PCB: info on Jetty Park and other 'easy' options

[Caveeagle]

I am trying to plan a short trip over to the FL panhandle next weekend. Any info or ideas for a mixed group of OW/AOW+ divers nearby to Panama City Beach and maybe even Pensacola.

For starters, we have been targeting Jetty Park for a shore dive. I have done some searching, but have not come across a good write up to dive this site (such as exists for Blue Heron Bridge). A map with entry/exit points and points of interest would be great. Seems like I talked to another diver in the past who described 'drifting' with the current and turning in past the breakers and exiting in a different place, but I would like confirmation from someone with experience on this site.

Max depth?

Timing... Is slack/ high tide important?, like at BHB?

Showers staging areas? etc....

Is there enough here to keep us busy for a 1/2 day of diving?

We might consider a boat dive as well if we can make timing work. Recommendations?

 

[sportxlh]

Call Panama City Diving or Divers Den for info. I've talked to both shops and I've made the decision that the first time I dive St. Andrew jetty I will hire a guide.

It is essentially a slack tide dive only. But apparently there is a shallow area called the Kiddie Pool that you can dive any time, but is shallow and not much to see. Both shops described drift diving with the current in the main boat channel which can get very deep in places and if you stray too far from the jetties will become a virtual overhead environment. It all sounds pretty exciting to me, but tides haven't been right the last two trips I've taken to PCB so I just did boat dives with these two shops

 

[Nemrod]

You dive on a waning incoming tide and high slack tide. You may enter, surf dependent, on a waning incoming tide by going in on the beach (where the flag symbol is), use the rip current along the rocks to carry you to the end of the jetty and be prepared to submerge immediately at the end of the jetty, drift back along the rocks and exit through the kiddie pool.

On slack tide you can enter through the various gaps in the jetty straight from the kiddie pool and swim into the current, if no current I still prefer making my dive outbound seaward (south southwest) and around the jetty tip and exit through the surf. Or limit your southern leg and return northward making a loop and again exit the kiddie pool. Maximum depth is a little over 60 feet, stay clear of the rock as fisherman are there and do not surface in the channel if it can be helped as there are boats there. Use a dive flag of course. It is a fun dive.

Where the flag is in the photo above is the surf entry/exit. The kiddie pool is the area protected by the jetty from the main channel. The rocks there are partially submerged with several gaps you can swim through.

N

 

[Nemrod]

Let me add to the details, one thing, I had some directions mixed up above, I fixed that. In the photo above the fetch (wave direction) is fairly typical from the south and southwest. The water piles up in that pocket formed by the beach and the jetty finger (people sometimes surf here). This water has to go somewhere and so in this type of condition there is a (potentially very strong) RIP current along the rocks that will sweep you outward rapidly and can actually take you a long ways out into the channel, especially if the incoming tide is going slack. Do not let this happen, use the RIP to carry you to the end of the finger but be prepared to submerge quickly or you will be sorry. However, especially if the tide is still coming in there will be a back eddy that will sweep you back towards the channel side of the jetty so do not panic and swim against the RIP.

Like all surf entires, if there is any at all, there is plenty of opportunity to get sand washed, tumbled and spat back out on the beach. Watch the incoming waves, go-go-go and use that RIP along the rocks, hook over to it. The water gets deep here gradually, thus the long opportunity to get surf tumbled. Some of my friends learned this the hard way a couple of years back. Missing fins, weight belts gone etc.

Off the end of the jetty finger is a sand dollar grave yard. Along the rocks as you drift/swim you can see all sorts of things and keep an eye above for schools of fish. The occasional nurse or (worse) bull can be encountered though none have ever caused me an issue. There is plenty of monofilament line, up shallow, bring some cutting instruments of various sorts.

N

 

[geogator]

That was a great write up Nemrod and spot on. I got to dive there for the first time back in June and had a blast. My local insta-buddy DM and I did the back leg (from the "keyhole" break in the jetties, around the bayside end of the jetty and back to the kiddie pool) on the first day and the other direction from the keyhole on the second day. The first day was a very leisurely dive with no issues. Max depth was about 58 feet. The 2nd day was much "sportier" and your description of the currents was exactly what we found diving at high slack tide. After dropping down from the keyhole to a max depth of 68 feet, we had a slight incoming current for a little way but then it went slack so we continued on, figuring the outgoing current would pick up soon and we could ride it out to the end. After a couple of minutes, that outgoing current materialized and we had a great ride for about another 15 minutes but then as we neared the end of the jetty it suddenly and quickly reversed. Once it did that, the current was REALLY strong, eventually to the point where we were pulling ourselves along the rocks while kicking as we made our way up to our safety stop at the end of the jetty where we found a spot and hung on for dear life for our 3 minutes at 15 feet. (We lost the flag at this point too, as the line got fouled on a rock but better to lose a flag than something worse.) After the stop, we pulled and swam like hell for another couple of minutes or so around the end and finally into the sandy area off the beach away from the jetty where it was calm, still and glassy. It was definitely an adventure and probably the toughest current I've ever faced on a dive but it was a great leaning experience and my buddy (a local DM) was awesome. We never panicked, took our time, stayed within arms reach of each other and had a great laugh afterward. I definitely recommend that anyone who's a first timer to the site do their first dive with an experienced local who knows the location and do the "bayside" route first ("keyhole" entry around to kiddie pool) just to get a feel for the place. There's always groups (large and small) of divers at the park around high tide and people are very friendly, especially if you ask for assistance or need a buddy. We saw a lot more critters on the 2nd dive day (a school of about 15 tarpon, 2 HUGE Goliath Groupers, lots of Queen Angel fish and a small stingray among other things) but a bunch of trash too. (TONS of fishing line/hooks, a pair of socks, a plastic gasoline can to name a few things.) I can't wait to get back over that way again sometime and dive the jetties as well as offshore.

 

[fish149]

I absolutely love St Andrew's park. Dove there with my daughter last month. Diver's den was very helpful. Took some video as well....

 

[sportxlh]

Thanks for the information, pictures and video. Now that I'm going to PCB on a semi-regular basis to get my scuba fix, I'll have to try this dive. Looks like a lot of fun

 

[Skeptic14]

geogator, very cool seeing the goliaths at the jetty, any approximate location where you saw them? I missed them last sat., other divers reported spotting one but no dice.

 

[geogator]

geogator, very cool seeing the goliaths at the jetty, any approximate location where you saw them? I missed them last sat., other divers reported spotting one but no dice.

Near the gulf-side end of the west (landside) jetty. There were some enormous boulders that were spread further out from the main rock slope of the jetty and he was hiding down in between 2 boulders when I came up over the rock and there he was beneath me. We were swimming pretty hard into the current at this point so I really had to hang onto the rock with my left hand and try to film him with the camera in my right hand and hold it steady while doing so. (NOT EASY!!) I'm trying to add the short video but the site won't let me.

 

[sportxlh]

Grogater.... you can link a youtube video