GLENFWB
Contributor
SeaYoda, Myself, and Kevin (a Non-ScubaBoard diver) met at the Destin Jetties around 12:30 PM. The parking area was completely full because of the Memorial day weekend. We had to unload our gear near the walk-through to the beach. Then, we drove around till we were able to get a parking space. It was a sunny day with a nice breeze.
We all made the trip down to the East Jetty. The new sand blown on the beach from the dredging a few months ago, has been knocked down to a managable height near the beach. Yoda and myself hit the water first. I haven't seen Yoda in a while, so we floated for a while catching up on life while we waited for Kevin to gear up.
This is the smile of a new Grandpa Yoda
The Jetty area was full of boats. The commercial snorkle boats were bringing a continual flood of snorkelers in to the area. But, there were very few divers which made things nice once we got below water.
I had one of those diving days were a lot seemed to go wrong. I tested my dive computer at the house before leaving for the jetty. Apparently, my battery went dead in my AI sending unit because my computer would not read the pressure in my tank. Thank goodness for redundency, I used my backup pressure gauge and didn't have to call the dive. For some reason I also had a VERY leaky mask, with a camera and strobe in your hand, this makes purging fun. I only got a few pictures because early in the dive my camera froze up, and I was not able to take anymore pictures. The camera didn't get wet....it just froze. When I got home I took the batteries out, reset it, and everything worked fine. Yoda didn't bring his camera, so of course I knew when my camera went out that there would be plenty of things to take pictures of....and of course I was right.
Visibility was better then it has been in a long time. But still not great by jetty standards....we estimated around 40 viz in most locations. The tropicals are back and we saw an ABUNDANCE of young, juvenile fish. Blue crabs were everywhere also. We saw all the usual fish including grouper, wrasse, blennies, gobbies, puffer, and a few more I can't identify. Yoda might be able to fill in the blanks.
We headed down the jetty and stopped at the shell pile. It has been picked over now that it is getting warmer. Kevin stopped to get some shells because his son, (which is our adopted grandson) was waiting on shore....and we better bring Dayton some shells when we go diving.
After spending a few minutes at the shell pile, we made our way to the metal box that we tie the dive flags too. Yoda pointed out a grouper??? by the box. We noticed that he had a hook and some fishing line still in his mouth. I got some pictures, but he would not let me get close enough to him to help him out. I would have liked to at least get the fishing line off of the hook.
Kevin at the metal box
We swam out towards the anchor. My camera stopped working before we made it out to where the anchor is located. There is only one small portion of the anchor visible...only about 1 foot of the anchor is visible anymore. There is a couple of feet of sand at the end of the jetty covering it up. We made our way around the end of the jetty and headed toward the large rocks on the Gulf side.
Once we made our way around the point the currents started to swirl and get a little weird. Kevin is a new diver and we did not want him to fight the currents and burn up a lot of air. I signaled to Yoda, and we decided to head back and take our time exploring on the way back.
We made a leisurely trip back to our entry point. We saw a large school of juvenile spade fish that would have made a GREAT picture. On the way back Yoda found a dead rock crab. I took the crab, removed the meat, and we made a lot of fish very happy. We were hand feeding damsels, gobbies, blennies, and a grouper crab meat. Within a short period of time, we had a lot of tropical friends....it sure would have made for some GREAT pictures if the camera was working!
I put the pieces down in the rocks for the baby fish to feed off of. When you stopped and looked at the rocks, they were swarming with extremely small blennies and gobbies....they were everywhere. There was certainly some healthy mating going on a few months ago....because the evidence is everywhere.
SeaYoda in action
In spite of computer, camera, and mask failure we still had a great dive. Water temperatures are rising. I recorded 74 degrees, on a 50 minute dive, with a max depth of 55 feet. As usual, Yoda stayed down longer with his AL 80, then I did with my LP108. After the dive Yoda told me an interesting story about a hitch hiker I had on the dive....and I didn't even know it. He can tell that story if he wants.
It was great diving with Yoda and Kevin, and I look forward to the conditions at the jetties getting better and better.
We all made the trip down to the East Jetty. The new sand blown on the beach from the dredging a few months ago, has been knocked down to a managable height near the beach. Yoda and myself hit the water first. I haven't seen Yoda in a while, so we floated for a while catching up on life while we waited for Kevin to gear up.
This is the smile of a new Grandpa Yoda
The Jetty area was full of boats. The commercial snorkle boats were bringing a continual flood of snorkelers in to the area. But, there were very few divers which made things nice once we got below water.
I had one of those diving days were a lot seemed to go wrong. I tested my dive computer at the house before leaving for the jetty. Apparently, my battery went dead in my AI sending unit because my computer would not read the pressure in my tank. Thank goodness for redundency, I used my backup pressure gauge and didn't have to call the dive. For some reason I also had a VERY leaky mask, with a camera and strobe in your hand, this makes purging fun. I only got a few pictures because early in the dive my camera froze up, and I was not able to take anymore pictures. The camera didn't get wet....it just froze. When I got home I took the batteries out, reset it, and everything worked fine. Yoda didn't bring his camera, so of course I knew when my camera went out that there would be plenty of things to take pictures of....and of course I was right.
Visibility was better then it has been in a long time. But still not great by jetty standards....we estimated around 40 viz in most locations. The tropicals are back and we saw an ABUNDANCE of young, juvenile fish. Blue crabs were everywhere also. We saw all the usual fish including grouper, wrasse, blennies, gobbies, puffer, and a few more I can't identify. Yoda might be able to fill in the blanks.
We headed down the jetty and stopped at the shell pile. It has been picked over now that it is getting warmer. Kevin stopped to get some shells because his son, (which is our adopted grandson) was waiting on shore....and we better bring Dayton some shells when we go diving.
After spending a few minutes at the shell pile, we made our way to the metal box that we tie the dive flags too. Yoda pointed out a grouper??? by the box. We noticed that he had a hook and some fishing line still in his mouth. I got some pictures, but he would not let me get close enough to him to help him out. I would have liked to at least get the fishing line off of the hook.
Kevin at the metal box
We swam out towards the anchor. My camera stopped working before we made it out to where the anchor is located. There is only one small portion of the anchor visible...only about 1 foot of the anchor is visible anymore. There is a couple of feet of sand at the end of the jetty covering it up. We made our way around the end of the jetty and headed toward the large rocks on the Gulf side.
Once we made our way around the point the currents started to swirl and get a little weird. Kevin is a new diver and we did not want him to fight the currents and burn up a lot of air. I signaled to Yoda, and we decided to head back and take our time exploring on the way back.
We made a leisurely trip back to our entry point. We saw a large school of juvenile spade fish that would have made a GREAT picture. On the way back Yoda found a dead rock crab. I took the crab, removed the meat, and we made a lot of fish very happy. We were hand feeding damsels, gobbies, blennies, and a grouper crab meat. Within a short period of time, we had a lot of tropical friends....it sure would have made for some GREAT pictures if the camera was working!
I put the pieces down in the rocks for the baby fish to feed off of. When you stopped and looked at the rocks, they were swarming with extremely small blennies and gobbies....they were everywhere. There was certainly some healthy mating going on a few months ago....because the evidence is everywhere.
SeaYoda in action
In spite of computer, camera, and mask failure we still had a great dive. Water temperatures are rising. I recorded 74 degrees, on a 50 minute dive, with a max depth of 55 feet. As usual, Yoda stayed down longer with his AL 80, then I did with my LP108. After the dive Yoda told me an interesting story about a hitch hiker I had on the dive....and I didn't even know it. He can tell that story if he wants.
It was great diving with Yoda and Kevin, and I look forward to the conditions at the jetties getting better and better.
