Any south Louisiana locals go diving regularly?

[maggs_the]

My husband and I are spoiled by warm clear Caribbean waters or the less warm but still clear Hawaiian waters. But it's frustrating to have to wait all year for the next dive. Took our boat out around Orange Beach and it was essentially no-viz till you got to 40ft. Nothing much to see, but still enjoy the feeling of diving. Did NOT like the murky water and surfacing to hear our boat compadres ask if we saw the bull shark that had been circling. We are about an hour north of New Orleans so FL panhandle is within reach but is it worth it?? Like I said, we are spoiled but trying to be open to Gulf diving. Any advice? Care to show us some places?

 

[MaxE]

There is a lot to dive in Panhandle out of P-Cola or OB. The further out from shore you go the better the viz will typically. The big and deep wrecks are in the 20 mile offshore range. On a good day things should start to clear up at about the 70-100 ft depth range. You need to drop onto something, the rest is just sand. I dive the area off charter boats, I have some GPS coordinates saved of sites and they are all publicly available. There are a ton of artificial reef spots made starting from Orange Beach down to Panama City, so It may be nice to know which spots are frequented. I would be happy to share info

 

[Robert H. Diver]

Destin, Pensacola, Panama City. Great diving there.

 

[Nemrod]

There is plenty of good diving along the Emerald Coast. But you have to have some numbers for the wrecks and reefs (natural exposed rock), you cannot just motor out and jump over. You will find nothing but sand. Visibility is situational, location and time of year but it can be and often is well over 100 feet and even 200 feet. Or 10 feet. Is it worth it? It has been to me and many others but perhaps not to you. N

 

[maggs_the]

There is plenty of good diving along the Emerald Coast. But you have to have some numbers for the wrecks and reefs (natural exposed rock), you cannot just motor out and jump over. You will find nothing but sand. Visibility is situational, location and time of year but it can be and often is well over 100 feet and even 200 feet. Or 10 feet. Is it worth it? It has been to me and many others but perhaps not to you. N

Yeah, that's been our experience but I guess I was hoping for miracles or hidden secrets so just had to ask. Thanks for the input.

 

[RyanT]

Some depends on how far/deep you want to go. Offshore/deeper water tends to have consistently better viz. During the summer, once you get out 10 miles or more, the viz is commonly 40' or so. Destin gets deeper a bit quicker, but out of Orange Beach/Pensacola, 10 miles is in the 90-100' range.