Aucilla
Contributor
As this is the sub-forum for newbies like me, I will report! I had my first jetty dive yesterday, and it was a blast. I went with 5 other members of the Seminole Scuba Club to St. Andrews State Park on Panama City Beach or in that area.
The water, from the beach as far out as one could see, was described as being as clear and as pretty as the Bahamas by one of our divers who had been there. It was pretty calm and beautiful.
We waded in and had a blast.
I will tell a few things I learned:
1. You can get a sunburn diving a two tank dive off a white sand beach.
2. Yes, you were so right about currents. We dove the slack of the high tide, but when it began to shift, and we began our return, I learned how hard it is to swim upstream! We decided to just drift around the end of the reef [it jutted out from the mouth of a big, busy inlet] and then swam up to the outside, otherside beach.
3. You need a dive flag, not only for legal reasons or boats, but for fisherman. We didn't see any until we surfaced; and the it was clear we needed to move back away as they were casting. They were fishing only one side of the jetty, so our second dive we just stayed on the other side. [That other side didn't have the inlet running by, either, so no current to speak of.] I am glad the fisherman saw our flag as we were moving along the jetty, as presumably some of them at least didn't cast there.
4. It was surprisingly deep, as you said, as there was indeed a trough on the inlet side. We went to 60 feet, and could have gone deeper further away from the rocks.
5. There was a lot of colorful life. Small and big fish and other critters. And a lot of shells. Saw some big dinner fish, as in sheepshead and, surprisingly this close to shore, grouper!
6. It is easy for a group to get separated, so it is very important to stick close to your one buddy. Our visability varied, as as clear as the water was as described above, along the jetties it was not so clear, maybe we had 40 feet. So in 50 feet, you couldn't see the bottom from near the surface.
7. I can dive without a wetsuit! And so you should bring a quick dry t-shirt [or I should] as a matter of course, to wear under the BCD.
8. Having a camera is a big distraction for a newbie. A fellow diver and I [she was part of our group, but not my buddy] took a few moments to take pictures of each other; and we had to figure out the camera in the process; and we unwittingly somehow ascended almost to the surface [breathing a lot I guess] from 50 feet and had to scramble back to our group, whom we had lost sight of.
I learned a lot and had a ball. These are just some things that came to mind.
I want to than you all for all the advice! ALL of it was right on point!
The water, from the beach as far out as one could see, was described as being as clear and as pretty as the Bahamas by one of our divers who had been there. It was pretty calm and beautiful.
We waded in and had a blast.
I will tell a few things I learned:
1. You can get a sunburn diving a two tank dive off a white sand beach.
2. Yes, you were so right about currents. We dove the slack of the high tide, but when it began to shift, and we began our return, I learned how hard it is to swim upstream! We decided to just drift around the end of the reef [it jutted out from the mouth of a big, busy inlet] and then swam up to the outside, otherside beach.
3. You need a dive flag, not only for legal reasons or boats, but for fisherman. We didn't see any until we surfaced; and the it was clear we needed to move back away as they were casting. They were fishing only one side of the jetty, so our second dive we just stayed on the other side. [That other side didn't have the inlet running by, either, so no current to speak of.] I am glad the fisherman saw our flag as we were moving along the jetty, as presumably some of them at least didn't cast there.
4. It was surprisingly deep, as you said, as there was indeed a trough on the inlet side. We went to 60 feet, and could have gone deeper further away from the rocks.
5. There was a lot of colorful life. Small and big fish and other critters. And a lot of shells. Saw some big dinner fish, as in sheepshead and, surprisingly this close to shore, grouper!
6. It is easy for a group to get separated, so it is very important to stick close to your one buddy. Our visability varied, as as clear as the water was as described above, along the jetties it was not so clear, maybe we had 40 feet. So in 50 feet, you couldn't see the bottom from near the surface.
7. I can dive without a wetsuit! And so you should bring a quick dry t-shirt [or I should] as a matter of course, to wear under the BCD.
8. Having a camera is a big distraction for a newbie. A fellow diver and I [she was part of our group, but not my buddy] took a few moments to take pictures of each other; and we had to figure out the camera in the process; and we unwittingly somehow ascended almost to the surface [breathing a lot I guess] from 50 feet and had to scramble back to our group, whom we had lost sight of.
I learned a lot and had a ball. These are just some things that came to mind.
I want to than you all for all the advice! ALL of it was right on point!