Reefs near Destin?

[Jetties]

I have seen threads of some people diving at reef sites near Destin. I've tried looking for places on the internet for info about these sites but have found only results about the jetties, and a sunken barge a couple miles off the coast (which seems interesting). I guess these sites are very isolated? Does anyone know what I'm talking about?

 

[paulwall]

Destin/Okaloosa Island/Fort Walton Beach offers a boundless variety of dive sites certain to meet your needs. The most popular diving begins just three miles from the Destin Pass. This area is well known for its fantastic natural reef system, with limestone rock ledges covered in soft corals, sponges and a wealth of game and tropical fish. The rock reefs provide homes to the shovelnose and the popular spiny lobster. Scattered throughout this area, the reefs range from two to 10 feet in height, with depths of 50 to 115 feet. Observant divers discover several species of shells, and photographers delight in magnificent colors and abundant photo opportunities.

Area waters also offer outstanding wreck diving. This area is home to the tugboat wrecks, the Janet and the Miss Louise. Other known wrecks in the area are the Thomas Hayward Liberty ship and the Joseph E. Brown Liberty ship. Numerous barge wrecks include the Tanker barge, Brown barge, Air Force barge and the Phoenix barge. Spear fishing - very popular on the wreck dives-yields grouper, cobia, snapper, flounder and amberjack.

from:Diver's Emporium

Also check out the .kmz file at http://destinsharks.com/places/71

 

[mike_s]

one of the rock reef sites is I think "Labor Day Rock". I found it to be a pretty good dive.

Check with Scubatech. I know they've been there in the past.



As for other sites, check out Ned Deloach's book. It's got a whole section on Destin's dive sites and has the most popular listed and a small map. latest is I think 11th edition. $13 well spent.

Amazon.com: Diving Guide to Underwater Florida, 11th Edition (9781878348395): Ned DeLoach: Books

 

[Jetties]

Awsome! Thanks guys.
Are you allowed to take some corals and reef fish from these places?

 

[Jetties]

Also, I've heard that there is a reef in the Destin pass/jetties...is this true?

 

[mike_s]

Are you allowed to take some corals and reef fish from these places?

oh hell no......


I'm not sure of what the laws are as I don't think they are in protected marine sanctuaries. ........ but don't go breaking off coral at dive sites for souvenirs.


or are you wanting to transfer live coral to an aquarium?
I'm not sure what the laws are on that.... but it might be heavily frowned upon by the charter boat operator. I mean if everyone did that, then we wouldn't have much of a reef left to dive on.

 

[GLENFWB]

There are a couple of answers to this question: What you can collect in the Destin area, which is much different then what you can collect in other parts of the state that are classified as sanctuaries.

You can collect fish and some invertebrates. Refer to the following publication for current rules and bag limits...page 9 will answer most of your questions. Since Destin doesn't have a state park associated with its waters or any marine sanctuaries, page 9 should cover most of rules for our area.

http://www.myfwc.com/docs/RulesRegulations/2010_Jan_RegsSummary_Newsletter.pdf

Awsome! Thanks guys.
Are you allowed to take some corals and reef fish from these places?

 

[PatMyGreen]

"Reef fish" (grouper, AJ, trigger, snapper and hogfish) are very legal to take however. If you mean tropical ornamentals its a different story and the answer is on page 9 above. Its worth pointing out that what is being called a "reef" isn't a large coral reef like in the keys but rather a limestone rock (okay limestone may actually be an ancient reef, but thats splitting hairs) with marine growth on it. Some of the things that are growing on it are indeed corals This is a good example of one I photoshopped to restore the red to. Its between PCB and Destin in 70'. There are few reefs that Captains are willing to give out numbers to but there are also some that are well known to the general public.

 

[Jetties]

I know hard coral are definetly illegal. I would never take those.. I was asking about some soft coral and ornamental fish for an aquarium. I guess p.9 sums it up though.

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

There is atleast one reef area within the Bay, but I dunno about inside the pass itself(aside from the jetties of course).