Panama City Jetty Dive Report: June 19

[Aucilla]

Dove the jetty at the inlet in St. Andrews State Park in the Panama City Beach area yesteday, June 19. The water at the beach was incredibly clear and beautiful. Lots of beach-goers. Temperature was very nice, not sure exactly what it was; but none of our group of 6 used wet suits and no one complained about the temperature.

Visibility along the jetty itself was maybe 40 feet. There were a lot of fish, etc.; and I am going to have to learn the names! Colorful little guys and some good dinner fish, including in the latter category plenty of sheepshead and, suprisingly to me, a nice group of grouper!

The key to this dive is to do it at slack tide. We went in the inlet side, then we went along the jetty, out the inlet, as the tide started to go out, and then we just drifted to end of the jetty, went around it, and very easily made our way back up to the beach facing the Gulf.

I was very pleasantly surprised at the life and color. But use a flag and beware of fishermen on the inlet side of the jetty.

I really look forward to doing this dive again.

 

[SeaYoda]

Thanks for the report. I've only been there once. Did you enter the water from the shallow snorkle area or closer to the Gulf? I tried to stay away from the fishermen along the jetty by going over the wall in the shallow area where they could not reach by hopping from rock to rock.

 

[Aucilla]

Thanks for the report. I've only been there once. Did you enter the water from the shallow snorkle area or closer to the Gulf? I tried to stay away from the fishermen along the jetty by going over the wall in the shallow area where they could not reach by hopping from rock to rock.

SY: We entered in what I think was the snorkle area, a lagoon on the inlet side. Then we moved along the jetty toward the Gulf. We didn't see the fishermen until we first surfaced, to decide on our route of return. By that time we were near the end of the jetty, and they were fishing all along the end portion, inlet side; and there were at least a dozen maybe two fishing there. We were probably at that time, on the surface, far enough away to not be hit by a long-caster, but we backed off to give them comfort that we weren't scaring away the fish. We then submerged and stayed on the outskirts of the jetty and swam around the tip and then came back to shore on the beach facing the Gulf [which was, as I said, just beautiful]. We did so again following the jetty, seeing lots of cool things. That is where we saw the grouper.

As far as fisherman risk is concerned, I will say that we did see a number of lures and some old line in the water where we were. We also came across three anchors and several lengths of achor rope.

 

[jviehe]

Very cool. I havnt dove there in a long time. Glad to know its still an option. Here are some pics from wehn I dove it in 02.

http://northfloridadiver.net/media/pcjet.htm