SuPrBuGmAn
Contributor
Headed to Bayou Point Boat Launch with the intention of setting up my Zodiac and jumping out into the gulf and heading west for about 5 miles to dive the Gulf State Pier, but I'm an idiot and forgot to bring the friggin pump for my inflatable.
Patrick Davis and I opted to just dive the outside of the West jetties at Alabama Point instead of calling for the day. The walk from the parking area to the beach on the outside(gulfside) is probably about the same distance as the walk from the parking lot to the jetties in Destin. So we endured that crap in the heat and found ourselves at the water's edge. The inside(pass side) portion of the jetties had nice visibility with the current carrying any particulate out to the bay, not so on the outside of the jetties. Directly off the beach and out to about 75' from shore the water was nasty brown with tons of particulate making visibility in the 6" range. After that, things opened up and we enjoyed 15-20' of visibility. We were not diving slack tide so we had to stay within the outside of the jetty and kept carefull about not getting too far around the point. Saw lots of the normal jetty fish and litterly dozens and dozens of rays that scattered the bottom(mostly southern, but there was another species that I hadn't seen before in almost the same numbers). We encountered a few jellyfish, but they aren't thick enough for us to really have to worry about them yet(looks like it will be a light year for the jellys - whoohoo!). We also managed to tag a half dozen flounder
good eaten tonight!
Maxed my depth at 16' and dove for ~ 45min before Patrick got hooked twice by different fisherman and we called the dive.
Patrick Davis and I opted to just dive the outside of the West jetties at Alabama Point instead of calling for the day. The walk from the parking area to the beach on the outside(gulfside) is probably about the same distance as the walk from the parking lot to the jetties in Destin. So we endured that crap in the heat and found ourselves at the water's edge. The inside(pass side) portion of the jetties had nice visibility with the current carrying any particulate out to the bay, not so on the outside of the jetties. Directly off the beach and out to about 75' from shore the water was nasty brown with tons of particulate making visibility in the 6" range. After that, things opened up and we enjoyed 15-20' of visibility. We were not diving slack tide so we had to stay within the outside of the jetty and kept carefull about not getting too far around the point. Saw lots of the normal jetty fish and litterly dozens and dozens of rays that scattered the bottom(mostly southern, but there was another species that I hadn't seen before in almost the same numbers). We encountered a few jellyfish, but they aren't thick enough for us to really have to worry about them yet(looks like it will be a light year for the jellys - whoohoo!). We also managed to tag a half dozen flounder
good eaten tonight!Maxed my depth at 16' and dove for ~ 45min before Patrick got hooked twice by different fisherman and we called the dive.
