darcy
Contributor
I'm going offshore with Splash this Saturday at 9am. Anyone interested in tagging along? Also thinking about diving the Jetties Sunday afternoon before high tide around 2p central. PM me!
Panama City Beach Dives - Splash 03-19-05
- Thread starter darcy
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
iowadoubetdivers
Guest
We will be spending about 5 days in the area, and would like to get in some spring dives. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. How is the diving this time of year? Any places we should definately visit or avoid?darcy:
Thanks!
Mark and Penny
SuPrBuGmAn
Contributor
Vortex, Morrison, and Cypress are all within about an hour from Panama City. All these springs have water temps in the high 60ºsF and can be gin clear. Vortex is easily the most populated spring during the summer - you'd be sharing the basin with ALOT of people of all experience levels. Vortex's waters stay blue, but the sediment on the bottom and the fish poop, from all their coi, will likely be suspended in the water limiting visibility to 10-30'. Morrison will get crowded as well, its visibility is more dependant on water levels than any of the other area springs mentioned - vis can be <3' - >100' - the bottom will get kicked up with traffic limiting visibility as well. Morrison is free to dive. Cypress nearly always has 100+' visibility and doesn't draw a crowd at all, because you can only access it by canoe. Its a great spring to dive if you don't mind rowing for 20 min upstream.
OP
darcy
Contributor
Well Diver's Den cancelled the boat Saturday, so we dove the jetties instead. It turned out to be a good couple of dives, so we went again Sunday. 35-40' vis and there were a ton of squid egg pods. Very cool!
I would suggest contacting Debbie at Diver's Den to see if they have a boat going offshore, 850.234.8417. Or you could go dive the jetties, stop by the dive shop at the state park for a conditions report before you go though, tide isn't a good predictor of conditions there. Bring a dive flag, because there is a lot of boat traffic in the channel and it's only going to get worse. I had a boat drop anchor 3 feet from me this weekend. We heard the chain whiz down to the bottom! I don't think boaters realize what a dive flag means.
Then again the springs are always a great alternative. I really enjoy Cypress. Morrison is a nice dive when it's clear but that seems to be a rare event these days. With the crowds, you can keep Vortex, but it's nice if everything else falls through.
I would suggest contacting Debbie at Diver's Den to see if they have a boat going offshore, 850.234.8417. Or you could go dive the jetties, stop by the dive shop at the state park for a conditions report before you go though, tide isn't a good predictor of conditions there. Bring a dive flag, because there is a lot of boat traffic in the channel and it's only going to get worse. I had a boat drop anchor 3 feet from me this weekend. We heard the chain whiz down to the bottom! I don't think boaters realize what a dive flag means.
Then again the springs are always a great alternative. I really enjoy Cypress. Morrison is a nice dive when it's clear but that seems to be a rare event these days. With the crowds, you can keep Vortex, but it's nice if everything else falls through.
Similar threads
