Ft. Pickens Report & Photos 5/12/2012

[Hetland]

Very Nice, A seahorse at Pickens? It must have been lost.

They are supposed to be fairly common at Perdido Pass, but we've tried that before. I think people that say it's diveable are telling fibs

Would you say that vis at Ft. Pickens is generally less than at the Destin and St. Andrews jetties? I'm curious, because I have never been to Ft. Pickens although I have been to Destin numerous times and St. Andrews a few times. I have the impression that the vis at Ft. Pickens is usually less.

St. Andrews has the best, then Destin, then Pickens. Additionally, navigation at the first two are relatively simple. Pickens is a different animal, and you have to get used to the layout before you know your way around the available structure, which is spread out over a wide area. Barry and I (both fairly good at navigation with and without a compass) strongly disagreed as to the location of the seahorse we saw on Saturday. I'll defer to Barry ONLY because he's been spending hours on a map out there

All that said, I think Pickens is my favorite. Most folks will say I'm crazy, and that St. Andrews is superior, but I think Pickens holds a greater variety of life than any of the other locations, even if the viz is generally the poorest..... Oh, and currents can be the (arguably) worst here too. I've had to use my knife like an ice axe to get between sections of rock at Pickens.

Here's a list of fairly uncommon critters that I've spotted (usually multiple times) at Pickens:

Banded Tulip
Flamingo Tongue
Horse Conch
Florida Fighting Conch
Stiff Pen Shell
Sea Haire
Batfish
Frogfish
Sea Robin
Southern Stargazer
Torpedo Ray
Guitarfish
Squid
Seahorse
Parrotfish
French Angelfish
Grey Angelfish

It may just be that I dive the location more, but I'd guess I have as many dives at Pickens as I have at Andrews and Destin combined...

---------- Post added May 15th, 2012 at 03:32 PM ----------

Very Nice, A seahorse at Pickens? It must have been lost.

Didn't I find a tiny seahorse in the kiddie pool last year?

 

[Dave C]

Hetland, thanks for the reply. I agree that, for reasons I don't understand, Destin is not very diverse. The last couple of years I spent quite a bit of time in the water there, and saw virtually nothing new and different. And even though I am "only" a snorkeler, I poke around a lot. However, I continue to be impressed by the sheer abundance of fish there in the summer.

 

[denisegg]

I want to do some shore diving this summer and eat sushi !!