Destin & Florida's Northern Gulf Coast

Jim Garin · Issue 69, Nov/Dec 2012 · pp. 55–59

Products mentioned: Panasonic GX1, Panasonic GH1, Fuji F50, Canon S90, Panasonic LX5, Ikelite wide angle lens

The northern Gulf Coast of Florida has been considered the ugly sibling to South Florida and the Keys in the world of diving. It is capable of having lovely, clear, blue-green water; just not as often as its southern counterpart. It can also have calm seas and minimal currents; just not all of the time. It is more affected by storms, heavy rains, and winds than in the South, making diving here far more variable. So why bother to dive the northern Gulf Coast? Because it has one thing that no other place in the world has: A unique and continuously changing variety of sea life. The environment of the northern Gulf Coast is essentially a gradually sloping ledge of new limestone, until reaching a drop-off of over 2,000 Meters into the Desoto Canyon. Nowhere in the Gulf is the deep water closer, and nowhere is the bottom as smooth, allowing animal life to travel across it. Essentially, this is…