Hello from Alabama

[Lastparrot]

Hello! As the title says I am from Alabama and was able to get certified 2 years ago. That summer was fanastic as my kids schedule let me get my Open Water, Advanced and Rescue Diver certification. Getting those certs one after another in a large quarry has left me feeling a bit unskilled and wanting more.

Unfortunately, all my trips to date have been canceled. My goal of joining is to become more prepared for diving in the real world and get some dives under my belt. If anyone has advice on gulf shores or orange beach diving boats let me know. I am also curious about liveaboards, but they are really pricey.

 

[Compressor]

Welcome to ScubaBoard LastParrot. Diving with friends and family is one the most cherished things I like about diving. Hope you can all get together and do some quality diving real soon.

 

[RyanT]

Welcome, lots of great info here on the board.

The Gulf coast has some great diving. There are some amazing advanced wrecks (e.g. the Oriskinay), but there are also a number of shallow sites that would be great for you to cut your teeth on in the ocean. For example, out of Orange beach, there is a site 3 miles out in about 30' of water. If you're nervous about your ocean skills, sign up for one of those shallow dives first. Then wrecks like the Lulu are fairly deep (115' to the sand), but have a lot of structure as shallow as 60' or so that you could work into.

 

[Lastparrot]

Welcome, lots of great info here on the board.

The Gulf coast has some great diving. There are some amazing advanced wrecks (e.g. the Oriskinay), but there are also a number of shallow sites that would be great for you to cut your teeth on in the ocean. For example, out of Orange beach, there is a site 3 miles out in about 30' of water. If you're nervous about your ocean skills, sign up for one of those shallow dives first. Then wrecks like the Lulu are fairly deep (115' to the sand), but have a lot of structure as shallow as 60' or so that you could work into.

I have a dive scheduled out of orange beach on memorial day in a few weeks for 3 mile (I think that is the same dive as the Poseidon Playground). I am thinking of finding an inshore dive for Wed or Thursday of that week. Do you recommend a specific diving operator?

 

[RyanT]

@Lastparrot, unfortunately, I don't have any recommendations for operators. All my experience in that part of the world has been on a private boat. I've generally heard good things about all of the operations in Orange Beach/Pensacola, so I wouldn't worry too much about getting a bad one. Since it looks like (I'm guessing) this area will be your dive home, just start trying out different operators and see which one you really like.

 

[Lastparrot]

@RyanT that is the plan. The second dive was going to be with a different operator if I can find one doing the dive I want to do.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Welcome Lastparrot! Glad to hsve you with us here on Scubaboard.