barges were pulled, not pushed. The completion of the Gulf Shores Intracoastal Canal created the island that we call Pleasure Island. Our portion of the Intracoastal Canal runs from Bon Secour Bay through Oyster Bay and Wolfe Bay. A protected water route for commercial and military watercraft was the original purpose of the Intracoastal Canal, but fortunately for us it also serves as a recreational waterway. At times fishing is very good in the canal, and you don't have to have a boat to get in on the fun. Small fish that kids have fun catching like pinfish and croakers are always biting during the warm weather months. At times redfish, flounder, and sheepshead are plentiful. I don't fish from the shore of the canal unless I see somebody else dragging them out, but when they are biting, fishing is very good. The area where the canal meets Wolfe Bay is very good for dolphin watching. It is possible to see them from the shore, especially at the marinas where they like to cruise in search of food. Rent watercraft or take a dolphin cruise and you can be entertained by dolphins for as long as you have time, especially in the couple hours before dark. During the first years of this century, plans were in the making to develop almost every piece of the Intracoastal Canal. The coastal real estate crash either ceased or interrupted all of those plans except for the Wharf complex at the toll bridge in Orange Beach and some smaller developments like Lulu's. No doubt when the excess real state inventory is absorbed, however long that might be in the future, development of the Gulf Shores Intracoastal Canal will resume. |
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