Destin Jetties 3/13 or 3/27, YES 2005!

[seaangel]

Hey All!

I know I havent been actively posting anything, been kind of busy. I have tried to read these threads on occassion. Since we moved my computer hasn't been right. We are still using the same provider, Comcast Cable hook up, but it doesn't open up on my computer as fast. I can connect to internet fast but when I try going onto a link, web site on my favorites it opens to those very, very, very slow. Times out sometimes too and I have to use the Refresh to get my page. It is excruciating to sit and wait, causes me too spend way too much time on my computer.

Anyway, I am not going to be able to make those weekends. Sorry, but I have to have major surgery in March. I have to have a thyroidectomy, my thyroid has been enlarging over the last 6yrs, probably longer more like ten. But, 6yrs ago we started working up what was going on. It is benign and from all the tests is thyroiditis as the cause. Because it is visibly growing on me and on the scans, I have no other choices.
I could delay it, but it will only get worse, and I will be older. Thought it best to do now while I can bounce back quicker from the surgery.

I will not be diving for atleast 8 weeks post surgery, maybe 12 weeks. Sure will miss it.
I am going to dive the first weekend in March again though on the liveaboard to the Bahamas. From then on I won't be diving again, planned at this time, until June on my vacation.

I will keep in touch and will be doing alot of reading, here and in my books, also will be watching alot of movies.

Take care and be safe!

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Sorry to hear about the surgery... and the internet woes. Glad the move is over though. You can be sure that we'll be diving the jeddies throughout late spring, summer, and fall, so you'll have plenty of chances to dive it again with us after you've recovered.

 

[SeaYoda]

Seaangel,
You be sure to take care and keep us informed of how you're doing.

Maybe you need to run spybot and/or adaware on your computer. Spyware slows things down a lot. I clean my computer once or twice a month or when it seems sluggish.

 

[SeaYoda]

Any word on the dredging?

I drove by the Destin pass today and there is no sign of the dredging equipment that I saw before Xmas. Maybe their schedule has changed?

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

That'd be great, with any luck they'll wait till next winter

 

[Foo]

SeaAngel, I know it's a bummer to have surgery and be out of commission, I'm sorry you're having to deal with that. Sounds like you have a plan, though- reading and movies should be healing! Best wishes and prayers on your behalf. My best friend had Graves Disease and had to have her thyroid irradiated. She takes a medication once a day to replace the natural thyroid, and otherwise leads a normal life. Not trying to be patronizing, just wanted to give you a success story for encouragement. Take care.

Okay, now, two questions to show my Texasness... what is dredging the jetties, please? And, I know that it's probably been covered many times, but my computer is acting like SeaAngel's and it refuses to do any searches for me on SB. So be gentle with me. What is the diving like at the Destin jetties? We think it's only about a 10 hour drive to Destin from our part of NE Texas.

My spring break is March 21-25, so if we drove to Florida we would have to go prior to the weekend when yall are going. We would need to be home or on our way there by 3/26-3/27. But I would love to hear about the diving in Destin or any of the north/panhandle spring/ocean sites, as these are fairly easily accessible to us. But we are not cavern or cave certified, FYI.

Foo

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Dredging... Its basically a barge with a pump that pulls sand off the bottom and then shoots it to another location with big pipes. They do this to keep the pass deep enough for boats to run in and out safely. The sand will get churned up making for some not-so-great visibility.

As for diving at the jeddies, you need to hit it on high slack tide for best visibility and the least amount of current.

Here are some links to pics from the Jeddies.
http://www.suprbugman.com/gallery/album02
http://www.suprbugman.com/gallery/album03
http://www.suprbugman.com/gallery/album19
http://www.suprbugman.com/gallery/album23

There are more jeddies at Panama City(St. Andrews Park), Pensacola(Ft. Pickens Park), ect. As for panhandle springs, there are several. Vortex and Morrison are north of Destin/Panama City and easy to access. If you don't mind a canoe ride you can hit several other springs(Cypress, Becton, ect). You can find pics from several of our spring dives here http://www.suprbugman.com/gallery/album01

More info on panhandle springs here http://www.tfn.net/Springs/CentralFloridaPanhandleChapter.html

 

[Foo]

I saw some of the pics of yall on the canoe ride, thought that looked very cool, actually. Thanks for the links, I checked out that TFN site a little last night, has a lot of stuff to digest. Fantastic site, huh? I'll check out the pics tomorrow on my work puter, it's much faster. Thanks Bugman!

Foo

 

[Tom Smedley]

One day it was too rough to get out of the pass so I accepted an offer to dive the Destin Jetties with a flattop full of snorklers. We went on out there and anchored inside the L on the eastern side. The boat captain told us that an hour was the limit.

I went out and down the rocks and found an amazing assortment of marine life. Most noticable were the toadfish that sang proudly and loudly. The bottom produced a great array of sand dollars and dead olive cones.

Coming back I found a hole in the limestone. Inside the hole was a hair scrunchy, a bra, a pair of panties, and a five dollar bill.

Is this an omen????

 

[SeaYoda]

... What is the diving like at the Destin jetties? We think it's only about a 10 hour drive to Destin from our part of NE Texas...

Check out my gallery here on SB for some pictures - a link is under my avatar.

The jetties are nice piles of rocks in the Destin Pass that get many different creatures that visit from the Gulf of Mexico. Viz and currents can be unpredictable, but best results come from the time of high tide until a couple hours after.

I've been told the flooding at the springs in the area decreases after January so those could be good back-up dives. Cypress seems to have cleared very quickly between our two recent dives.