Possible Camping Vacation

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

Aggiebq86

Contributor
Messages
216
Reaction score
41
Location
College Station, Texas
# of dives
100 - 199
I'm thinking of taking a camping vacation to the Gulf Coast/Florida Panhandle. Does anyone have any suggestions of places to go that would have diving? Since it is about 9 hours drive to Pensacola, I want to weigh the drive time against the leisure time. My daughter & I are fairly new divers (2 years)
 
Other than Pensacola, there's no real diving to speak of on the Gulf Coast of Florida.
Seeing as you're a new diver, you can forget Pensacola altogether.
The Oriskany is the only thing worth diving there and you must be AOW.... and I recommend being an ADVANCED level diver.
You 25-49 dives would throw up a red flag if I were a dive op in that area.

It might be less expensive and you'd have more time to dive if you fly down to Lauderdale and do shore dives there.
Lauderdale by the Sea is a cute little areea right in the heart of shore diving country.
There are tons of cute little places to stay there REALLY INEXPENSIVE (it's the off season) with dive shops nearby to rent tanks and get fills.
Before I moved to Fla, I would fly down for 2 or 3 days and dive like a fiend.
I remember doing more than 25 shore dives in a 3 day period during one such trip.
 
MK,

That is so wrong. There is real diving on the Gulf Coast, and not just in Pensacola. As for new divers forgetting Pensacola, nothing could be farther from the truth. There are 100 reasons to dive Pensacola other than the Oriskany. There are sites from 26 ft to 130 ft and plenty of sites in between. So much to dive other than the Oriskany. 25-49 dives indicates a reasonable level of intro experience and a good candidate for multiple sites in the area.

Nothing against Lauderdale, but Pensacola is just fine. I would like to be able to do 25 dives in 3 days, though. 8 dives a day is great. Lots of dive in a few days.

Y'all come see us.

Capt. Jim
Dr Dive
www.drdive.com
drdive@drdive.com
Dr Dive | Facebook
 
MK--That's Crazy Talk! Pensacola is home to a very aggressive artificial reef program that began years ago. We have hundreds of sites that are incredible dives, including a "line" of M1 tanks, crew boats, tenders, liberty ships, freighters--all teeming with healty marine life. Why on earth would you dis the 'Cola when you obviously have no idea what you're talking about? One of my favorite days include diving one of the Navy Dive Tenders, followed with a dunk on the Russian Freighter, and capped with an adventure on the USS Mass. Next time, why not do your homework before you crap all over Florida's best kept secret?
 
I still haven't made up my mind on this vacation. I've been waiting a little to see what happens out in the Gulf. What are the conditions like in and around Pensacola? You never can tell what ground truth is when your listening to the reporters on TV.
 
Don't get me wrong folks. I love Pensacola.
Most of my family lives there and I love to visit. I think they have (had) the most beautiful beaches in the entire country.
But....diving in P'cola is less likely now more than any other time in my lifetime.
The oil has things messed up according to my brother who lives there.
It's a damned shame. Makes me sad and mad.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/
https://xf2.scubaboard.com/community/forums/cave-diving.45/

Back
Top Bottom