Snorkeling & Diving in Destin
Destin, FL -Vacations are the perfect time to broaden your horizons, to try something new and exciting... so while you're in Destin "take the plunge" and explore the underwater world that makes Destin unique!
Snorkelers and divers looking for crystal-clear water, abundant sea life, and interesting underwater structures need look no further than Destin, Florida. Here the water is startlingly clear, the Gulf teems with sea life, and there are myriad wrecks, reefs and soft corals on which to dive.
Snorkeling is an easier way to get beneath the water and interact with the local marine life, and best of all - it's cheap!
If you're not sure about scuba diving, but you'd still like to experience the world beneath the waves, you can always snorkel. Snorkeling is an easier way to get beneath the water and interact with the local marine life, and best of all - it's cheap!
Emerald Coast Scuba, for instance, offers snorkeling trips that include gear, for only $25.
The jetties at the entrance to Destin Pass are a great place to begin. Almost all guided snorkeling (and diving) tours use the jetties, due to the extensive sea life that flocks to these sheltered places.
"Our snorkeling trips are 2 1/2 hours, and include equipment, "says Steve Powell of Scuba Tech. "We usually go out to the rock jetties, or if conditions allow to the grass flats."
The depth at the jetties is perfect for beginners too, ranging from mere inches up to 55 feet. That means there's plenty of intermediate depths to explore.
"Of course we're too far north for coral reefs," Powell says, "but our rock jetties offer sights of tropical fish, Loggerhead turtles, and dolphins." This makes for some of the best snorkeling anywhere north of the Keys!
With the snorkeling this impressive, you can imagine the opportunities diving in Destin offers.
"In the Gulf the diving is incredible," Lori Schmitz, owner of Emerald Coast Scuba, insists. "And our Captain has thousands of dive spots... we don't just go to the same four or five spots."
And it's just this abundance of dive sites that makes Destin popular with experienced divers. Besides the rock reefs, there are dozens of man-made structures that have been prepared and then submerged to create artificial reefs. These reefs are 'artificial' in name only after a short period. It doesn't take long for marine life to flock to their shelter.
These 'wrecks' include barges, W.W. II Liberty ships, Landing Craft, airplanes - even the old Destin bridge!
Scuba Tech's Powell says of his company's dive trips - "They're four hour trips making two dives, usually in the 80-90 foot range on the natural limestone rock ledges... we see lots of game fish - grouper, cobia, schooling bait fish - so thick sometimes you can't see the wrecks."
Now that's the crux of it. Entering an
alien environment and becoming so totally immersed in it that you can't
see the obstacles around you. In other words - the perfect vacation!
