Shore Diving the Panhandle

[Finnatic]

Hello Conchers,
I'm hoping to hear from divers who regularly shore dive the panhandle area. My husband and I live in S. Louisiana and we completed our OW certs last Sept. We just returned from our first dive trip - Bonaire was awesome! - where we did a lot of shore dives and a few boat dives too. Now we're home and with the summer stretching out before us, we are thinking about weekend trips to the panhandle for diving. The Panama City/Pensacola area is about a 5 hour drive for us and since we both have jobs that give us a 3 day weekend this area is very do-able for weekend dive trips. Since we're broke from the Bonaire trip, we're concentrating on shore diving. Can anyone diving this area give specifics on some good sites to shore dive? We've heard about St. Andrews park and were wondering about any others.
Thanks,
Cindy

 

[jviehe]

THats about it for that area. Jetties are about the only places you do shore dives, and theres one in every city along the panhandle. The gulf is just not great for shore diving. You might tyr getting a canoe and heading up some rivers to some springs though.

 

[Rick Murchison]

The Whiskey wreck at Gulf Shores (Alabama) can be interesting... or not. Never can tell 'til you dive it. I've seen it with just a few timbers sticking up out of the sand to having most of the ship's structure (only the major ribs etc are left) exposed.
Stop by any of the Dive shops in Gulf Shores to rent a flag (or make some small purchase) and get directions & a map.
After the Whiskey wreck (or before, depending on the tide table) hit the jetties at Perdido pass at high slack - the east jetty is a bit more interesting than the west in my opinion but requires a short hike with your gear.
Rick

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

The Whiskey Wreck(Gulf Shores) is quite visible at the moment. Here are some pics less than a month old - I'm a horrible photographer, be warned! http://www.suprbugman.com/gallery/album07

You can also dive the West Pass and Perdido pass in Gulf Shores, Orange Beach.

Pensacola has some jeddies at Ft. Pickens thats a popular dive site. There are some shipwrecks within a mile of the beach if you know where to look as well.

Destin has a pass with jeddies that can be an interesting dive.

Panama City's St. Andrew's jeddies you already know about.

Between Destin and PC, you can dive Vortex Springs its a fun, freshwater dive!

 

[cemex3]

The Jetties at Fort Pickins are good. There is a small Wreck off of Pickens beaches get the info from the Ranger (Katheryn is the name) just off the second sandbar. It can be done off the beach but a long swim.

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Thats the Catherine, I believe its a cool 300meters offshore Ocean Kayak territory if you ask me

There is a tug off the lagoon side as well, called the Sport.

http://www.scubashackpensacola.com/sdm.asp?pg=dive_sites

^^ Thats should help a bit

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

More on the Catherine http://www.mbtdivers.com/NUMBERS5.htm

...scroll about halfway down the page.