Looking into FL Panhandle first salt water dive trip. How to go about it?

[Mathieutn]

Did the LuLu a couple of weeks ago. It was great.

This last weekend dive in Destin with a Scuba Tech on Toad Reef. Was a good dive, but we had a lionfish hunting party who was stabbing lionfish left and right. That ended up tainting the water. Not my favorite dive.

We are headed back to Orange Beach to dive in a few weeks.

 

[Garfish307]

Hi all - new to SB...I am heading to Navarre on a multi-family trip in 2 weeks. I have dove with Panama City Dive Center inshore dives (black bart, USS Strength, Bridge Spans) and had a great time. Vis was approx 50' and saw lots of wildlife (Goliath Grouper, Batfish, Barracuda, all sorts of LSU colored fish, etc). My question is this: How do similar "inshore / 50-80 ft" dives in Pensacola rate with Panama City as far as visibility, wildlife and overall enjoyment of sites? I don't mind driving to PC but, if its equivalent experience, would prefer to take charter from Pensacola.

MBT Pensacola is my dive shop of choice for USS Oriskany - Capt Dalton Kennedy fantastic - but this was so far out that it is hard to gauge... any thoughts or advice?

 

[sportxlh]

Gulf shores is only about 25-30 miles west of Pensacola and vis in PCB was better than Gulf Shores. But this observation comes from only four dives in each location

 

[Nemrod]

To the OP.

PCB. I think you would enjoy the St Andrews Jetty as a shore dive, diving on and around high tide. Plan your trip so that you have favorable tides. There are several dive sites in the bay and the east jetty as well which can reached by boat (kayak etc.). I enjoy the rocks and wrecks offshore there as well.

Destin: There is the finger jetty which can be reached with your deck boat or a long walk (not recommended). There is not much to dive in the bay really. Several wrecks, rocks in 60 to 100 feet of water. The Tug Louise comes to mind.

Pensacola. There is the USS Mass. that can be reached by your deck boat.

Your deck boat, uh, just let me say, I would rather be in a 13 foot Whaler than a 22 foot deck boat on the open water or in Destin Pass. Each of these locations have passes to the open water which can be rough. Destin can be very rough and ship traffic at Pensacola can produce sizable waves that stand in the pass against the outgoing tide. I would be extremely conservative about running a inboard deck boat through these passes except under the most mild conditions.

Go out on the tide, return on the tide. If other small boats are going out then you might consider going out, say to the bridge rubble site in Destin. When you see boats moving back, you should already be heading in.

Let me just say, that an out going tide against wind and waves can produce some rather challenging conditions even when the waters in the bay or even offshore/inshore are reasonable. Just because you know how to dive does not mean you know how to operate a boat on the Gulf. Do not think the Gulf is not the ocean and that it is just a big lake, do not make that mistake.

BTW, my career path took me to Kansaw, I am native to the Gulf Coast.

On the Tug Louise at Destin:

Looking up to my 19 foot Outrage:

Army Tanks just west of Destin Pass:

Typical "reef" in area:

Wife has stare down with big Cuda:

Liberty Ship at Destin:

Finger Jetty at Destin (you dive the finger, not out where the flag is here):

St Andrew Jetty PCB:

Tight lines:

Just my opinion, party barges, deck boats, bass boats, canoes, jon boats and the like have no business in the passes and the open water, especially when commanded by an unseasoned skipper.


N