Destin Jetties dive report 4/16/05

[SeaYoda]

Last week the water was brown and ugly, this week it's green and ugly - things are improving ! The good news is that the water temp at 30' was 67 degrees today. Viz was a poor 10' at the beginning of the dive and went to a silty 5' after an hour. I did see a nice sized southern ray on the way in - it did not stay long enough for pictures. I also saw a cowfish that swam away pretty quick too. It seems like some of the summertime regulars are starting to show up. There were a few jellies out today among the usual small stuff playing on the rocks. Given the fact that I needed to get wet, it was an OK dive. Here are some pics:

 

[jviehe]

Thanks for the update. Howd you get rid of the green in the last pics, or is that from being macro?

 

[SeaYoda]

The only way to get rid of the green is to get close and use the flash. Anything in the distance with natural light would be green. You can set the camera in a way to light only close things with the flash and the background be black but with all the junk in the water I would get a lot of backscatter. Best thing to do is go close and macro with flash.

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Thanks for the report SY, hopefully the water will continue to clear up.

 

[SeaYoda]

I'm taking a couple days off next week to do some work on the house so, of course, I want to dive on those days too . Maybe conditions will continue to improve to blue-green.

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Mikey Paul is coming in this weekend from college, I'm going to try to persuade him to dive - not sure where - but we may see you at the jetties

 

[PlanoDvr1]

I'll be coming down in mid May to do some diving at the Destin Jetties. Is the green/brown typical of this time of year?

Doug

 

[Corigan]

I'll be coming down in mid May to do some diving at the Destin Jetties. Is the green/brown typical of this time of year?

The Tannic (brown) water is due to all the rivers being flooded over. It is not typical, and that region basically was heavily flooded and is still dealing with the effects of the storms. Parts of north florida are just finally starting to slowly lower. Since the rivers dump into the gulf, that is where all the brown water came from. I would think it should be cleared up by May. It is clearing up quite fast, you just need big tidal exchanges to help flush it out. Lets just hope the rain goes away for along time so things can get back to normal down that way.

Looks like a fun dive SY. Glad it is atleast being diveable this week. Good signs of improvement over the previous weekends report. Hopefully things keep progressing like they are and the jetties will be nice, warm, and clear in the next few weeks.

Matt

 

[Rick Murchison]

Here are some pics:

Love the belted sandfish. Beautiful.
Rick

 

[SeaYoda]

Love the belted sandfish. Beautiful.
Rick

Thanks Rick. It was a little guy - not too many big ones out right now.