FAIRHOPE, Ala. (WKRG) — High tide around Pelican Point, boats and jet skis take advantage of an almost perfect day on the water.

But about 200 feet off the point and just beneath the surface, what’s left of a 30-foot sailboat. You can’t see it from land and can barely make out the side of the boat from above using our Sky 5 drone.

“High tide you can’t see it at all,” says Janet Cieutat. “Low tide you can see a little bit of the side where it’s rolled over but high tide no, and there are so many people that come in and out.”

Back in January, it was still above the surface of the water. It was already listing and a hazard then. In the months that have passed the mast has been removed and the boat has continued to sink.

Cieutat lives nearby and at one point considered taking matters into her own hands “to try and pull it over and out of the way but there is no way it’s too big and it’s stuck,” she says.

January 2023 the sailboat was still above the surface but listing badly to one side.

The Baldwin County Commission voted this week to open bids for a contractor to do remove the boat. Money that comes to the county each year from the State Department of Conservation will be used to pay for the job which can run into the thousands of dollars.

“Awesome because it’s bound to be an accident waiting to happen,” says Cieutat. An accident that could ruin an almost perfect day on the water.

At last count 45 abandoned boats in waterways in Mobile and Baldwin counties had been identified and geo-located waiting on federal grant money to be approved for their removal.