St Andrews jetty... ACCESS DENIED

[Native Spear-It]

Went down to St Andrews this morning expecting to dive the jetties but the access walks were closed off except for the gulf side.


The silt was bad on the gulf side and exteneded from the jetty to the boardwalk so we decided not to dive. There is a section roped off near the jetty due to the bulldoziers working in the area.


The folks at the concession area said that the dredging was supposed to be complete by June 5th so you may want to avoid this area until the construction equipment is removed.

To save the day we drove down to Destin and dove east jetty and conditions were good, 30 ft viz at high tide.

 

[Native Spear-It]

some pic's

 

[Hetland]

Thanks for posting this.

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

D'Oh.

 

[belairbrian]

Guess that blows our dive for memorial Day weekend.

 

[Snuff]

Wow, thanks for the update. I've been trying to keep an eye on the conditions for a couple of weeks. Guess I won't be headed down next week after all. You'd be surprised at the number of folks who have said not to worry about the dredging. Thanks again!

 

[SCrockett]

My wife and I also visited St. Andrews yesterday hoping to snorkel around the jetty and kiddy pool area and discovered they had been closed on May 4. However, we took the shuttle over to Shell Island and were able to snorkel the jetty there. Didn't see much diversity in the fish life, but did see lots of wrasse, some sheephead, and a few others I couldn't identify.

Off topic, but can anyone recommend a book or website to help identify the fish we have in the Panhandle? I have books that cover the Caribbean and the Keys, but quite a few of the fish I saw yesterday weren't in those books.

 

[belairbrian]

I mentioned this on RV.net, as St Andrews is very popular as a campground as well.

The camp host came back and told me the schedule (weather permitting) has them done and gone before Memorial Day. Work on the kiddie pool is being done now.

The program also includes work on the gulf side.

 

[steve_jones]

This was more than just a "D'Oh" for those of us that drove from Atlanta for the express purpose of diving the Jetties. We had just been there last Sunday - May 1st - and there was no advance warning of the closure! Nor was there any posting on the State Parks website. Very poor form on their part.
I've written to the Parks Department to inquire about how one goes about making advance plans to visit their facilities. I'll share what I find out.

 

[belairbrian]

This was more than just a "D'Oh" for those of us that drove from Atlanta for the express purpose of diving the Jetties. We had just been there last Sunday - May 1st - and there was no advance warning of the closure! Nor was there any posting on the State Parks website. Very poor form on their part.
I've written to the Parks Department to inquire about how one goes about making advance plans to visit their facilities. I'll share what I find out.

I think they see this as minor. When I mentioned it on the RV forum the responses were like, no big deal lots of stuff to do in the area. Non-divers don't understand what it takes to be a good dive site. And unfortunately we are a small minority in the scheme of the parks system.