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#4115
Pensacola FL area diving
littlestar1157 - 10/18/2013 9:59 AM
Category: Travel
Replies: 16

I’m going to be in the Pensacola area next weekend and hope to dive. Any recomendations? Any good shore diving? I will need to rent some stuff too unless I rent from home, shop to use? Any info would be much appreciated, thanks!
#1376
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RockRat2008 - 10/18/2013 10:48 AM
I’ve got a group coming from Nashville, TN that is going out to dive The LuLu out of Gulf Shores, AL on Saturday morning. If you want to trek over that way I can call and see if there is still room on the dive boat for you.


$95 for a 2 tank dive over The LuLu plus gear/tank rental. $20/tank for Nitrox and $15/tank for air.



The deck is at ~90 feet and the sand at ~115 feet. Based on water temps at depth a 3mm full suit is recommended.
#8590
dalehall - 10/18/2013 10:57 AM
Get a hold of MBT Divers in P’Cola. Some good wrecks on the P’Cola area (to include the Oriskany)
http://www.mbtdivers.com/
I’ve heard there is some decent shore diving, but have never done it. Jellyfish were rampant last time we were there and had to call off our night shore dives. Hope you get some good diving in..
Dale
#4115
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littlestar1157 - 10/18/2013 10:57 AM
That sounds awesome and I appreciate the invite but I will have a junior diver with me and still limiting her to about 60. May be a good back up plan if she can’t dive for some reason though, thanks!
#4115
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littlestar1157 - 10/18/2013 10:58 AM
Thanks Dale! Appreciate the tips.
#1376
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RockRat2008 - 10/18/2013 11:14 AM
Sure thing, and I understand about limiting junior divers. If you don’t find anything that suits you out of Pensacola I dive with Dive Locker out of Pensacola and they run daily charters inland that should be within your junior diver limits.


The bridge spans would probably a lot of fun for a junior diver with the ridiculous abundance of fish usually hanging around on them.
#4115
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littlestar1157 - 10/18/2013 11:23 AM
Thank you so much! Not sure if I want to take her out on a charter or not just because of expense. I was thinking the same thing, checking out some of the bridges or something. Somewhere she could be free to roam a lil without making me too nervous haha. She’s only done spring diving so far except when we did dive quest at epcot.
#1376
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RockRat2008 - 10/18/2013 11:32 AM
Here are 2 shore dive locations to consider:

The Whiskey Wreck - http://www.divebuddy.com/divesite.aspx?DiveSiteID=1843



Perdido Pass Jetties - http://www.divebuddy.com/divesite.aspx?DiveSiteID=4266
#4115
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littlestar1157 - 10/18/2013 11:35 AM
Sweet, thanks! I think I’ve looked at both several months ago but never made it up. Will def check them out again.
#4347
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Bob01 - 10/18/2013 2:31 PM
If you want to shore dive and control your depth, drive over to Panama City and dive the jetties. Just watch the tides.
#2418
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fasjr - 10/18/2013 7:30 PM
I live just outside pensacoa and several good shore dives. Fort Pickens, Portfino Reef and the Navarre Reef. If surf flat both reefs are great. If surf kicking up Fort Pickens has a lot to see.
#2418
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fasjr - 10/18/2013 7:32 PM
I will be out of town next weekend or I would be happy to show you around
#6242
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ScubaCrab - 10/19/2013 4:22 AM
Have a great time diving Pensacola Jennifer. Some day when I get trained for doubles, deco and or tri mix I would like to dive the Oriskany. Give us a report after diving Pensacola on how it was.
#4115
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littlestar1157 - 10/19/2013 6:32 AM
Thanks for wanting to show is around fasjr. Sounds like we have penty of spots to choose from though. I thin we’ll be fine on our own. The info is much appreciated. I’ve never done any shore diving so some local info is awesome. I’m sure we’ll have a great time. I will def post a full report! Thanks guys :-)
#51828
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Greg - 10/23/2013 8:29 AM
You all have a great time and share some pics when you return!
#4115
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littlestar1157 - 10/28/2013 4:07 PM
We had a great time. MBT is a fantastic shop and group of people. Apparently conditions in Pensacola this past weekend were as close to perfect as they ever are. We met up at the pyramids but the instructor decided the current was too rough for his students. It’s a 200 yd swim against the current. So we followed them over to the bay to do at least one dive with them. We were going to go back to the pyramids on our own if they didn’t. Well the bay was freezing! 62 degrees. Coldest water I"ve ever been in lol. Not a very long dive and viz in the bay was like 5ft at most haha. But we did get to see the reef balls out there, just wasn’t much life or anything else to see. He then decided to move everyone back over to the pyramids which were awesome! Super clear. Lots of yellow tail, turtles, jelly fish, and little colorful fish on the man made reefs. Much better on that side. Water was about 72. More what I’m used to. That swim out was something else though haha. We called it a day after the second dive. The group of students went out a third time but we just played on the beach instead. Best beach day ever. Here’s one of the turtles we chased :)