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Old 04-21-2012, 08:19 AM
 
270 posts, read 584,631 times
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Hi,

Good morning. I've been to Gulf Shores a few times and just love it. How would any of you compare the MS beaches to Gulf Shores? I'm not looking to head to the beach for the entertainment purposes but just somewhere to take my family to lay out, play in the sand and just suck up the beautiful view that God created for the area.

From the view on Google earth, the water doesn't look quite as blue. Is that true, and if so, why?

Have a blessed day
WD
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Old 04-21-2012, 09:27 AM
 
Location: Hattiesburg, MS
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The water ISN'T as blue. It definitely a little bit browner. MS beaches are much closer to the mouth of the Mississippi river, so the water in the area has more sediment from the river pouring into the Gulf.

My wife and I still love the beaches around here since they're so convenient for us. Plus, you can walk for 200 yards into the ocean and still touch the bottom - pretty cool.

You get a little more wave action as you get into the Alabama beaches. This can be good or bad though, depending on what you want. You get have waves on the MS beaches, they're just calmer.
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Old 04-21-2012, 04:38 PM
 
270 posts, read 584,631 times
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Thanks TBlackwell. Yes I see that. I also read the water is more shallow. Can you comment on the beach itself? Is the sand white and comparable to Gulf Shores?

Have a blessed day
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Old 04-21-2012, 08:51 PM
 
Location: Chattanooga, TN
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The sand isn't as white. Part of the reason is the already mentioned Mississippi River sediment, plus all the commercial ship traffic into the MS River and Gulfport. Also the barrier islands off Mississippi are way off shore and trap the dirtier water all the way from Mobile Bay to LA. The water is still much cleaner than almost any lake in Mississippi, though.

If you want a direct comparison (beaches behind the barrier islands), you'd have to compare the MS beaches with the back-bay area of Gulf Shores (Perdido Bay?), which Mississippi would win by a long shot. Take a ferry to one of the islands (Ship Island is one I've been to) if you want clearer water, whiter sand, and larger waves. The islands off Alabama and Florida are close in, so, you can just drive to them over bridges.

But this is all relative... The farther east and then south you go generally the cleaner and prettier the water gets. Gulf Shores is cleaner than the MS coast, and Pensacola Beach is cleaner still. Destin, FL, is about where the truly white sugar-sands start.
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Old 04-21-2012, 11:09 PM
 
Location: Clear Lake, Houston TX
8,376 posts, read 30,590,994 times
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Hmm, about this time last year we visited both Orange Beach AL and Destin FL, passing by Pensacola. All the beaches' sand and water on that strip were virtually identical. I even mixed all those photos in my album to illustrate how identical they look. The difference was AL had piney woods and muddy bayous behind the beaches, while FL had much larger sand dunes.

I haven't been to MS beaches in years, hopefully will get there soon, but I've looked at pictures and they look like Destin sand with Texas muddy water.
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