Looking for an Alabama coast dive shop/charter

[hoestenbach]

For several years I've heard stories about some dive shop/operator in So. Alabama that runs a very nice charter in the Gulf. Any one know who this is. I ocassionally take groups to Florida and would like to check out any one else that can accomodate us. I'm going to be in the area early August, 8-4 and 5, would love to get wet and see for myself. Thanks in advance,
rogerh

 

[Tom Smedley]

George Perez owns Sea Divers in Ozark Alabama. His boat is berthed in Panama City, Florida on the City side and not the beach side. George is an extremely capable diver and captain who runs a class act. If there is a legend, it is George.

Down Under Dive Shop in Gulf Shores runs a boat out of Orange Beach. The last time I dove with them was before the Hurricane Ivan. The captain was an ex paratrooper who, to me, is legendary. He didn't want to damage the wreck so he put the anchor in the sand and told me what direction to lay my line from the anchor to the wreck. Another class act.

Gene and Ilene run a wonderful boat out of Scuba Shack in Pensacola. They have been in business for as long as I can remember. There is a legendary story of how their boat, The Wet Dream, got its name but I won't relate. Gene and Ilene are legendary. Yet another class act.

Debbie Haines of Divers Den in Panama City Beach has a great boat called Splash. Debbie is a class act herself. She has purchased a larger boat and is getting it Coast Guard Certificated at this moment. Her shop is primo with lots and lots of stock. Little things that us dive geeks love to look at and salivate over.

Hydrospace is the old one too. Through a couple of owners Scott Donaldson has hung in. They run three boats and are in Panama City Beach. Such celebrities as Jim Varney and Homer Hickam Jr have been regulars on their boats.

When the Gulf is blown out go see Connie or Erica at Vortex or slip in free at Morrison. Rent a canoe from Connie and go to Cypress.

Come see us in Montgomery and we'll take you to Lake Martin, home of the legendary wooden indian Kowaliga that Hank Williams wrote about.

There's lots of opportunites to dive and lots of hard nosed enthusiasts to dive with in the Panhandle/Lower Alabama area. Where else can you find divers like Uncle Ricky who carries dive gear in his car lest he pass a pothole.

 

[hoestenbach]

TT,
Thanks. That's just the information I've been looking for and I appreciate the offer. Looking forward to making new contacts,
rogerh

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Down Under is a good shop and they run a big boat to alot of the inshore spots and some of the offshore sites.

I use Underwater Works usually, its where I got certified. They are based out of Daphne, AL but run out of Orange Beach Marina(Rusty captain's the Gulf Diver).

Gary at Gary's Gulf Diver posts here on Scubaboard as alagulfdiver or something similar to that. You might try PM'ng him. Seems like a good outfit, but I've never gone through em - I will eventually.

 

[mike_s]

Down Under has a very nice boat. It's one of the new Newton Dive specials. Newton even has a pic of it on the boat manufacturers web page. I was also impressed by Down Unders saftey and head count procedures. They do a number head count, a roll call, and a DAN tag board. Much better than other boats I've been on.

Wasn't real impressed with the diving/dive-sites there though. I don't know if they just took us to some crappy ones or what, but it was very blah.

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Where'd you go? Were they inshore or offshore?

Offshore sites in the 10+ mile range offer a wide variety of sites including tugs, barges, liberty ships, several planes, tanks, ect, and even some natural reefs.

 

[mike_s]

Where'd you go? Were they inshore or offshore?

Offshore sites in the 10+ mile range offer a wide variety of sites including tugs, barges, liberty ships, several planes, tanks, ect, and even some natural reefs.

went to a liberty ship the first dive. The 'random' guy I partnered with on the boat had all kinds of trouble at the surface and got sick and 'chocked' up at the anchor line descending to the wreck. I told him just to go under and that he'd quit "bobing" in the waves and would be fine. then as I started down, he never descneded.... I went back up to find him chocking on water again and that he forgot his weight belt. D'oh! so back to the back of the boat we went. he got out of the water, barfed his cookies over the side and appologized for messing up the dive..... After he got settled down there wasn't really much time to do the first dive and I wasn't that comfortable about being down almost 100feet with him. The other dives starting surfacing within 10 minutes anyway....

2nd dive was some "bridge rubble' in about 30 feet. Again he got chocked up on water at the anchor line, but I sent him back to the back of the boat on his own and dove with some other people waiting to go down. We dove on 2 or 3 concrete bridge pilings. There ws nothing else there but sand. No fish, no marine life, no 'critters' or anything. Just two or three concrete pilings. The rest of the dive was just "sand" trying to find the wrest of the pilings. It was the most boring dive I've ever been on.
Did I mention it was just a bunch of blah sand? (heh. it really was).

I've been wanting to come back down though and give Gulf Shores or Orange Beach another try. I'd like to dive the Whiskey Wreck sometime as people have told me it was a good shore dive.

Is Down Under Dive Shop even open? They got flooded pretty bad by Ivan.

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Down Under has been open since March, atleast in part. They are pretty much 100% now though.

The Liberty Ships are usually great dives, maybe next time you'll get to see a bit more of it

Sounds like you were either on the far end of the rubble near 3 mile barge, or at stacks and pillars. They really aren't the most exciting dives, but they usually have some life on em - bad day I guess.

Let me know if you ever get back out here, I'll take you're barfing buddie's place as a single serving buddy. The Whiskey Wreck can be pretty neat for a shore dive, but it can also be a complete sand dive. Its getting uncovered now, I dove it a few weeks ago and nearly a foot of it was protruding out of the sand - it wasn't very exciting, except for the current, surf, and low visibility we were diving in at night that day Still managed to poke a flounder. I was going to hit the site again this weekend, to check on its condition, but we have a damned Tropical Depression aiming straight at us. Arg.