PERDIDO BEACH, Ala. (WKRG) — A quick boat trip out of Palmetto Creek into Perdido Bay and about 200 yards offshore, in about three feet of water, what Grey Biggs has been trying to get removed for the last several years, “and now you see that’s all that’s left.”

It had been a pleasure boat that was grounded in shallow water. Early on Biggs contacted Marine Police. “They said we found out who it belonged to and who tried to tow it off and they don’t have the means. It would be like getting blood out of a turnip.”

So it sat there while storms eventually reduced it to basically an engine block. “You see a lot of jet skis rented on the island and they are not familiar with the bay and they are just interested in rip-roaring. It’s just a wonder that one of them hasn’t run up on it.”

Abandoned boats are littered throughout waterways in Mobile and Baldwin Counties. This year alone WKRG has reported on derelict boats on Bon Secour River, near the Lillian boat launch and on Weeks Bay near Pelican Point.

But help is on the way. The Alabama Marine Police have been awarded a million-dollar grant to remove at least 60 abandoned watercraft that have been identified in Baldwin and Mobile counties. The project is expected to get underway next Spring. The Perdido Bay boat, or what’s left of it, is on the list to be removed.

In the meantime, “at high tide it’s about this much underwater,” Biggs hopes by calling attention to this waterway hazard he can help avoid a tragedy that is lying just beneath the surface of Perdido Bay.