Anyone diving in Biloxi/Mobile area this time of year?

[SuPrBuGmAn]

I am looking for some shore diving in the miss, ala, area. Ant info? Might be interested in diving with you. my wife and I are new divers also. Contact me at emsapara@msn.com Thanks

There are a couple of wrecks within 150meters of the beach here in Gulf Shores, AL. We also have two divable passes if you catch the tides at the correct time. All shore dives. We have lots of boatable stuff too

 

[jlayman800]

Hello All, I just had a nice dive out of Destin Florida and thought I would tell you about it. I finished my Nitrox certification at Scuba Tech of Destin (http://www.scubatechnwfl.com/). MaryAnn Epp is the instructor there. She was great to work with.

All in all, a very nice experience. They are crazy busy this time of year and it took away from the diving a little bit. The boat was booked from early in the morning until after the night dive was done. It was running late and I almost gave up and went home. I'm glad I didn't. Because of the tight schedule, we didn't go far from the shore for the diving. In about 70 foot of water we jumped in on an artificial reef for the first dive and a barge for the second. The boat is called the Sea Cobra. It is 45 foot long and well equiped for divers. The crew was committed to making the diving enjoyable. The water was very clear and there were many kinds of small fish on the bottom. I saw two king mackerel and one grooper about 24 inches long. Because we were so close to the shore, there weren't as many fish as we would have seen otherwise. I brought back some flounder which were tasty. All in all, a fun weekend in Destin Florida. The wife and kids occupied themselves at the Big Kahuna's water park while I was diving. Also a very nice place.

 

[Bayou Platypus]

Hello All, I just had a nice dive out of Destin Florida and thought I would tell you about it. I finished my Nitrox certification at Scuba Tech of Destin (http://www.scubatechnwfl.com/). MaryAnn Epp is the instructor there. She was great to work with.

All in all, a very nice experience. They are crazy busy this time of year and it took away from the diving a little bit. The boat was booked from early in the morning until after the night dive was done. It was running late and I almost gave up and went home. I'm glad I didn't. Because of the tight schedule, we didn't go far from the shore for the diving. In about 70 foot of water we jumped in on an artificial reef for the first dive and a barge for the second. The boat is called the Sea Cobra. It is 45 foot long and well equiped for divers. The crew was committed to making the diving enjoyable. The water was very clear and there were many kinds of small fish on the bottom. I saw two king mackerel and one grooper about 24 inches long. Because we were so close to the shore, there weren't as many fish as we would have seen otherwise. I brought back some flounder which were tasty. All in all, a fun weekend in Destin Florida. The wife and kids occupied themselves at the Big Kahuna's water park while I was diving. Also a very nice place.

Congrats on completing your nitrox cert--and thanks for the information. How long was the course (in addition to the cert dives)? Just curious if you were able to complete the course in one weekend, or if you had to commute from Ocean Springs a couple times?

 

[jlayman800]

The PADI NITROX course involves a book and video. You view the video and then read the book (about 100 pages). It is mostly a new way to use dive tables. You are required to buy the book and tables in a $49.00 kit. Anyway, MaryAnn Epp, the instructor from ScubaTech, mailed me the kit and video and I did all the study before the course started. She only has 1 loner video and may not always be able to do this.

It took about 5 hours to study the material (really). When I got to Destin, MaryAnn went through the material with me. Mostly she was confirming that I did the studying I should have. If not, it would have taken a lot longer. The test is 50 questions and takes about 1 hour to finish. There are no trick questions but one or two I really had to think about. The questions about using the tables are about half the test. There are 2 dives to become certified. I did it all on a Friday and Saturday plus the home study. They have a NITROX class scheduled to start in a week or so. Give them a call. Email with the shop is very slow. http://www.scubatechnwfl.com/ (850) 837-2822

Congrats on completing your nitrox cert--and thanks for the information. How long was the course (in addition to the cert dives)? Just curious if you were able to complete the course in one weekend, or if you had to commute from Ocean Springs a couple times?

 

[jlayman800]

Hi All,

I am going on a charter boat called the Scuby-Do out of Pascagoula on Sunday morning, 7/18/04. It is run by a company called Dixie Marine. This is a 3-tank dive out to find some blue water. There are 3 of us going so far and we have room for 3 more. Email me if you would like to come along. John - jlayman800@hotmail.com You can also call the boat directly but it might be better if you go through me to see if I can work a lower group price. As it is, the cost is $120 per person.

Dixie Marine, 24' C-Hawk
Work: 228 392 8753
Mobile: 228 380 8753
E-Mail: dixiemarine@cableone.net
Capt. George Burton
h[url="http://scuby-do.com/"]ttp://scuby-do.com[/url]

 

[bow tie klr]

Just found this place. Wanted to say hello. I haev been diving the rigs off pascagoula / Dolphin Island for the last 15 years. I mostly spearfish. But you will haev good days and bad days out there. SOmetimes the vis is great some times it is like diving in coco. The tripple rigs and the lil gass wells 2 miles to the east of it are great for a dive when it is clear. You really wont appreciate the diving here untill you get about 15-20 miles pass the islands. It clears up nice to the east.

I havent done around the Ram or any others in that area. i usually dive closer in. When we run that far it is with a purpose and diving isnt it.

The vis will not permit you to dive off the beaches here unfortunalty.

Like someone said above there are wrecks right off Gulf shores. Makes nice diving. Especially around the bridge. The springs stay 67-68 all year. I take my students there all the time. When you go to vortex you are within a few miles of another couple springs you can dive also. Nice for a dive when the seas kick up out here.

 

[fmw625]

Dove the week of July 4 in Pensecola, FL. Dove at Ft. Pickins 3 times. Contact MBT Divers @ mbtdivers.com for charter details. Missed doing 2 boat dives. Alternator went out took $139 to replace it om my van.

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Gonna do a couple dives at Ft. Pickens this weekend coming up(7/24-7/25), if anyone is interested.

 

[jlayman800]

I recently joined a group called EarthDive. They are fairly new and don't have much to offer, yet. They are home based out of England. Check them out at EarthDive.COM. Part of their benefit is an electronic dive log where you can log your dives for others to read. They encourage ecologically sound diving.

They provided me a fairly nice pre-dive briefing for the Caribbean. It is too large to upload here so I put it at: [url="http://www.geocities.com/valhallalodge/9_caribbean.pdf"]http://www.geocities.com/valhallalodgehttp://www.geocities.com/valhallalodge/9_caribbean.pdfhttp://www.geocities.com/valhallalodge/9_caribbean.pdf/9_caribbean.pdf[/url]

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Hey John, try using some 'url' tags around the full address. The forum cut the address short since it doesn't automatically recognize .pdfs as a file. [ u r l ] http://www.geocities.com/valhallalodge/9_caribbean.pdf [ u r l ] . Like that, except without the spacing between the brackets and 'url'.

Anyway, I'm printing it out now, should make for an interesting read while I'm in the hotel room