Are there lifeguards at Perdido Key beaches?

• Perdido Key Beach Access #2: lifeguards 10 a.m.–6 p.m. daily, Saturday May 23 to Tuesday August 11 (Escambia County). The county ended coverage there on August 11, "as the 2026-2027 school year resumes."
• Johnson Beach (Gulf Islands National Seashore): towers staffed 10 a.m.–6 p.m. daily, Friday May 15 to Monday September 7, "as staffing allows" after August 11. The guarded swim area runs "200 feet east and 200 feet west of the lifeguard towers" (NPS).
• Perdido Key State Park: "There are no lifeguards at the park" (Florida State Parks).
• Everywhere else on the Key, and outside those dates, nobody is guarding the water.

Orange Beach Surf Rescue, also called "Molly's Patrol" in memory of Molly Bryant, who drowned in a rip current in 2003, covers the beach from the Flora-Bama to the Gulf State Park Pavilion with towers and roving units. Its schedule: March–May 10 a.m.–6 p.m.; Memorial Day–Labor Day 10 a.m.–8 p.m.; September–October 31 10 a.m.–6 p.m.; November–February "NO LIFEGUARDS ON DUTY (Limited patrols & response)" (City of Orange Beach). Its beach conditions line is 251-981-SURF, and texting ALBEACHES to 888777 gets the daily flag.

Flags fly at plenty of beaches nobody is guarding: lifeguards put them at unguarded accesses, and the state park flies them with no guards at all. A staffed tower is the only sign that someone is watching the water.

Check the live flags and surf before you go in, swim near other people, never swim alone or at night, keep kids within arm's reach, and learn the rip-current escape before you need it. On a red-flag day, stay knee-deep at most. In an emergency, call 911.

Before anyone goes in, know three things: the flag color, where the rip currents are (look for a channel of darker, calmer-looking, sandy water cutting out through the breakers — that's the pull), and the nearest access name or condo so you can tell 911 where you are. Put one adult on "watch" duty in shifts, phone in a bag, not in hand. Kids in bright rash guards are easier to count. If someone's in trouble, throw or float something before you go in after them; two people in a rip is how one rescue becomes two.

In summer, Beach Access #2 and Johnson Beach have lifeguard towers, and Orange Beach is guarded from March through October; the state park never is. Condo beach-service crews — the folks renting the chairs — are often the first to see trouble even though it isn't their job. None of it replaces looking at the flag and reading the water yourself. On red days, keep it to knee-deep and stay near others; on double red, nobody's in.