Is the pensacola beach pier rubble diveable?

[sontek]

We were going to head down to St.Andrews tomorrow but realized we have too many errands to run in the morning to do it and since high tide is around 1pm tomorrow we are thinking about doing the Pensacola beach rubble... I can't find much information on its current state, I seen a lot of things from last year saying the sand bar was laying on it?

Also, does anyone know what all it takes to get into Ft.Pickens? Is it just an entrance fee you pay when you get there? Do they charge extra if you are diving?

[Krafcheck]

i would like to know also. pensacola is my favorite beach. mainly due to the bushwackers you get across the street.

If i recall correctly ft.pickens has a nice little walk to it.

[sontek]

we are going to take the chance, I'll let you know

[wjefferis]

we are thinking about doing the Pensacola beach rubble... I can't find much information on its current state, I seen a lot of things from last year saying the sand bar was laying on it?

Also, does anyone know what all it takes to get into Ft.Pickens? Is it just an entrance fee you pay when you get there? Do they charge extra if you are diving?

I had heard that the rubble was exposed and there many sightings of turtles and octopus on the rubble. With the colder water temps there will be very few to no tropical fish on the rubble. To find the rubble get in the water and turn back towards the beach. line yourself up with the right (as you look at it) side of the new bathrooms. Start back swimming out, keeping yourself lined up with the ride edge of the bathroom. Start counting pier pilings (starting at the ones the are in the water). once you are at #15 start looking down. The rubble is between #15 and #17.

Ft. Pickens is a great place to dive. Make sure to dive it at high tide. When there is a good tidal exchange there will be better viz. They only charge you the $8.00 entrance fee to get in (nothing more to dive). I got the annual pass which is $25.00. I like to dive Ft. Pickens alot and it has already paid for itself many times over.

Please post a report. I am interested to see if things are looking better at Ft. Pickens since all of the rain has stopped.

[cmufieldhockey8]

At the end of last summer tons of it was exposed.. as long as it's still exposed I can only guess that it's a great little dive again. Please report I am curious as to how it is.

[nyxtom]

8PM tonight, 20ft Vis. ~58 F at Pensacola beach near the rubble. We did a night dive there and it does look a bit like the sand bar is on top so we couldn't quite find the rubble unfortunately - we probably didn't get out far enough though :/.

St. Andrews was a pretty good dive, though the visibility was not top notch there this morning - roughly 6ft visibility and ~55 F around high tide 10am.

[MRXRAY]

Thanks for the report!

[Standard11]

went to ft pickens yesterday, hit the water about 12pm for a 1pm high tide and saw nothing but particulate. was hoping it would open up once i got down a little, but it got worse the further i went down. ending with a total time of 10 mins and max depth of 44ft. max viz was around 2ft at best. the nicest part of the dive was getting out of the water to warm weather outside and it not freezing.

[MRXRAY]

That's kind of what I expected to be at Ft. Pickens which is why we headed to Panama City!