Visiting Seaside & Need Some Places to Dive

[scuber steve]

Hey guys, wow its been a long time since i've psoted on here. Well, I will be staying in Seaside, Florida for a week beginning this Thursday (7/20). Can you all recommend some diving spots that arent too far away? I would love to dive the big O, but i'm not too sure if i can go somewhere thats that far away. Would diving off the beach be anything decent? Or should I leave that for snorkeling? Thanks a ton and cant wait to hear what you guys come up with!

 

[ScubaRandy]

Hey guys, wow its been a long time since i've psoted on here. Well, I will be staying in Seaside, Florida for a week beginning this Thursday (7/20). Can you all recommend some diving spots that arent too far away? I would love to dive the big O, but i'm not too sure if i can go somewhere thats that far away. Would diving off the beach be anything decent? Or should I leave that for snorkeling? Thanks a ton and cant wait to hear what you guys come up with!

Greetings!

I just got back from the PCB and Destin area, and I must say that the diving down there right now is the best I have seen it in some time.

Dove with Emerald Coast Scuba (www.divedestin.com) in Destin, and with Panama City Dive Center (www.pcdivecenter.com) in PCB... Trips with both of them were filling up fast.... Visibility out in the Gulf was running about 45' to 55' (Air Force Barge in Destin on Thursday morning)

Beach diving would be best at the Destin Jetties...

Have Fun!

 

[Dave C]

I'm sure others will reply to your request for info, but I will pass this along: the Destin Jetties are a great spot for snorkeling or a shore dive. There's virtually no encrusting sealife on the rocks, just algae fuzz, so the dive isn't particularly scenic, but there are tons of fish and crabs. Also, depending on the day, visibility can be quite good, sometimes 30-40 ft. For info. on how to get to and dive the jetties, look here: http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=60333 and scroll down on page one to the post by SeaYoda. As he says, you have to go at high tide to get clear water and minimal current. Other than the jetties, there's not much to see off the beach - just miles and miles of pure white sand. If you go to this link, you can see uw photos that I have taken while snorkeling at the Destin jetties: http://www.pbase.com/dave_clausen
Here's one I took last month:

 

[scuber steve]

Well, I dove the Destin jetties 2 years ago and never got to really do a full dive. I'm gonna see if we can drive there to check it out. Thanks for the info guys and cant wait to hear if you guys come up with anything else!

 

[scuber steve]

Back again. Well, it looks like we are going to try and dive both the panama city jetties and the destin jetties. Dave, those posts were very imformative but, is there a website in which i can try and get an estimate of when high tide is there? Any other informational websits will be greatly appreciated as I am leaving town Thursday morning and will no long have access to the internet.

 

[ScubaRandy]

Back again. Well, it looks like we are going to try and dive both the panama city jetties and the destin jetties. Dave, those posts were very imformative but, is there a website in which i can try and get an estimate of when high tide is there? Any other informational websits will be greatly appreciated as I am leaving town Thursday morning and will no long have access to the internet.

Try this website out:

http://www.saltwatertides.com/pickpred.html

Hope this helps....

Randy

 

[mike_s]

Dove with Emerald Coast Scuba (www.divedestin.com) in Destin, and with Panama City Dive Center (www.pcdivecenter.com) in PCB... Trips with both of them were filling up fast.... Visibility out in the Gulf was running about 45' to 55' (Air Force Barge in Destin on Thursday morning)

!

A couple other choices.

In PCB you've got Dive Locker and DIvers Den also. In Destin you've also got Scubatech.

PC Dive Center in PCB bought all of Hydrospace's boats over the winter, in case you were a past Hydrospace customer and trying to figure out what happened to them. PCDC is still working out the kinks in transistion as of earlier this summer.

Both the boats in Destin (Emerald Coast and Scubatech) have a tendancy to "wimp out" if the sea are above 3 feet also.

All of them seem to try not go far from the pass though. It seems they like to dive the same wrecks over and over. The ones closest to the pass that is. So be real sure when you book a trip of where they are going. Chances are they are running to the same exact site they took you to yesterday, and the day before.