pensacola trip planning......HELP

[swimboyy]

Ok I am planning a trip to pensacola fla. in the first week of april. Most of my friends who dive donot want to spend a whole lot of money on charters so we decided on beach diving....I have a list of a few places but i was looking for some more and maps of each. also what hotels are near by that won't break the bank on room fees.

right now i'm looking at:

1. Jacobi Reef
2. Sport
3. Ft. Pickens Jetties
4. Pensacola Fishing Pier

looking for a few other dives to give us a few options.
any one who is interested in going can PM me and i'll discuss the details.

[mksmith713]

I can understand not wanting to drop a bunch of $$$ diving but if you're going all the way to Pensabama, you have to dive the Mighty O...

That's the only reason I'd go to Pensacola.......OK...... that and to visit my parents.......

[swimboyy]

well sadly I can't dive the mighty "o" yet I am just OW certified. working on getting required dives for AOW.

[rustyshakelford]

ill be there during the same time. i think you can dive the oriskany if you have a dive master with you. theres also an outfit that takes you down and you get a nitrox cert as well. Ill see if i can find his website

brett

[rustyshakelford]

heres the website

Pensacola Oriskany Scuba Dive Charters Underwater wedding ceremony marriage

brett

[ReefHound]

Originally Posted by swimboyy

Ok I am planning a trip to pensacola fla. in the first week of april. Most of my friends who dive donot want to spend a whole lot of money on charters so we decided on beach diving....I have a list of a few places but i was looking for some more and maps of each. also what hotels are near by that won't break the bank on room fees.

right now i'm looking at:

1. Jacobi Reef
2. Sport
3. Ft. Pickens Jetties
4. Pensacola Fishing Pier

looking for a few other dives to give us a few options.
any one who is interested in going can PM me and i'll discuss the details.

I go to the area often and love to beach dive. I've never heard of Jacobi or Sport. Yeah, I've seen them on maps. The only shore dive I know of is at Pensacola Beach about 300 feet east of the pier. You cannot dive on or within 100 feet of a working pier in Florida. This site is just a bit of rubble from the old pier and I hear is sanded over right now.

Pickens is a good dive and the road to Pickens just recently reopened after being washed out in 2004 by Ivan. You have to watch the tide tables and dive on high slack tide.

There's a shore dive in Gulf Shores behind Bahama Bob's called the Whiskey Wreck. It's in 10-15 feet of water and only about 2 or 3 feet of relief. A year ago it had 10 feet relief and 20 foot depths. The sands come and go periodically, right now they are covering everything up.

You can also dive the Alabama Point jetties in Orange near Gulf Shores.

A half hour east of Pensacola you can dive the closed pier at Navarre Beach. Depths to 20 feet, no tide issues but watch the surf.

An hour east is the Destin east jetties, probably the best all around shore dive in the region. Watch the tides, depths to 55 feet.

Then there's also Vortex Springs and Morrison Springs.

[ReefHound]

Keep in mind that beach diving can be more demanding and risky than offshore boat diving. You are completely on your own. Offshore charters are under $100 for in shore sites (less than 12 miles out). Scuba is not a cheap sport.

[reactive]

Originally Posted by ReefHound

I go to the area often and love to beach dive. I've never heard of Jacobi or Sport. Yeah, I've seen them on maps. The only shore dive I know of is at Pensacola Beach about 300 feet east of the pier. You cannot dive on or within 100 feet of a working pier in Florida. This site is just a bit of rubble from the old pier and I hear is sanded over right now.

Pickens is a good dive and the road to Pickens just recently reopened after being washed out in 2004 by Ivan. You have to watch the tide tables and dive on high slack tide.

There's a shore dive in Gulf Shores behind Bahama Bob's called the Whiskey Wreck. It's in 10-15 feet of water and only about 2 or 3 feet of relief. A year ago it had 10 feet relief and 20 foot depths. The sands come and go periodically, right now they are covering everything up.

You can also dive the Alabama Point jetties in Orange near Gulf Shores.

A half hour east of Pensacola you can dive the closed pier at Navarre Beach. Depths to 20 feet, no tide issues but watch the surf.

An hour east is the Destin east jetties, probably the best all around shore dive in the region. Watch the tides, depths to 55 feet.

Then there's also Vortex Springs and Morrison Springs.

This is good info. I've dove the Navarre Beach pier and it was really nice. We did the Ft Pickens dive, but we had to get there by boat, because the road was closed. I've never heard of Jacob or Sport either. Can you link some info on that? I'll be in Pensacola from 4/7 - 4/12 ish. I was also thinking about hitting up the Pete Tide II and San Pablo while I was out there. Scuba Shack has a charter that does them for under a hundred bucks and you get 2 dives.

[swimboyy]

wow, Bret checked out the site...awesome! Really thinking about doing this now. Ok, so some of the beach dives may be covered with sand, I called down under dive shop and whiskey only has 1 1/2 feet of relief right now. Ok went and looked at some websites about Navarre, but had mixed reviews...anyone have updates on conditions? main reason for wanting beach dives is to expand my comfort and experiance levels to make me a better diver, less expennsive than charters....but also doing two charters later that week.....and fun of trying somethig new. so right now whiskey is out, jacobi and sport are out (covered), pickens jetties are open, Navarre Beach Pier-----UNKNOWN???, alabama point is possible.

If anyone has other ideass feel free to post also yet again the more the merrier if you want to come let me know....this trip isn't set yet so plans can change rather quickly just like the tide so keep checking in on the updates. haha.

[reactive]

Here are some webcams for some of the popular beaches in Florida so you can keep an eye on conditions:
Navarre Beach Florida WebCam