Help me plan our vacation?

We plan to drive from NE Texas to the western Florida panhandle with our small RV during my spring break, March 16-22. I've been looking at an old book on Florida diving by Ned DeLoach and it looks like we can possibly do fine even driving only as far as Pensacola to set up camp. Of course, would like to dive the Oriskany, and hopefully make a day trip inland to dive one of your famous Florida springs. (Vortex?- Mapquest says only 1.5 hrs from Pensacola, is that correct?) Looks like Morrison may be out? We are not cave divers, but both have AOW and some ocean experience in the Bahamas,Caribbean and the Florida Keys. We might try the Destin jetties, if that is a good time of year to dive there? Any suggestions to help us set an agenda, such as where to camp, dive, decompress, etc., are welcomed. We're mostly used to diving swamps, so when you are talking 30 ft vis, we are very happy. If we get 50+ we will be thrilled out of our gourds. We're just a a couple of Foo's from Texas, help us out please!

Why not try Orange Beach, AL. Great vacation place & great diving.

check us out @ WWW.GARYSGULFDIVERS.NET

Foo,

You should have a good time and just about can't go wrong in the area. The drive from Pensacola to Destin is manageable. I've stayed in Destin and dove the Oriskany early in the morning, not a bad drive. In my opinion, there's not alot of great diving in Destin. Sure the jetties are there and FREE, but I've had better dives out of Pensacola, Orange Beach and Panama City Beach. There's even Fort Pickens in Pensacola, but I think the road is washed out after the storm. Do a quick search for Destin Jetties. There are great pictures of where to park and how FAR you have to lug your gear. One thing about Vortex is that the temps will be consistent as always. After going there twice, I got bored, but that's just me personally. Definitely do the O', it is a deep dive and advanced at that. Although as you mention you're properly trained & experienced. I'm just glad that I dove the O last summer before the storm when it was +10 feet taller. MBT divers in Pensacola is great and plan to spend a few minutes before or after your dive just walking around their shop, I enjoyed the photos of the O there... They also rent LP 95's which I was glad had on that dive. They're very picky about their Nitrox blends and went the extra mile to make sure my blend was spot on. I've enjoyed Panama City Beach quite a bit. I found the viz to be better (in summer though, haven't been at another time of year). Plus I liked the wrecks, plenty of them. I've been ticking off dives in the panhandle from Ned DeLoach's book, slowly getting around to all of them LOL.

Have fun.

Destin does have some great offshore dives. Their dives are also faster because everything is relatively close to shore (and a little cheaper because the boats use less gas).

You can't beat Pensacola/Orange Beach on numbers though. There are more tanks, wrecks, reefs and rubble in that area than you can shake a stick at.

I'd consider setting up in Pensacola or Navarre, and diving from Orange Beach to Destin... Perhaps Panama City. That way you'll be in the middle and can work your way East and West as the mood suits you.

-h

My 2 cents. Destin Inlet is a great shore dive if you don't mind a bit of a walk. Probably be a good thing to see if the high tides for the inlet match your plans. Error Message Page

Here is a 10 day run for you.
Tides for East Pass (Destin) starting with March 16, 2009.
Day High Tide Height Sunrise Moon Time % Moon
/Low Time Feet Sunset Visible

M 16 Low 12:34 AM -0.1 6:54 AM Set 10:03 AM 76
16 High 2:00 PM 0.6 6:55 PM

Tu 17 Low 2:10 AM -0.1 6:53 AM Rise 12:46 AM 67
17 High 3:00 PM 0.6 6:56 PM Set 10:50 AM

W 18 Low 3:31 AM -0.1 6:52 AM Rise 1:39 AM 58
18 High 4:08 PM 0.6 6:56 PM Set 11:41 AM

Th 19 Low 4:28 AM -0.1 6:51 AM Rise 2:27 AM 48
19 High 5:20 PM 0.6 6:57 PM Set 12:35 PM

F 20 Low 5:09 AM -0.1 6:49 AM Rise 3:10 AM 39
20 High 6:26 PM 0.6 6:58 PM Set 1:31 PM

Sa 21 Low 5:37 AM -0.1 6:48 AM Rise 3:49 AM 30
21 High 7:26 PM 0.6 6:58 PM Set 2:28 PM

Su 22 Low 5:56 AM -0.1 6:47 AM Rise 4:23 AM 21
22 High 8:27 PM 0.5 6:59 PM Set 3:25 PM

M 23 Low 6:05 AM 0.0 6:46 AM Rise 4:55 AM 14
23 High 9:38 PM 0.4 6:59 PM Set 4:22 PM

Tu 24 Low 6:02 AM 0.1 6:45 AM Rise 5:25 AM 8
24 High 12:39 PM 0.2 7:00 PM Set 5:20 PM
24 Low 4:27 PM 0.1
24 High 11:08 PM 0.3

W 25 Low 5:40 AM 0.1 6:43 AM Rise 5:54 AM 3
25 High 11:23 AM 0.3 7:01 PM Set 6:19 PM
25 Low 6:10 PM 0.1

Good Luck,
Howard

Thanks to all who have replied so far. I'm not familiar with the area, so am a bit confused about what Pensacola/Orange Beach means- isn't Orange Beach in Alabama? I've tried to figure it out, but are you saying they are next to each other?

Also, does anyone have a recommendation as to your favorite place to park your RV in the area? Thanks!

gulf state park has a rv park, go to the website for all the info gulfstatepark.com. there is also beech rv park in orange beach

Orange Beack & Pensacola are about 20 minutes apart

Foo,

Pensacola is a great location. We have the Oriskany, sparkling white beaches and great diving in general. If you have a military connection, there are campgrounds at Pensacola NAS. If not there are other camping spots available.

We have over 100 dive sites to choose from, have multiple charter services available at reasonable rates and great operators and divemasters to take good care of your group.

Pensacola is a great family destination, even during Spring Break. There are great restaurants and lots of water related activities to choose from.

Drop us a note or give us a call and we'll be happy to try and answer any questions you may have.

Capt. Jim
Dr Dive
www.drdive.com
drdive@drdive.com
850.932.6602
617.943.5553

Tim GGD:

Why not try Orange Beach, AL. Great vacation place & great diving.

check us out @ WWW.GARYSGULFDIVERS.NET

Click to expand...

Thats .com WWW.GARYSGULFDIVERS.com

Vortex in Ponce DeLeon Florida is a decent spring and campground which does have RV sites. Also Morrison (no cave) is on the other side of town, and is free as soon as they finally reopen it! Both have caverns and at Vortex, you know where the cave zone starts.

Have a great time on your vacation! I do hope you get to dive the Mighty O! I will pray you have beautiful skies, calm seas, and warm sunny weather!

Carolyn:shark2: