I'll have an OW and an AOW class in tow. But it'll still be a pleasure!
Rick
Panama City Beach
- Thread starter seaangel
- Start date
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Rick
OP
seaangel
Guest
Count down for our trip to PCB is on. I am leaving Friday afternoon for PCB, with my son and daughter-inlaw. We will meet up with my sister and her husband in Sylvester, GA continue on to PCB. I am staying at the Top of the Gulf. My brother will already be there at the Dunes they get in PCB earlier than us. We are going to dive a 3 tank dive with the Panama Dive Center on Saturday and then a 2 tank dive with them Sunday morning. Keep your fingers crossed that Tropical Storm 10 down below Cuba doesn't move on up.
Soggy
Contributor
I went on my first ever OW dive with Seahorse Water Safaris. The dive master is this guy named Gary who is an ex-Navy Seal. He was a ton of fun to dive/hang out with. We saw the SS Vamar (Lumber Ship) and the Kaiser. We were going to visit the radio tower, which is a radio tower that fell off of a boat on its way to be installed, but it was getting late and the seas were getting choppy.
Funny story...Gary hopped in to find the site, but forgot to put his fins on. We kept a close eye on him and got close enough to hand them to him.
Funny story...Gary hopped in to find the site, but forgot to put his fins on. We kept a close eye on him and got close enough to hand them to him.
Rockhound
Guest
Panama City Beach Dive Center is the operation that I've used on my last two trips. Gomez is a nice guy and I like the way they run their boats. The shop is hardly ever crowded like Hydrospace, so it is a good place to get a quick fill, especially if you plan to make a dive in the St. Park.
I've never had a bad trip with Hydrospace, either. They can get "full up" on the weekends and things will be hectic at the shop, but don't let that deter you. They have some real "long term" employees, which is always a good sign. I tried diving with them on my last trip, but they had few spots available, plus they had a lot of classes going out on the boats. I needed a boat buddy, and preferred someone experienced (I ended up with somone inexperienced anyway, but he was a a nice guy.)
Keep in mind that most of the dive shops in the area use similar boats (mostly retired oilfield crewboats) and sometimes share boats. A lot of the Captains are owner/contractors, so there is a lot of movement between shops. Most of the dive boats there are well run (with one exception and I'll hold my tongue on that one....).
. I have, in the past, even managed to charter one of these independantly owned boats for a little private dive trip "outside" of the affliated dive shop. This was a wonderful trip which included some spearfishing and a night dive, as well as a sunset cruise down the beach. Just my buddy and our non-diving wives were on board. It was great, especially for our landlubber spouses.
Anyway, PCDC or Hydrospace are good bets. I'm not familiar with the other ops.
Oh, yea...one other thing: BEACH DIVES. The jetty dives at St. Andrews can be great. On my last dive there, I saw a huge nurse shark and a bedspread sized stingray. There were incredible clouds of baitfish and schools of big jacks working the schools, so the action was intense. It was a wonderful series of dive that were better than any I made from the boats that week. I ended up coming back three or four times.
Max depth is about 70', but you can have a great time at 30', just playing in the rocks.
To plan your jetty dive, ask for "slack in the pass" times at any dive shop. If you don't have a down flag, rent one there or at the Park. It's the law and they do enforce it. Air is also available at the park store WHEN they have someone to run the compressor or when it is working. Don't depend on them, but they are convenient if you have a little time and want to take "just one more dive".
As for diving the jetties, your best bet is to enter the water 1-2hrs BEFORE slack in the pass HIGH tide.
Go in at St. Andrews State Park's "kiddie lagoon" (great for snorkeling). It's a short walk from the parking lot and the shop, so I gear up on the nearby picnic tables and use the boardwalk to the beach. The water on the kiddy side of the lagoon is quite shallow, and it's easy to walk or float out to the rocks.
Swim toward the natural outlet from the lagoon. As the water gets deeper (10' or so), you'll start seeing breaks in the the jetties that you can swim through or over.
If you enter just before slack high tide, you'll likely have the best vis of the day (anywhere from 15'-100'). You'll also have a light current to work "out" toward the gulf and to ride back to you entry point. Your choices, once you get on the channel side, are to keep working toward the Gulf, maybe angling toward the channel to deep water while CAREFULLY watching your time/depth and air, or to stay shallow and "work" the critters in the rocks. Set your turnaround for about 1/3 air remaining, since the tidal currents can "flip" early with a north wind or other conditions and the easy ride back can suddenly be an upcurrent battle.
Heading straight out toward the channel near your shallow water entry point (15' -20' channel side right at the rocks), you'll find huge shell beds. The shells are "dead", and are okay for taking. Many are in very good to perfect condition and some are HUGE. (If you find a green mesh bag with a 2' whelk in it..THAT's MINE. Long story. Sigh.).
The high currents scour the bottom and drop the shells along UW berms on the edge of the channel. The depth here is from 30 to 45' and even if I make the deep dive, I'll work these beds on the way back in, which is another good reason to be conservative on air (I also dive solo here, so I try to come out with plenty of air in my tank in addition to the pony).
DO NOT try to dive the jetties during peak tidal flow (more than 2 hours before or an hour -even less sometimes, after max highs or lows). Currents in the channel can be more than brisk and you might find yourself taking a fast ride into the Gulf. I've made dives during these times, and it's no fun to rock hug your way back to a spot where you can exit or to have to belly crawl over urchin and barnacle encrusted limestone because you can't fight it.
Finally...watch for boats and stay out of the channel itself. The traffic is heavy and often includes high speed Navy craft...some that literally FLY right by the rocks (hovercraft, hydrofoils). While you are relatively safe at depth, it places you in a quasi overhead diving condition.
Have fun. Panama City Beach is a hoot.
I've never had a bad trip with Hydrospace, either. They can get "full up" on the weekends and things will be hectic at the shop, but don't let that deter you. They have some real "long term" employees, which is always a good sign. I tried diving with them on my last trip, but they had few spots available, plus they had a lot of classes going out on the boats. I needed a boat buddy, and preferred someone experienced (I ended up with somone inexperienced anyway, but he was a a nice guy.)
Keep in mind that most of the dive shops in the area use similar boats (mostly retired oilfield crewboats) and sometimes share boats. A lot of the Captains are owner/contractors, so there is a lot of movement between shops. Most of the dive boats there are well run (with one exception and I'll hold my tongue on that one....).
. I have, in the past, even managed to charter one of these independantly owned boats for a little private dive trip "outside" of the affliated dive shop. This was a wonderful trip which included some spearfishing and a night dive, as well as a sunset cruise down the beach. Just my buddy and our non-diving wives were on board. It was great, especially for our landlubber spouses.
Anyway, PCDC or Hydrospace are good bets. I'm not familiar with the other ops.
Oh, yea...one other thing: BEACH DIVES. The jetty dives at St. Andrews can be great. On my last dive there, I saw a huge nurse shark and a bedspread sized stingray. There were incredible clouds of baitfish and schools of big jacks working the schools, so the action was intense. It was a wonderful series of dive that were better than any I made from the boats that week. I ended up coming back three or four times.
Max depth is about 70', but you can have a great time at 30', just playing in the rocks.
To plan your jetty dive, ask for "slack in the pass" times at any dive shop. If you don't have a down flag, rent one there or at the Park. It's the law and they do enforce it. Air is also available at the park store WHEN they have someone to run the compressor or when it is working. Don't depend on them, but they are convenient if you have a little time and want to take "just one more dive".
As for diving the jetties, your best bet is to enter the water 1-2hrs BEFORE slack in the pass HIGH tide.
Go in at St. Andrews State Park's "kiddie lagoon" (great for snorkeling). It's a short walk from the parking lot and the shop, so I gear up on the nearby picnic tables and use the boardwalk to the beach. The water on the kiddy side of the lagoon is quite shallow, and it's easy to walk or float out to the rocks.
Swim toward the natural outlet from the lagoon. As the water gets deeper (10' or so), you'll start seeing breaks in the the jetties that you can swim through or over.
If you enter just before slack high tide, you'll likely have the best vis of the day (anywhere from 15'-100'). You'll also have a light current to work "out" toward the gulf and to ride back to you entry point. Your choices, once you get on the channel side, are to keep working toward the Gulf, maybe angling toward the channel to deep water while CAREFULLY watching your time/depth and air, or to stay shallow and "work" the critters in the rocks. Set your turnaround for about 1/3 air remaining, since the tidal currents can "flip" early with a north wind or other conditions and the easy ride back can suddenly be an upcurrent battle.
Heading straight out toward the channel near your shallow water entry point (15' -20' channel side right at the rocks), you'll find huge shell beds. The shells are "dead", and are okay for taking. Many are in very good to perfect condition and some are HUGE. (If you find a green mesh bag with a 2' whelk in it..THAT's MINE. Long story. Sigh.).
The high currents scour the bottom and drop the shells along UW berms on the edge of the channel. The depth here is from 30 to 45' and even if I make the deep dive, I'll work these beds on the way back in, which is another good reason to be conservative on air (I also dive solo here, so I try to come out with plenty of air in my tank in addition to the pony).
DO NOT try to dive the jetties during peak tidal flow (more than 2 hours before or an hour -even less sometimes, after max highs or lows). Currents in the channel can be more than brisk and you might find yourself taking a fast ride into the Gulf. I've made dives during these times, and it's no fun to rock hug your way back to a spot where you can exit or to have to belly crawl over urchin and barnacle encrusted limestone because you can't fight it.
Finally...watch for boats and stay out of the channel itself. The traffic is heavy and often includes high speed Navy craft...some that literally FLY right by the rocks (hovercraft, hydrofoils). While you are relatively safe at depth, it places you in a quasi overhead diving condition.
Have fun. Panama City Beach is a hoot.
OP
seaangel
Guest
Thanks a bunch Rockhound for all that great info. I especially appreciate the information about the jetties. I don't know if this trip I will get to dive there but, next summer I will be in PCB for a week and plan definitely to dive them.
OP
seaangel
Guest
Well I made it back from PCB, I only made two of the three dives we had set up on Saturday. The water was too churned up and there were constant ground swells. Vis was not very good, felt like our lake at home had better vis last week. Hope next trip will be better. I had a good time being with my family so it wasn't a lost cause. A long drive for me 6 1/2 hours to get home yesterday. But it is a definitely a drive I will make again. Hopefully weather will improve once out of the storm season.
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