St. Andrews State Park Dive Help

[carlosrapa]

I am from St. Louis, MO and am going to be at St. Andrews State park next week. I've done my research however some of it is unclear on entry point and typical dive path. Could someone modify the image with entry point and dive path and re-upload it would be much appreciated. And to my understanding the best time to enter is slack high tide.

 

[Dive-aholic]

No need to modify the image. It won't help much anyway. When you get there you'll see a couple of pavilions on the far end of the parking lot. Park near them and set up at one of the tables. Walk along the sidewalk past the showers to the wooden steps, over the sand dune, onto the beach, and keep walking straight into the water. You will see a section of the jetties that are underwater. That is your crossing point. The area on the other side of the rocks is about 30' deep. If you go to the left you will get shallow pretty fast. If you go to the right you'll hit a max depth of about 60' or so. Slack high tide is generally the best time to be in the water. You ideally want to get in a little bit before. I have been in the water when the charts were wrong and the tide reversed a few minutes before slack tide was scheduled. The current is pretty strong then and you'll have to use the rocks to pull yourself back. Even the current in the kiddie pool was strong. High tide is at night the end of the week and doesn't start in the morning until next weekend.

 

[500 PSI]

Be cautions of the tides diving in that channel. It can pull you fast and is hard to dive against.

Here is a NOAA links for tide charts - High and Low shown. Bring a good wetsuit too. 60's temps .........BURRR


PANAMA CITY 8729108 Tidal Data Daily View

 

[carlosrapa]

60 degrees is a warm temp for us St. Louisians we tend to take a 5m full everywhere and sometimes pack a 7m lol... I need a little help with your tide charts though 500 PSI... So if I was going to dive this on 4/5 what time should I get in and exit??? It is a very large swing between high tide and low tide...

04/05	Fri	04:12 AM	0.0 L
04/05	Fri	07:24 PM	0.97 H

---------- Post added March 31st, 2013 at 11:03 PM ----------

Thanks Dive-aholic... your help is much appreciated.

 

[Ducati916x]

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/deep-dixie-divers/445994-dealing-fishing-line-st-andrews-jetty.html

 

[carlosrapa]

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/deep-dixie-divers/445994-dealing-fishing-line-st-andrews-jetty.html

Thanks, the images help out a lot with entry point... any idea on the entry time for 4/05?

 

[idive2]

Be very careful as to which tide location you use to plan your dive. I dive slack tide dives in south florida and have
more then once observed divers going in way before slack only to find out they were using the wrong location for
this particular location. I was researching this site a bit last year and found a tide reporting station that seemed closest
but there were other reporting locations that were also in the area. I would say to be absolutely certain you are using the
right tide location and then don't stay to long until you get an idea on the length of the slack tide. We have slack tides down here
that can be as short as thirty minutes before the tide turns and the water starts returning to the sea pretty briskly.

 

[Ducati916x]

Thanks, the images help out a lot with entry point... any idea on the entry time for 4/05?[/QUOTE]

Looking at the tidal forcast. I would suggest to be in the water at 9 am or 3:55 pm.

 

[500 PSI]

PANAMA CITY 8729108 Tidal Data Daily View


Click the link for tides on 4-5 & 4-6 above / Tide is running into the bay all day (4-5) which is going to be moving you from south to north. You will have better diving on 4-6 in the afternoon, as you can see the graph is more level or the tidal pull will not be as strong.

 

[carlosrapa]

Thanks for all of your help, it is very much appreciated... I've decided that PCB is not the dive for me during those days... It was going to be a combo of spring, shore, and boat diving... but after talking with a few dive shops... the boat diving is not going to happen at all they indicated not a chance... So we are probably going to cut over to the Atlantic side and test our luck there.