Destin jetties dive report and pics 2/16/09

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SeaYoda

Contributor
Messages
3,840
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Location
Florida Panhandle
# of dives
200 - 499
I saw on the tide charts, about a month ago, that the early high tides were beginning this week. I forgot about today's tide being at 2:52 pm until this morning. The weather was right and the web cam looked good so I headed to the jetties. There were about three cars in the parking area and only a few beach walkers on the sand today. The wind was slight and from the North - a good thing usually. Since this is still winter the North wind brings a chill along with the beneficial calming of the waves. Air temp was around 60 degrees. I got to the water and it looked pretty clear from the surface. Only small waves and no surfers!
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The water was still a little chilly, 62 degrees at depth. Viz was great at about 30 - 35 feet. There were lots of small particles but still pretty clear. There were tons of tiny fish all over the rocks, they should make for good eating for their warmer water buddies later in the spring.
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Current was pretty weak so I decided to check out the anchor - The thing is fully uncovered. The sand still seems heavy past this anchor, maybe most of it is moving South and out of the pass.
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I saw several small sting rays and one with a 4 foot wing span. They were all Southerns but the big guy was still impressive to see.
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I saw a strange creature - probably a siphonophore of some sort.
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I also saw the regulars - stone crabs, sandfish, sandperch, seabass, damsels, blennies, grouper, and one spade. I caught a quick glimpse of a lone juvenile angel fish - looked like a townsend.
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After two dives I was a little cold but not too bad. Some crazy girl was out on the beach in a bikini - her male friends had on wet suits. After telling the girl she had the wrong gear for this time of year I carted my gear back across the sand and headed home.
 
Nice pics, thanks Yoda. I think that is the best viz I have seen at the jetties. I wish you would have gotten the juvenile angle pic. I have never seen one of those there. Very colorful little fish.
 
Yoda - You are the man! Pics look excellent as usual. Can you PM me the link to the webcam? Only 5 weeks until I get certified and maybe we can do some diving... Also the vis is excellent for all the rain that has been going on
 
Great report. Great pics. I'm feeling an urge for a weekend Destin visit coming on.
 
Some crazy girl was out on the beach in a bikini - her male friends had on wet suits. After telling the girl she had the wrong gear for this time of year I carted my gear back across the sand and headed home.

yeah... huh?

you could have at least snapped a pic so would could have discussed the issue about her not having adequate gear. :D
 
Adequate gear is SO subjective, without pics, how can we judge her gear? :D


SeaYoda, great report, looks like conditions really shined yesterday and the anchor uncovering is great news!
 

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