Well,
I think this is where I should put this post, but I'm not sure. Went out yesterday and dove at the Jetties in Panama City Beach, and I was very surprised by the clarity of the water. Despite bad weather and building seas, it was amazingly calm and clear at depth. I was in the water with a new Dive Master candidate and one of the local shop employees for my first saltwater dive of the week, and it was great.
We entered the water on the beach side of the Jetties and agreed before the dive that if it was bad, we would just swim out to the end and then turn around and come back, but if it was nice, we would continue around the point and back into the kiddie pool via the channel. This kept us from having a long walk at the end of the dive. Viz was around 3 feet starting out, but once we got out to where the waves were no longer breaking, things cleared up to about 20 feet. This was my first around he point dive since the dredging, and things are different out there, but still cool. Some of my landmarks are gone, but I was still able to guide my two buddies back in to the kiddie pool with very little trouble. Water temp was about 49 degrees and the top 15 feet of water was colder and tinted red with muck, but below that was a beautiful dive filled with sheepheads, red drum, urchins, sea cucumbers, star fish and hundreds of mating horseshoe crabs. All in all, it was a great dive, and I hope my buddies enjoyed it as much as I did.
Todd Yarbrough
I think this is where I should put this post, but I'm not sure. Went out yesterday and dove at the Jetties in Panama City Beach, and I was very surprised by the clarity of the water. Despite bad weather and building seas, it was amazingly calm and clear at depth. I was in the water with a new Dive Master candidate and one of the local shop employees for my first saltwater dive of the week, and it was great.
We entered the water on the beach side of the Jetties and agreed before the dive that if it was bad, we would just swim out to the end and then turn around and come back, but if it was nice, we would continue around the point and back into the kiddie pool via the channel. This kept us from having a long walk at the end of the dive. Viz was around 3 feet starting out, but once we got out to where the waves were no longer breaking, things cleared up to about 20 feet. This was my first around he point dive since the dredging, and things are different out there, but still cool. Some of my landmarks are gone, but I was still able to guide my two buddies back in to the kiddie pool with very little trouble. Water temp was about 49 degrees and the top 15 feet of water was colder and tinted red with muck, but below that was a beautiful dive filled with sheepheads, red drum, urchins, sea cucumbers, star fish and hundreds of mating horseshoe crabs. All in all, it was a great dive, and I hope my buddies enjoyed it as much as I did.
Todd Yarbrough
handy afterwards!
