Fort Walton Beach suggestions

[Dan Bowkley]

Hey all, I'm going to be coming through FWB in a week or two (I'm a trucker so my schedule is about as random and unpredictable as you can imagine, possibly worse) and need to get my fins wet. I understand that most boat operators around there consider 50 degree water to be too cold to dive in, and frankly I'm happier just finding a nice beach and wading in anyways. Any suggestions for a relatively fun and interesting spot? I will have a normal vehicle for transportation while there. I'd also happily do a boat dive, as so far just about all of my dives have been off a boat in California, but from what I can tell it's beach or bust this time of year...

 

[BertStevens]

Call Anna and Lori at Emerald Coast Scuba in Destin. They are about 20 or 30 minutes East of FWB.

 

[Skeptic14]

For shore dives in the area, the two options I'm aware of are the Navarre Beach Reef and the Destin Jetties.

The Navarre Marine Sanctuary consists of artificial reefs on the gulf and sound side. See map: http://www.santarosa.fl.gov/navarrebeach/documents/navarrebeachpark.pdf

On the gulf side, there are 30 pods in about 10-15 feet of water, decent amounts of fish life, turtles, octopus, etc.

The Destin Jetties is more tide dependent (high slack preferred) and it's a decent walk from the parking area to the finger jetty you dive around. I've yet to do it, but it's supposed to be pretty good.

FYI... water conditions have been fairly bad since Oct... lots of algae and red tide... I've only lived here around 10 years and this is the worst I can remember the water looking this time of year...