Are there lifeguards at Perdido Key beaches?

Don't plan around a guard being present. Coverage varies year to year and beach to beach; the Alabama side has the "Molly's Patrol" beach-safety program watching conditions, and the parks post warning flags — but a posted flag is not the same as a guarded beach.

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.

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.

Some of the busier public accesses and the state parks post staff or beach patrols in peak season, and 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.