Panama City questions...

[plsander]

My wife and I are relativly new divers -- I'm newly certified, and she has about 15 dives.

We are considering a trip to the Panama City area this winter (Dec, Jan, or Feb). What are the water conditions like at that time of year?

Is the diving in the PC area suitable to new divers?

Thanks
Peter in Minnesota.

 

[Soggy]

In March the bottom temp at 40 feet was around 60 degrees. It'll be pretty cold in the winter.

My first two dives ever were off of Panama City. I wasn't even certified yet--I had an SSI Passport C-card that allowed me to dive open water with an instructor, so new divers are fine.

 

[Rick Murchison]

Checking my log, December water temps on my dives ranged from 78 to 68, January from 72 to 62, February from 70 to 58. I think this winter will be a wet one, but not too cold, with water temps pretty much in the middle of that range - but it's the Gulf and there's really no way to know for sure.
Last winter was pretty dry and not very cold - we had some wonderful warm, calm days and terrific diving over the winter with great vis and the lowest I saw in water temp was 60 in March. Other winters we've been blown out every try from 1 December until April! (That's why God gave us the Springs!)
Bottom line - winter in the northern Gulf is a crap shoot. Don't let that stop you... if you don't bet, you can't win.
Rick