Dauphin Island in the Winter

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Kevin Holbrook

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Mountainlover
Am looking for a short trip to the beach later this month or early February, and looks like Dauphin Island, AL would be ideal for us. I know it's winter, we don't expect to frolic in the ocean--walks on the beach, cycling, casual birding, reading. And we are not out for the night life either.

Just wondering what Dauphin Island is like this time of the year... dining, etc.

Also ground transportation--this would be a fly-in trip. Is there any way to get a rental car?

Thanks in advance.

FYI, airplane is a PA-24 Comanche. Pictures of trip will be provided...
 
Can’t speak for Dauphin Island but we spend every winter just a few hours east of it in Florida, also with our PA-24. At least here, everything is open, rental cars are no problem and it’s not overly crowded like other places. We like it. Temps are in the 60s for the most part with the occasional “heatwave” where temps go into the 70s or sometimes even 80s and the occasional “polar vortex” where temps dip below freezing for a few nights and daytime highs fail to reach the 50s for a few days.
 
Worst case, for ground transport, you could uber into Mobile and grab a rental. My ex-boss had a house down there and (per him) there aren't a lot of restaurants or other amenities and several of the ones that do exist close for the winter.
 
Hmmm… may consider KJKA instead. They have rental cars and a regular FBO. Foley right up the street is gonna be cheaper ramp and fuel wise.

When ya going? I lived there the last few years, still have my hangar (full, otherwise I’d offer it up) there and spend weekends when I can.

Wx is generally great, even for fishing and sitting on the beach, sticking your feet in the water. Tons to eat, unfortunately no traffic… sorry! No waits in restaurants either, gonna have to just deal with it… ha!

There may be car rental places that would pick you up in dauphin… I dunno. Room rentals, even on the beach, are gonna be reasonable.

Another fun little airport to tie down at, Roscoe field. Fun 500’ pattern, uncontrolled, INSIDE Navy Pensacola class D. Easy to get a rental car there.

Let us know!
 
I second Tools; consider Gulf Shores/Orange Beach. Plenty of reasonably priced beach rentals this time of year, rental cars at JKA, good selection of restaurants/activities, and better beaches than Dauphin. If you had a beach house and car for use at Dauphin, it would be fine. More geared to day trip for a seafood lunch.
PNS has rental cars but pricier and a busy training class C but great controllers.
 
you can arrange to rent golf carts on Dauphin but for a car, Gulf Shores is probably your best option
 
I flew over there from Panama City to visit my brother when he was working a job there in the winter. He was working a dredging job at the time. The place was deserted. It was nice. I like beach towns in the off season though.

Half the runway is on a spit of land. It was like landing on an aircraft carrier. :biggrin:
 
Chrisgoesflying said:
Can’t speak for Dauphin Island but we spend every winter just a few hours east of it in Florida, also with our PA-24. At least here, everything is open, rental cars are no problem and it’s not overly crowded like other places. We like it. Temps are in the 60s for the most part with the occasional “heatwave” where temps go into the 70s or sometimes even 80s and the occasional “polar vortex” where temps dip below freezing for a few nights and daytime highs fail to reach the 50s for a few days.
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it's 45 today in Florida
 
We are looking to visit the same area, probably around the same time! Thanks to those that have provided input, a visit to 82J has been added to the list of ideas for when we are in the area. Someone (not a pilot) recently suggested Orange Beach as their favorite in the area so we will be looking into that as well.

I’ll keep an eye on this thread for additional suggestions.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Datadriver said:
it's 45 today in Florida
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It’s 24 in Kentucky. Snow and ice everywhere and I’m running of generator. Florida and Alabama sounding pretty good.

Remember “When you’ve got it bad we’ve got it good. Florida”
 
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