Tiki Bar, Sportsman’s Marina, Orange Beach

Exploring all the wonderful beach venues around Orange Beach with an almost 4-year-old granddaughter is a treat! Penny was visiting from Athens, Georgia. In mid-October, we set off to explore the Pleasure Island Tiki Bar next to Sportsman Marina on Canal Road and found musical treasure!

Our good friend and great musician, Mike Estep, played his best gig with two friends, one local and one from Nashville. Mike, an oil and gas attorney, is a great entertainer and vocalist and often plays with talented friends from all over the South. It’s rarely the same crew, but Mike knows a lot of talented musicians, and whomever he is playing with, they always sound great!

That night at the Tiki, Mike’s group was jamming and singing, the weather was gorgeous, with cold beverages and crispy French Fries, what’s not to like? The Tiki Bar is an outdoor venue with plenty to keep the kids engaged and entertained. We saw a dolphin cruise returning from a successful outing and watched the guests disembark. All the boats in wet slips, racked high in dry storage were a sight to see and very impressive for a 4-year-old and a 68-year-old alike.

There are so many entertaining options along the “Redneck Riviera,” and we try to take advantage of live music whenever possible. Speaking of the Redneck Riviera, here’s a sidebar:

The term “Redneck Riviera” was captured (exploring again!) when Harvey H Jackson, III published his book after conducting 16 years of research based on his personal experiences. (tough job!) He traces the Alabama-Florida beach history from the early 1920s until the devastating BP Horizon Oil Spill in 2010. The Rise and Decline of the Redneck Riviera: An Insider's History of the Florida Alabama Coast describes the sparsely populated fishing villages, how they later became a vacation destination for working-class families, the rise of the building boom, spring break, and the bust in the late ’70s and ’80s, the housing crash in 2008 and the changes in the natural environment of the beach.

At the Tiki Bar, we found a great kids' activity area downstairs, super service upstairs, and a terrific time. Penny’s backpack was full of games, stickers, and coloring pencils, and the magic French Fries kept her happy while we enjoyed a spectacular early evening. As she was leaving her first “live concert” she exclaimed with enthusiasm that only an almost four-year-old can muster, “That was sooooo much fun!”