April Diving Suggestions for Southern USA

[FinsToSpurs]

Hello dive friends! My girlfriend Christine and I are planning a road trip filled with diving from Key West Florida to Alaska beginning in a few days. A Dive and Drive - USA! We have never done any diving in the Gulf and are looking for great dive companies to lend some advice and help us get underwater! We are looking to dive as much as possible (shore diving?) in Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana...and then start going north from Texas!
Any suggestions on places/companies? We are writing articles about all the dives--should be a lot of fun!

Thank you for your help awesome dive community!
Adam and Christine

 

[Steve_C]

North from Texas? I would go west from Texas. Then go up along the west coast. Lots of good diving there.

 

[Sortsol]

Greetings, Please give my best to Christine...we worked together in Hawaii. She helped me finish my DM cert (let her know I'm getting my Instructor cert this May).

I've not done any shore diving, in the South east, but if you go through Pensacola, FL try not to miss diving the USS Oriskany. It's an aircraft carrier from WWII. The deck is at 145ft, but the tower is all w/in sport diver limits. A definite MUST SEE if you have the time. Give Viking Diving a call, a great charter. Viking Diving

If you're going to be in the Montgomery, AL area prior to May, send me a message. My wife and I would love to see Christine again and maybe have a BBQ!

 

[TMHeimer]

LA: I dived L. Pontchartrain--not worth it. Think you can get a boat, but probably costly--long trips, gas?
TX: Oil rig dive out of SPI.
AL: shore dives Perdido Pass at FL border & Gulf Shores
(anything E. of there shore diving suck, dark, shallow, muddy--W. AL through all MS & to LA.
FL Panhandle: Boats out of P'cola, Destin, PCB
shore dives in all the bays (boring) and at inlets (good, but very tide dependent or you may wind up in Cuba...)
P, cola to PCB & points in between Best inlet/Jetty dive is St. Andrews State Park in PCB--but 2 of the 3 times I dived there viz was awful. The other time great.

 

[diversteve]

Some shore dive options (sort of geo order)

Florida west coast:

Florida Dive Spots
Florida Dive Spots
Florida Dive Spots

And past the panhandle heading west: Shore Diving Sites Along The Gulf Coast

I agree with Steve - if you cut up from Texas you're only going to pass maybe 2 dozen diveable lakes max till you get to the Great Lakes. And if you stay that far east then cut over, there's virtually no diving in Montana, the Dakotas etc. till you get to Oregon/Washington. Just a lot of driving.

Stay south, pick up a few lake dives in TX or the rigs by boat - MV Fling is a weekend charter option that goes to the the Flower Gardens NMS from the Freeport area - then hit the Blue Hole in NM, possibly Lake Powell (may only be one shop there now), Lake Mead, drop down to Lake's Mojave or Havasu on the AZ/CA border then onto San Diego or L.A.

Contrast that with California - starting in San Diego there's about 100 shore dives along the coast. Scuba Shore Diving Region: USA West Plus more in Oregon/Washington. Interstate 5 from San Diego keeps you almost on the coast all the way to Canada more or less.