Pensacola / Gulf Shores Spots?

[SuPrBuGmAn]

I'd take Gulf Shores/Orange Beach shore diving over PCB any day when the sandbars aren't ontop of everything. Several wrecks, a pier, jetties, and a seawall(and more) beat the crap out of St. Andrews Jetties(PCB) as far as shore diving goes.

The road to Fort Pickens opening up will put P'Cola above PCB as far as shore diving destinations go IMO as well. More wrecks, more jetties, ect.

 

[MRXRAY]

I'd take Gulf Shores/Orange Beach shore diving over PCB any day when the sandbars aren't ontop of everything. Several wrecks, a pier, jetties, and a seawall(and more) beat the crap out of St. Andrews Jetties(PCB) as far as shore diving goes.

The road to Fort Pickens opening up will put P'Cola above PCB as far as shore diving destinations go IMO as well. More wrecks, more jetties, ect.

Supr,
I haven't dove any shore dives further west than Ft. Pickens, what do you recommend?

 

[PatMyGreen]

Go on an offshore trip if you want good vis. That is the only way to consistently get better vis.... go further from the sources of the bad vis, and the only ones we can really keep track of are the passes discharging the river runoff. The watershed that feeds into St Andrew's Bay is is mostly contained inside of Bay County, a rare thing. Vis inshore Panama City is therefore largely a function of local rainfall, tidal flow and currents. It gets more complicated for other areas as they have much larger watersheds often originating in other states. Dredging and the unknown x-factor of bottom currents across the continental shelf alos figure in but they are hard to allow for.

At least that is my humble opinion.

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Supr,
I haven't dove any shore dives further west than Ft. Pickens, what do you recommend?

Alabama Point Jetties and the seawall are still great dives. The Whiskey Wreck isn't as exposed as it was two years ago, but its still worth a tank and holds lots of fish.

Once the sandbar shifts away again, there's a shrimp boat and a paddlewheeler to dive as well.

 

[MRXRAY]

Would you compare Alabama Point Jetties and the Seawall to St. Andrews?

 

[surfdwn]

When is the Ft. Pickens road supposed to open?

 

[MRXRAY]

When is the Ft. Pickens road supposed to open?

They are supposed to start work on it in the summer of 2009 is what the rangers told me.

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Would you compare Alabama Point Jetties and the Seawall to St. Andrews?

In what way?

Visibility in PCB(St. Andrews jetties) is usually better and PCB usually has more soft corals and sponges. Diversity of life IMO is about the same otherwise as far as fish/turtles/mammals/ect. AL Point only gets to about 30' of depth while PCB averages in the 50-60' range with a couple deeper holes. Spearfishing is allowed from the beach at AL Point. There is also no admission at AL Point, but parking in close proximity to the jetties is limitted(not so much at the seawall).

They are both similar in the fact that the "points" jet out into the Gulf and you can go around them from the channel side, swim the other side of the jetty back to the beach. Both are long sets of jetties, PCBs is longer. Combine the seawall as a dive with the AL Point Jetties and its longer, by quite a bit.

 

[MRXRAY]

In what way?

Visibility in PCB(St. Andrews jetties) is usually better and PCB usually has more soft corals and sponges. Diversity of life IMO is about the same otherwise as far as fish/turtles/mammals/ect. AL Point only gets to about 30' of depth while PCB averages in the 50-60' range with a couple deeper holes. Spearfishing is allowed from the beach at AL Point. There is also no admission at AL Point, but parking in close proximity to the jetties is limitted(not so much at the seawall).

They are both similar in the fact that the "points" jet out into the Gulf and you can go around them from the channel side, swim the other side of the jetty back to the beach. Both are long sets of jetties, PCBs is longer. Combine the seawall as a dive with the AL Point Jetties and its longer, by quite a bit.

Good info.... Thanks! Let me know if you're going to the AL Jetties or the seawall, I'd love to tag along!