Louisiana, Mississippi & Alabama, USA

Where to surf in Louisiana, Mississippi & Alabama, USA

The Gulf of Mexico circles clockwise from Texas to Florida lapping the beaches of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama along the way. The true definition of a gulf is “a large, deep bay,” but, though the Gulf of Mexico is undoubtedly large, its coastal fringes don’t exactly qualify as deep. A wide and gently sloping shelf enervates what short-lived swells the Gulf can produce within the limited fetch of its virtually landlocked environment. The problem of water depth (a factor in swell potency) is compounded by the constant conveyance and deposition of silt by the mightiest of American rivers, the Mississippi.

As a result, apart from the Padre Island beachbreaks of southern Texas and the Pensacola area of the Florida Panhandle, there are very few powerful waves for the friendly, optimistic surfers of these Southern States. However the inlets or ‘passes’ through the islands provide focal points for Gulf surfers, where deeper water beckons all available swell onto sculptured inlet-jetty sandbars. Other man-made structures (mostly piers) also snag the shifting sands, giving the average Gulf surfer plenty of options, including hundreds of miles of deserted, unnamed beachbreak peaks and channels. Factor in balmy water, warm air temperatures, endless stretches of white sand beaches, great flat day fishing, and laid-back Southern hospitality, and it all adds up: the Gulf is a valid North American surf destination.

Alabama sits between the worst and one of the best surfing areas of the Gulf, but generally displays a likeness to the former. Split by Mobile Bay into two areas of possibility, Alabama relies on hurricanes or SE windswell for any sort of wave action. Spots on the skinny, sandy strip of Dauphin Island tend to be weaker and less organised, but the surf breaks between Fort Morgan and the Florida state line provide the best chance of rideable waves around Orange Beach near the pier and jetty.

Mississippi and Lousiana are so marginal for surf that the few local surfers are more likely to get wet in Texas or Florida. Pilot charts reveal a water depth of less than 35ft (11m) extending for miles offshore, courtesy of the silt-dumping Mississippi, choking the muddied waters for miles around the river’s delta. Rumours of waves on offshore sandbanks out in the Mississippi delta can not be discounted and the East Bay peninsula may also hold surf as it protrudes out towards deeper water, but on the whole, these states are best avoided.