Zeke's Landing: This Is Exactly Why We Do This

Happy customers returning from successful Fishing Charters.

There's a moment that happens every time I pull into Cotton Bayou and the docks at Zeke's Landing come into view — a moment I've never been able to fully explain to someone who hasn't been there by boat. The charter fleet is staged in the center section, forty-plus hulls pointed toward Perdido Pass and ready for tomorrow's run. The restaurant is open. The Mo Fishin’ Bar has music drifting across the water. Somewhere behind the dry stack facility a forklift is lowering a center console back into the water. Jarett or Brad are sea trialing a boat with a prospective customer. A family just off a dolphin cruise is walking up the boardwalk with their faces still lit up. And I'm sitting at the helm thinking: this is exactly why Dockside Guide exists. Because you cannot know this place from the road. You have to come in from the water to understand what's actually here.

To the uninitiated, pulling in from the water can feel like entering a busy port city. Here’s how to navigate the ecosystem.  Zeke's Landing has been anchored on Cotton Bayou since 1980, and in 46 years it has grown into one of the most complete marine operations on the Gulf Coast. I'm not sure there's another place within a day's run where you can do this many things in a single stop. Arrive by boat, have lunch at a waterfront table with oysters and a spiny lobster roll, step back to the dock and book a morning charter, fuel up on the way out, store your boat for the season, and — if the occasion calls for it — get married at The Port venue with the whole marina as your backdrop. That's not a marketing pitch. That's a Tuesday at Zeke's. The place has 57 charter boat slips, dry storage for 200 more boats, marine fuel, a ship's store, a full-service restaurant, an outdoor bar, Jet Ski and pontoon rentals, tiki cruises, dolphin trips, and a separate event venue. It is, by any measure, a working waterfront ecosystem — and it's been Best of Baldwin 2026 for a reason.

Red line to the long floating dock when you want to visit; Yellow line to the fuel dock and Ship’s Store.

Here's what the crew at Dockside Guide wants you to know before you pull in: arriving by boat, your destination is the long floating dock on the east side of the property — that's where guest dockage is located. If you're coming in for fuel or need the ship's store, keep going past the charter fleet slips, then turn left toward the dry storage building. The fuel dock and store are positioned there, and the dock staff is some of the best on the coast — the boat will be ready with gas and ice before you need to ask twice. For the restaurant, tie up first and walk the boardwalk straight in. Make an OpenTable reservation for patio seating on weekends — inside the restaurant is walk-in, first come, first served. Arrive between 4 and 5 in the afternoon and you'll be at the dock when the charter fleet comes in from their afternoon runs. That arrival sequence — fifty-plus boats turning into Cotton Bayou with the day's catch — is one of the great free shows on the Gulf Coast. Expect a welcoming committee of local dolphins as you enter the no-wake zone; keep it at an idle and enjoy the show.

One more thing worth knowing, because it's part of the Zeke's Landing story that doesn't get told enough: this marina was completely destroyed by Hurricane Sally on September 16, 2020. Every dock was gone. The ship's store was gutted. Charter Captain Bobby Kelly got a phone call the morning after the storm from a friend who said, "Your boat's in my front yard." Owner Lynne Swafford stood in the wreckage two days later, recording on her cell phone, and said: "We will have to totally rebuild this." She did. Two 300-foot temporary floating docks were brought in so the charter captains could get back to work while permanent construction ran through Covid-strained supply chains. The storm hit September 16, 2020. The rebuilt docks were fully operational by June 1, 2021. Not a deck board or piling you walk on today survived Sally. What stands now was built by people who refused to leave.

That story — building something, losing it, and building it back better — is the story of every working waterfront on the Alabama Gulf Coast. It's the story Dockside Guide was created to tell. The people behind these docks and restaurants and charter operations are your neighbors. They know these waters, these fish, and these storms the way the rest of us only wish we did. Zeke's Landing is at 26619 Perdido Beach Blvd in Orange Beach, on Cotton Bayou, ten minutes from the Gulf. Call ahead for slips: (251) 981-4044. Book your charter at zekeslanding.com. And if the Pecan Crusted Grouper is on the menu when you get there, order it before it sells out. We'll see ya on the water.

Look for our Waterfront Markers for information when you arrive.