Mini Trip Report - Panama City Wrecks

[jviehe]

Note to self: Tallahassee is EST, Panama City is CST. So, after arriving at the boat an hour early, I loaded up my gear on Splash, and then waited in the rain for a bit for everyone else. Amazingly it stopped raining just as we shoved off at 8am, and we headed out to the Black Bart, a popular wreck off Panama City. I had been there twice before, so no surprises here, but it's still a great dive. I buddied up with a couple from Alabama, and giant strode in. Water was very warm at 85F on the surface, with a thermocline down at 70ft to 78F, which is quite a shock when you dont have a wetsuit, FYI.

Viz was 30ft heading down, and we did a few tours around the wreck, hitting a max depth of 78ft. Saw quite a few toadfish, angels, crabs, damsles, and after about 30mins, headed back up. My buddies were on air, and me on nitrox, and I guess I'm a good breather, becuase i ended up with 1000k psi, and still had 30mins of bottom time. On the way back up, viz had cleared to 50ft, and you could see the wreck from the boat. Baitfish were balling up and being charged at by spanish mackrel, which makes for a great show on your safety stop.

Switch tanks, on to the next dive, the JEFF Hovercraft. 45min SI, and back into the water. I buddied up with a guy whos girlfirend sat out this dive, and we headed down into 20ft viz, to inspect this once prototype military hovercraft. It stillin pretty good shape, albeit a bit torn up in places. If you swim along the skirt, and look under, you will see plenty of creatures. I noticed there were spotted drum on this wreck, which I hadn;t seen before, and assumed ot be mostly on tropical reefs. That little shark fin on their head is so cool. 2000psi later and 30mins, and back to the boat. Diving sure cheers you up...

 

[AquaDog]

a couple of weeks ago when I was up that way. I thought they were very good and I liked Capt. Casey. I dived the hovercaft and the Black Bart also. Both dives were very good as I found similar conditions to your dives. I dove some other wrecks such as The USS Strength and The Sherman Ten, all were excellent wrecks. Even had a close encounter witha 7 ft. bull shark on one of the bridge span dives.
I'd highly recommend the Panama City Beach area to any divers who like doing the artificial reek/wreck stuff.

 

[aue-mike]

Don't forget the Empire Mica - the signature PC wreck dive. Also, the Keyser, Vamar, and Simpson (if it has been calm) are nice.

 

[aihfl]

My wife and I just dove off the Splash this weekend. As long as we're on the subject of the time difference between Tallahassee and P. C., as I discovered this past Sunday, take into account that there will be people driving very slowly, inevitably along stretches where you can't pass, on Hwy 20. It took over 2 hours for me to make the drive on Sunday morning.

Anyway, about the diving, we dove the Accokeek (sp?) and the Black Bart. Conditions were absolutely spectacular on the Accokeek. Viz must have been 70'. Conditions weren't as good on the Black Bart, (viz was only about 30') but it was still good enough for a great dive. We're both relatively new to P. C. diving, so we really appreciated the lack of current (most of the wreck dives we've done in the Keys turn into defacto drift dives), and the upright profiles combined with the moderate depths gave us enough time, even on air, to have a satisfying look around.