looking for Destin area diving

[mcf57]

I am gonna be going on vacation with the family in about a week here. We will be staying in Sandestin FL. I am a certified diver, but have never been to this area so am looking at joining up with a local dive outfit for a charter of some kind. So far, I have been able to nail down two shops that have daily charters this time of year and are out of Destin; Scubatech and Emerald Coast diving.

These seem to be the closest, but any other suggestions or dive shops in the area that go out on group charters that I could tag along with?

 

[OldPhotog]

You are not too far from Panama City Beach (< an hour). Slightly better diving in terms of viz, wrecks, etc. The two you've mentioned in Destin are both rock solid operations. I've dove (dived?) with both. Dive Locker in PCB is one I'd suggest as well.

 

[geogator]

There's also some shallow artificial reefs that have been placed at Grayton Beach State Park that you can dive right from the beach as well as going over to St. Andrews State Park in PCB and diving the jetties. If you do the jetties, there's usually several other divers and/or groups there that are very helpful with info about the site and would probably not mind having you tag along with them. Call one of the shops in PCB and they can give you more info as well. The jetties are a great dive (I did them last summer), you just have to time the dive with the high slack tide but again, the dive shops over there can help you with that.

Here's a website for the South Walton Artificial Reef Association that'll give you more info on the sites over there. South Walton Artificial Reef Association Inc. - South Walton, Florida

 

[Skeptic14]

Scubatech is great and my goto for Destin boat diving; I doubt they'll disappoint you. I've also had a good experience with dive locker out of PCB, but the boat is smaller and will feel more crowded.

If you prefer wreck diving, there are probably better wrecks out of PCB, if you prefer natural reefs I think Destin has that. As far as visibility; they're both panhandle GoF diving so the visibility can vary dramatically, quickly. Weather has been sub-optimal lately in this area, hopefully it'll improve soon though!

The St Andrews Jetty is an excellent dive (when visibility is good, lately its been < 10') and there are a couple other shore dives in the area and of course Vortex springs.

Also, you can check out my blog in my sig for a look at some of the Destin/Panhandle area diving.

 

[mcf57]

I wound up going out with Emerald Coast diving. Trip was great and I was able to buddy up easily with another single diver. Did a reef (83ft) and a wreck (64fy) and the visibility was pretty good the day we went. We only had about 8 divers on the boat so it wasn't too crowded. I didn't realize this, but spear fishing in this area is common. Two divers on our charter were spear fishing and caught several lion fish. They apparently had caught so many (this day and previous day) that they were just giving them away to the rest of us. Took some back, fileted and and fried it up. Rather tasty. All in all a good time.

 

[sportxlh]

Mcf57: were you in Destin this last weekend? I dove Friday and Saturday AM with Scubatech. Had a great time.... vis was good on three of the dives but pretty lousy on Max's (which is an artificial reef made up of concrete culverts). I was solo diving and ended up running a reel to ensure I could get back to the anchor.

The reefs in Destin are pretty cool: I saw a nudibranch, batfish, golden tail moray, etc.

 

[mcf57]

Sorry for the delay. I wound up going that Monday (10th). I think I may have been to the culverts you speak of as they just seemed like concret objects. I almost wound up trying to go with scubatech on that Friday (16th), but didn't one sounds like I may have just missed you. I think we also just missed the bad weather as well as I think a tropical storm was in the area the following week (19th). I wash st glad to get any kind of diving as I really only go about 3-4 times per yr (summer). Next possible trip is San Diego in oct. will see