SuPrBuGmAn
Contributor
A friend of mine, Mikey P, had a condo in Destin over the weekend and I was allowed a slice of floor to stay on during the nights. I took full advantage of the locations close proximaty to Destin's jetties.
7-1-6 Destin Jetty Dive Report
Saturday's high tides were predicted at 12:30PM, so we met up with the rest of our group at 12Noon at the parking area. When we arrived SeaYoda, Natebrr, Hannah(sp?), Pufferfish, and Wayward Son(w/wife and daughter diving as well). There were a few hangups pre-dive, coupled with getting all the gear on the beach, we didn't start the dive until ~2PM I'd imagine. Visibility was nice at 25-35' and the water was a very comfortable 84F. Most of the group dove in swimming trunks only. There were quite a few fish schooling the jetties this weekend and a few fish we don't see nearly so often. We spotted a 3' baracuda as well as a few legal sized Vermillion snapper(stupid FL spearfishing laws...) along with the typical pinfish, pigfish, mangroves, ect. We dove our way to both anchors and explored west of the shellbed before turning the dive. I hit a max depth of 59' and the dive lasted for 54 minutes. Due to starting so late, we opted out of the second dive. Later in the day, we were playing volleyball on the beach infront the hotel and a pod of 6-7 manatees swam by on the beach. Pretty amazing and totally unexpected!
Pics at http://www.suprbugman.com/gallery/album136
7-2-6 Destin Jetty Dive Reports
Sunday's high tides were hitting at 8:45AM, so Mikey P and I met up at the parking at 8AM in the morning with kchFLA, jetjunky, reefhound, another one of their buddies. Skies were overcast and visibility was slightly less than the previous day because of it at 20-30'. We enjoyed much of the same fauna we saw on the previous days dive, with the addition of a very cool flying gunard near the southernmost anchor. We also collected a bunch of sand dollars from the shellbed. Our dive lasted 47 minutes and we hit a depth of 59'.
Everyone ran their empty tanks back to the parking lot and picked up full tanks for a second dive. The sun was peaking through more and more and it seemed to help visibility a bit. We enjoyed the typical fauna and lots of schooling fish around the jetties. I briefed the divers on the possibility of a quick tidal swing and what to expect if it happens and recommended a turnaround pressure slightly more conservative than our previous dive. Luckily, we never did get a strong tidal swing and the current never became a problem. We filled my goodybag with sanddollars. I hit a max depth of 59' for a duration of 57 minutes.
Pics at http://www.suprbugman.com/gallery/album137
We had a great set of dives over the two days, looking forward to hittin Destin jetties again in the near future. Its hard not to with such great dives!
7-1-6 Destin Jetty Dive Report
Saturday's high tides were predicted at 12:30PM, so we met up with the rest of our group at 12Noon at the parking area. When we arrived SeaYoda, Natebrr, Hannah(sp?), Pufferfish, and Wayward Son(w/wife and daughter diving as well). There were a few hangups pre-dive, coupled with getting all the gear on the beach, we didn't start the dive until ~2PM I'd imagine. Visibility was nice at 25-35' and the water was a very comfortable 84F. Most of the group dove in swimming trunks only. There were quite a few fish schooling the jetties this weekend and a few fish we don't see nearly so often. We spotted a 3' baracuda as well as a few legal sized Vermillion snapper(stupid FL spearfishing laws...) along with the typical pinfish, pigfish, mangroves, ect. We dove our way to both anchors and explored west of the shellbed before turning the dive. I hit a max depth of 59' and the dive lasted for 54 minutes. Due to starting so late, we opted out of the second dive. Later in the day, we were playing volleyball on the beach infront the hotel and a pod of 6-7 manatees swam by on the beach. Pretty amazing and totally unexpected!
Pics at http://www.suprbugman.com/gallery/album136
7-2-6 Destin Jetty Dive Reports
Sunday's high tides were hitting at 8:45AM, so Mikey P and I met up at the parking at 8AM in the morning with kchFLA, jetjunky, reefhound, another one of their buddies. Skies were overcast and visibility was slightly less than the previous day because of it at 20-30'. We enjoyed much of the same fauna we saw on the previous days dive, with the addition of a very cool flying gunard near the southernmost anchor. We also collected a bunch of sand dollars from the shellbed. Our dive lasted 47 minutes and we hit a depth of 59'.
Everyone ran their empty tanks back to the parking lot and picked up full tanks for a second dive. The sun was peaking through more and more and it seemed to help visibility a bit. We enjoyed the typical fauna and lots of schooling fish around the jetties. I briefed the divers on the possibility of a quick tidal swing and what to expect if it happens and recommended a turnaround pressure slightly more conservative than our previous dive. Luckily, we never did get a strong tidal swing and the current never became a problem. We filled my goodybag with sanddollars. I hit a max depth of 59' for a duration of 57 minutes.
Pics at http://www.suprbugman.com/gallery/album137
We had a great set of dives over the two days, looking forward to hittin Destin jetties again in the near future. Its hard not to with such great dives!
