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Snorkeling and Scuba Diving at Destin Jetties
Recently( this February) I did a shore dive at the Destin Jetties in Destin, Florida. I went there because the boat dives were all canceled due to bad weather. Of course that meant there was bad weather at the jetties too but I was so determined to dive in the ocean that weekend. I spent about 12 mins fighting the currents in 6 foot water and went about 9 yards. It was freezing cold and I had about 5 ft of visibility. It was a terrible dive but the locals I talked to said that on good days it can be incredible. I plan to try it again this summer. You are at the mercy of the tides for peek diving conditions. Obviously when I dove that mercy was not available.
There are jetties on both the east and west side of the pass - the east side is where people do most of their diving. To reach them, you'll want to get to Gulf Shore Drive and follow it past where it makes an "S" turn. At this point, be on watch for a gravel lane for public parking on the right side of the road. There will also be a single showerhead and a few signs that can be easy to miss marking the trail that leads out to the beach and the East Pass Jetties.
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Ben from Destin
Sep 7, 2009, 12:00 AM
scuba
Entry is very easy. High tide is the best time to go because the ocean water is going into the bay, so the water is clear. At low tide, the water from the bay goes into the ocean, which is blurry and murky. Last time I went snorkeling and fishing at the jetties (going again today), we saw many 'tropical fish' like cocoa damselfish, beaugregory damselfish, slippery dick wrasse, yellow tangs, some weird grey tangs, lots of crabs, a gulf toadfish, and even a clownfish. We caught many slippery dick wrasse and beaugregory damselfish on hook and line. We also caught and saw horse-head jacks, ladyfish, common pinfish, spot-tail pinfish, grey snapper, and pigfish. The worst thing that happened, other than low tide, was when my friend got his hook stuck to a rock 10 feet deep in the water. We both got into the water but (of course) I was the one that actually swam down and got the hook untangled while he just watched me from the surface. Right after I got the hook untied, I saw him screaming at my. I looked up and just a couple feet away was a 7 foot bull shark.