Dive Ops in Destin?

Can anyone recommend any good dive ops in the Destin/Ft. Walton area? I'll be going there at the beginning of June, and am curious what some of you might recommend. Thanks in advance.

There are basically two dive shops and boat operators in Destin.

Emerald Coast Scuba and Scubatech.

Both of these shops have boats docked in Destins main harbor area. Neither are "die hard" dive operations though.... but the folks at their shops seem pretty nice.

Emerald Coast runs a converted leisure/fishing boat. I personallly have never seen their boat actually leave the confines of the harbor. It seems they run mostly trips to the inside of theJetties for checkout dives or snorkel trips. Even their website says they are only doing Jetty trips right now. (look under charters link)

ScubaTech runs a converted oil-rig crew boat. They do run past the jetties but typically pick the closest sites from the pass. (but this is typical of all the boat operators along the panhandle). If the winds are up or the seas are over 3' you can expect a cancellation phone call with them. Even though they have an oil-crew-boat that can take rough seas, they seem to wimp out a lot.

Both run charters for $75 to $85 for a 4 hour trip, plus you bring or rent your own tanks.

Both operations have are on hwy 98 and only a few blocks from each other. Emerald Coast's shop is harder to find as it's on the "backside" of another building, so get directions or use Maquest or something, as it's not easily seen from the street. They both have a decent amount of gear in their showrooms, but most everything I saw was at MSRP prices.

Scubatech has banked EAN and also does partial pressure fills. You can back right up to their fill station in their side parking lot, which is nice. I've never gotten a fill at Emerald Coast, but another poster that I know on a different thread said they wouldn't fill her tanks with Nitrox unless they had a minimum of 6 tanks to fill, which sounds crazy of a dive shop to have such a requirement. oh well.

I'd suggest taking a dive at the Destin Jetties while there. You'll want to dive it at high slack tide. It's a great dive and best of all, it's a FREEBIE !!!

http://www.scubatechnwfl.com/ Scuba Tech
http://www.divedestin.com/ Emerald Coast Scuba

Pick up a copy of Ned Deloaches Guides to Underwater Florida. It's got information about most of the dive sites that are offshore.

I am going to Destin next week (May 19-26) with some friends. I am the only certified diver, but my BF wants to try - so we are doing a discover scuba class with Emrald Coast (or thats the plan). I would love to get some more dives in if I could - maybe a shore dive at the Jetties? But would need a divebuddy. So if any locals are interested, PM me.

I will report back what I think of Emerald Coast.

Emerald Coast is easy to find, they have a very obvious sign and dive flag on that big new building they are inside of...

Alot of the Pensacola ops go out to some of the great spots offshore, if you want to pay for the extra length of the trip. I had no problem with getting offshore in PCB a couple months ago either.

I've only gone through ScubaTech, great crew but I can only stand diving the Airforce and Pheonix barges, Miss Louise, and bridge rubble so many times knowing that there are a ton of other sites available in that area.

mle_osu:

I am going to Destin next week (May 19-26) with some friends. I am the only certified diver, but my BF wants to try - so we are doing a discover scuba class with Emrald Coast (or thats the plan). I would love to get some more dives in if I could - maybe a shore dive at the Jetties? But would need a divebuddy. So if any locals are interested, PM me.

I will report back what I think of Emerald Coast.

Click to expand...

I'm diving the Destin Jetties on the 19th along with quite a few other ScubaBoarders, come along if you'd like. Thread on it in the Trips/Marketplace Subforum of the FL Conch forum as well as Trips/Marketplace subforum in the Dixie Divers forum.

mle_osu:

I am going to Destin next week (May 19-26) with some friends. I am the only certified diver, but my BF wants to try - so we are doing a discover scuba class with Emrald Coast (or thats the plan). I would love to get some more dives in if I could - maybe a shore dive at the Jetties? But would need a divebuddy. So if any locals are interested, PM me.

I will report back what I think of Emerald Coast.

Click to expand...

The 19th a bunch of Scubaboarders are diving the Destin Jetties (noon'ish high tide).
The 20th a bunch of Scuaoboarders are diving the St. Andrews Jetties (noon'ish again).

You are welcome to join us.

I'll be down that whole week (18th-26th) if you need someone to dive with. There should be several of us getting together throughout the week.

Mike

Thanks so much for the replies, everyone. I dived with ScubaTech last year, and liked their crew and employees quite a bit, but was curious what other ops might be available. From the posts I have read so far, it sounds like they are still the way to go. However, I would be interested in checking out the Destin Jetties with someone who knows the area. Any of you locals going to be out that way the week of June 2-9? I'd love to have the chance to meet some of my fellow SBer's as well. Again, thanks for your input, everyone.

Maybe, its far too early to commit though

Maybe, its far too early to commit though
Cool, thanks.. just let me know

Remind me closer, I won't remember - which is why I can't commit.

In defense of Emerald Coast, they do run outside of the harbor nearly everyday. Thier flagship boat the Aquanaut will hardley ever run inshore or even to the jetties. The reason that their website says only jetties trips right now is the aquanaut engines blew a while back and thier other boat cant go off shore. I spoke with Lynn at Emerald coast last week and was told that the aquanaut was fixed and running again.