Gulf Coast Diving

[Double Hose]

I'm considering a trip sometime this year driving from Texas to Key West and stopping along the way as often as possible to dive different locations. So basically, picking up Highway 98 or Interstate 10 and driving to Florida. Can I get some recommendations of some good dive centers, dive boats, or inland destinations along that path? I would spend 1-3 weeks and dive somewhere new every day or two. Thanks for any suggestions.

 

[Rob9876]

Sounds like a cool trip! Here are a few possible stops along the way:

• Gulf Shores Alabama -- I hear it has some shore dives and some boat diving
• Pensacola -- dive the world's largest artificial reef (an air craft carrier) the USS Oriskany
• Destin -- I've seen some good videos of diving the jetties there.
• Panama City -- have had good experiences with both Panama City Diving and Dive Locker. As someone said (and it's true): "pretty good diving if you can get past the viz"
• Apalachicola -- believe there's 1 dive op there (Daly's), and that they dive from a RIB
• Crystal River -- Snorkel with the manatees in the morning, then scuba down Rainbow River in the afternoon -- American Pro Divers (I had planned to do this and had to cancel during Covid). Sometimes they have good Groupon deals. After that I was planning to head to the Atlantic coast.
• Jupiter -- nice drift diving, Nitrox and AOW either recommended or required by some dive ops. We had good dives with Scuba Works -- and they also sometimes have great deals on Groupon. Best Western Intracoastal was pretty good and let us check out late so we could shower after our dives before heading home.
• Riviera/Palm Beach -- nice boat dives with Walker's or The Scuba Club; nice shore dives at the famous Blue Heron Bridge (check tide charts on Pura Vida or Force-E websites, and you can rent tanks, weights, and mandatory dive flags at either -- and both have parking passes for night dives).
• Lauderdale-by-the-Sea and Boynton Beach -- I've been wanting to check out their shore dives, but haven't made it there yet.
• Key Largo -- on the trip we had to cancel we were scheduled to dive with Rainbow Reef (huge dive op, great web site with info about each dive site) and Sun Sports Charters (6-pack boats)

Also, the Florida books by Reef Smart Guides are really worth getting. Hope this helps!

 

[Ghost95]

MBT dive shop in Pensacola.

Try and get to a few of the better airplanes out of Pensacola if they're not covered up.

Pensacola beach and Navarre beach snorkel reefs have a surprising amount of life.

Morrison springs cavern in Ponce de Leon.

If season is right, snorkel for scallops in Steinhatchee. Bring a saute pan and little camp stove to cook fresh out of the water.

Sharks tooth diving in Venice FL on Aquanutz.

Enjoy your trip. The ride on 98 is not to bad. Slow downs through the tourist areas during high season but you can time your trip to miss those.

 

[James79]

Right up the road from Morrison springs is Vortex spring. They have a shop on site and a little more to see in than Morrison (sunk boat, cave trainer, bigger cavern) but they charge to dive there (Morrison is a county park and free, but no shop).

 

[Belzelbub]

In the Tampa Bay Area, 2Shea/Tanks-a-Lot charters is often recommended. They’ve got several boats and can accommodate different experience levels. I usually see them hitting one of the artificial reefs in the area, but they do natural bottom dives as well.