Destin Info: Jetties and Dive Op

[jeraldjcook]

Hey there Florida divers:

I'm heading down to Destin in a couple of weeks, October 12-14 will be the diving days, and I'm looking for some info.

1) Where a good place to rent some gear? I'm bring all my gear but my father-in-law will need a whole setup.

2) Need some Destin Jetties info. Does anyone have any GPS coordinates so I could locate it on google map? From what I have read, it's a bit of a hike from where you park, how far? I don't really care about conditions (if there is more than 10' vis and warmer then 59* it will be better than what we dove in last weekend), but what depths should I plan on? What time do local usually get out there? Might be nice to meet some local divers.

3) Any decent boat operators around Destin, or do you have to go to Pensacola? I will probably dive the Orinsky, but my father-in-law only has 10 or so post certification dives so I'll be on my own. He would come along for shallower stuff.

Thanks for everyone's help.

JJ

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

ScubaTech and Emeral Coast Scuba will both be able to rent you a full set of gear. They are both located on the main stretch of Hwy98, just East of the bridge.

2. Bring up Google Earth and look for the Hwy98 Bridge across the pass into the Gulf from Choctawhatchee Bay. At the Gulf end of the pass, there are jetties on the east and west sides, we dive the East side. There is actually a finger jetty, just to the north of the southernmost jetty, that is what we primarily dive. Its a 1/4 mile walk from the nearest parking, about 1/2 mile from the far end of the parking lot. Seayoda made a great post on finding the jetties, here. Expect temps in the low 80sF and visibility will likely be at a minimum of 15'. It can get worse, but can also get much better, up to 60'. Plan on depths to 55', unless this Low(possible tropical system Jerry?) ends up sucking some of the sand out at the point, in which case you could get another 10' to 65'. We usually shoot for a meet time about an hour before high slack tide. You can look up tidal information at www.saltwatertides.com

Answer to number 3 can be found within answer number 1

 

[jeraldjcook]

Thanks for the two links, Sea Yoda has some handy images in his gallery of directions. I found out the tide information for the days I'll be there.
Quick question: High slack tide is about 1.5 hours before and actual high tide, correct? So you meet about 2.5 hours before high tide then? Saltwatertides.com doesn't list slack tide time so I'm guessing here.

Any "must do" dives while I'm there, besides the Orinksy? I looking to get as much diving in as possible on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Slack tide in Destin, used to be at High tide. That seems to have changed since last year as more sand has filled into the channel, its usually a bit(an hour or so) after noted high tides. I'd get there early anyway, just in case, you may have to do a bit of crawling, but the earlier dive time will allow you 2 dives before currents start moving too much.

Must do divs, in Destin? The Miss Louis is fun(by no means, world class), they have a liberty ship out there... Maybe the tanks. The Miss Louis is nearly always on the local ops agenda, but the other two are harder to get to off a commercial vessel since they like to hit close sites. In Pensacola, you're options are more open, more liberty ships, Pete Tide, Russian Frieghter(San Pablo), Brass Wreck, ect.

 

[mikey3091]

For the Oriskany, contact Dive Pros in Pensacola. They have outstanding service and operators.

 

[mike_s]

Thanks for the two links, Sea Yoda has some handy images in his gallery of directions. I found out the tide information for the days I'll be there.
.

They've put up some new beach access signs since SeaYoda took those pics in his gallery. I took some new pics of the entrance this morning and will try to upload them in the next couple days.

I think the sign said it's the O'steen Public Beach Access now... (I never new before it had a name before...)... but it should be eaiser to find, which is good and bad.

Here's an overview map of where to park and where to dive

here's the entrance to the jetties and where to park (with the old sign ( or no sign))

 

[wjefferis]

I would recommend ScubaTech over Emerald Coast. The first and last time I walked in to Emerald Coast Scuba I was totally ignored by the staff and when asking any questions about the Jetties it was like pulling teeth to get them to talk to me. So I left there and went to ScubaTech. At first I saw that it was smaller and thought after my bad experience with Emerald Coast it would be the same and king of went in figuring my experience here would be bad as well. The folks at ScubaTech were extremely friendy and answered all of my questions and then some. THey treated me like a regular valued customer right off the bat and we just ended up shooting the bull for a while and before I knew it I had been in there about an hour and a half. Defintely check them out.

 

[Reef]

Does anyone recall what the closest motel to this area is? Thanks...

 

[Skyjunky]

I've stayed at the Wingate.