GLENFWB
Contributor
High tide at the Destin Jetties was 5:10 PM. Six of us met at the jetty parking area at 4:30PM. Present for this dive were ScubaBoard members, GLENFWB, RStone826, and Whyphysco. Also present, some friends from the Scuba Shop in Fort Walton Beach, Becky (Scuba Shop owner) and Dan, as well as another friend, Kevin. It was difficult finding a parking space because of the many spring breakers in town.
Here is the gang after the dive:
We all geared up and made the dreaded walk out to the jetties. Air temperatures were in the high 70s, the skies were clear and sunny. The tide appeared to still be coming in when we got to the beach. The Destin pass was a nice emerald green but the water around the jetties was cloudy. There were a LOT of people fishing from the jetties.
ENTRY POINT WITH FISHERMEN IN THE BACKGROUND(Guy pointing is telling us about the shark)
Once at the jetties, we split up in to two teams. Becky, Curt, and Dan formed team one. Myself, Kevin, and Rick formed team two. We headed down and began to head south along the jetty. Visibility was low, I would estimate around 7-10 ft at first. It got a little better as we went deeper. We took our time heading out. The current was strong in places, but nothing unusual for the jetties. We paused at the metal box as usual to tie off the dive flag. Thanks RSTONE826 for manning the dive flag.
The shell bed was absolutely PACKED with shells. We stopped at the shell bed for quite a while. Everyone wanted to collect some shells .everyone made sure to collect only dead shells. I of course took pictures while everyone was shell shopping. I tried to get a few pictures to show the extent of the shell bed.
SHELL BED PICTURES
Last year everyone was commenting that there were no blue crabs. Well, they are back this year with a vengeance. There were literally hundreds of them. Many females were full of eggs. Everywhere you looked there were blue crabs. We continued to move out deeper toward the anchor. Personally, I wanted to get out to the anchor to see if it was visible. The current began to really pick up out towards the anchor.
Team one, decided to turn their dive and head back because a member of their team hit turn pressure. We continued heading south for a little longer because I wanted to see if I could find the anchor. I took some pictures where I estimate the anchor should be. It appears that there is a great deal of sand stacked up at that part of the jetty. The current was ripping and we started to get low on air so I gave the signal to head back.
AROUND WHERE THE ANCHOR SHOULD BE???
Going back was a very fast drift dive. It took a lot of effort to slow ourselves down as we drifted in. We paused a few times to make sure we all stayed together. Visibility was dropping as we made our way back to team one who were finishing up their safety stop. After our safety stop we surfaced by the rocks. Some fisherman on the rocks asked us if we saw the sharks that were swimming around the jetties. I told them no, but I wish I did because I would love to get a picture of them. We are not sure if they really saw sharks, or if they were just trying to get us to get us out of the water and away from their fishing area.
Visibility is getting better, but the water is still dark green with limited visibility. It was a great dive with some great people. The stats for the dive were:
Water Temp: 67 degrees
Max Depth: 51 feet
Dive Time: 40 minutes
We saw the usual fish for this time of year.
THE GANG CALLING IT A DAY
Here is the gang after the dive:
We all geared up and made the dreaded walk out to the jetties. Air temperatures were in the high 70s, the skies were clear and sunny. The tide appeared to still be coming in when we got to the beach. The Destin pass was a nice emerald green but the water around the jetties was cloudy. There were a LOT of people fishing from the jetties.
ENTRY POINT WITH FISHERMEN IN THE BACKGROUND(Guy pointing is telling us about the shark)
Once at the jetties, we split up in to two teams. Becky, Curt, and Dan formed team one. Myself, Kevin, and Rick formed team two. We headed down and began to head south along the jetty. Visibility was low, I would estimate around 7-10 ft at first. It got a little better as we went deeper. We took our time heading out. The current was strong in places, but nothing unusual for the jetties. We paused at the metal box as usual to tie off the dive flag. Thanks RSTONE826 for manning the dive flag.
The shell bed was absolutely PACKED with shells. We stopped at the shell bed for quite a while. Everyone wanted to collect some shells .everyone made sure to collect only dead shells. I of course took pictures while everyone was shell shopping. I tried to get a few pictures to show the extent of the shell bed.
SHELL BED PICTURES
Last year everyone was commenting that there were no blue crabs. Well, they are back this year with a vengeance. There were literally hundreds of them. Many females were full of eggs. Everywhere you looked there were blue crabs. We continued to move out deeper toward the anchor. Personally, I wanted to get out to the anchor to see if it was visible. The current began to really pick up out towards the anchor.
Team one, decided to turn their dive and head back because a member of their team hit turn pressure. We continued heading south for a little longer because I wanted to see if I could find the anchor. I took some pictures where I estimate the anchor should be. It appears that there is a great deal of sand stacked up at that part of the jetty. The current was ripping and we started to get low on air so I gave the signal to head back.
AROUND WHERE THE ANCHOR SHOULD BE???
Going back was a very fast drift dive. It took a lot of effort to slow ourselves down as we drifted in. We paused a few times to make sure we all stayed together. Visibility was dropping as we made our way back to team one who were finishing up their safety stop. After our safety stop we surfaced by the rocks. Some fisherman on the rocks asked us if we saw the sharks that were swimming around the jetties. I told them no, but I wish I did because I would love to get a picture of them. We are not sure if they really saw sharks, or if they were just trying to get us to get us out of the water and away from their fishing area.
Visibility is getting better, but the water is still dark green with limited visibility. It was a great dive with some great people. The stats for the dive were:
Water Temp: 67 degrees
Max Depth: 51 feet
Dive Time: 40 minutes
We saw the usual fish for this time of year.
THE GANG CALLING IT A DAY
