Pensacola Diver Shops

[T.C.]

Hey TC, I recall from your posts from a few years ago that you have quite a bit of gulf diving experience: curious as to your favorite shops or dive boats aside from Viking anywhere from Panama City Beach over to Gulf Shores, AL. I'm moving to GA and will probably be doing quite a bit of future diving in the FL panhandle or towards Gulf Shores, Al

There is only one choice for dive shops in Panama City: Panama City Diving. Excellent shop, good employees, and an involved, concerned owner. The boat is a well laid out 36' Newton with all the required safety gear. The Captain is one of the best, and very friendly and laid back. The crew is helpful and friendly. The boat has an enclosed cabin. It's better than anything in the spring when it's cold.

if you can't go with them, try Panama City Dive Center. I'm not a fan of their boats, they leave a generator running, and it's mounted straight to the hull. End result: a vibration is sent into the water that you will feel and hear any time you're under the boat. The safety stop sucks with that vibration.

Dive Locker used to be good. Cavit: I haven't dove with them since early last year. The owners drove off the good staff and Captain, and they're selling assets to stay open. Crew isn't that good, and last time I was there, they didn't have a permanent Captain. They once even contracted Pat, the owner of Panama City Diving, to drive their boat. Since they lost Captain Greg Meeks, it's been a downhill spiral. They cancelled several times on me, blaming the weather, but I found out it was because there was no boat crew available. I then moved to PCD, and have never been happier diving in Panama City.

Dive sites are almost always wrecks if the crew knows you, and your skills, they may drop you on a live reef, but it's a drift dive. That's good spear fishing. PCD is a good spear fishing charter- and you don't need a license, the boat has one. But follow the rules- you shoot something small or out of season, and you're done for the day. If you like lionfish bring a spear and get an offshore charter. You'll kill many.

Dive the jetties at least once.

If you go diving there, book early, PCD fills quick in the summer. They only take 14 divers (on a 36' Newton!). Find a good cheap hotel- if you have military connections, get a room on the navy base. Right near the dive shops and very cheap- but very high quality. Book early- and understand you maybe bumped for training- the mission comes first.

Eat at Fishales at least once. There is only one choice for breakfast: Fatty Patty's. Period. Other outstanding eateries: Dat Cajun Place, Patty's Sandwich Shop (near Fatty Patty's), and Patches.

And tell Pat and Captain Dave of PCD that Matt Z says hello!

Wojo: cool would be about 70 degrees. By spring it'll be about 55.

 

[Wojo]

The reports I have seen for last weekend had the water at 74 top to depth on the O. By local standards that's getting cold. I don't know that Lake Michigan gets that warm in the summer...

Surface temps might get that high. In late August this year, at 80-100' depth we saw temps in the low 40's. That was in the Straits, right by the Mackinac Bridge, so that would be representative of both Lake Huron and Lake Michigan.

 

[Wojo]

Well, I don't know how much warmer it will be. I would advise you to bring a 5mm wetsuit or drysuit, as the waters can get cool then. I would advise the drysuit, as the boat rides can be long.


The "O" is a great dive. If you can hit it, do it. Key word: IF. It's a long run out there, and conditions need to be good. You will see plenty going around the island, though the viz may not be good enough to see the deck very well. If not the carrier, I'd recommend asking for the Pete Tide II or San Paulo wrecks.



I would ask for a different site if they said the Joe Patti Memorial barge- It's very new (no life) and in a sand flat. The only thing to see is some monuments welded onto it. There are better sites. The three coal barges and Tex Edwards Barge are good too.

Circling back with a trip report. I dove yesterday with the folks at Viking. They were a pleasure to dive with. Extremely knowledgeable and safety minded. We dove on the three coal barges and on the Joe Patti. Vis was pretty bad. All of the high winds and rough seas had it looking like high pulp orange juice. Still, we saw tons of fish. We also had a good group of Divers, and I had one of my best insta-buddies to-date.

I'm hoping to get back down here this summer, when conditions are more favorable for getting out to the Oriskany.

---------- Post added December 30th, 2015 at 09:16 AM ----------

Regarding water temps, it was 64° at the surface and at depth at 49'. I dove a 7mm wetsuit, no hood and only mechanics gloves, and was very comfortable. Not all that different than Lake Huron.