Panama City Beach is the perfect place to take a drive or dive weekend from the South. You can drive home at night, dive Sunday morning, and still be able to meet your no-fly deadline.
Our threshold for offshore diving extends more than 8 mi from St Andrew's Pass. These sites require advanced certification. It is a good idea to get a nitrox cert. These trips don't run every single day because of their distance. For information on when the next trip will run, contact the dive shop.
The Black Bart (180') is an artificial reef that was built in 1993. Vulcano del Golfo is a memorial to Charles' Black Bart’ Bartholomew. He was the Navy Supervisor of Salvage captain who drowned in a dive off Panama City Beach in 90. His contributions include the rescue of the Space Shuttle Challenger as well as leading the Navy’s cleanup of Exxon Valdez, an oil rig supply vessel.
The structure of this site makes it extraordinary. At 40' down, divers can investigate the wheelhouse. The deck is at 66' down with entrances into the cargo holds. The ship’s head (toilet) sits outside the wreck on the sand replete with a jovial skull. There’s also plenty of sea life coming to visit from the nearby Warsaw Reef.
St. Andrews State Park is home to some of the most beautiful beach dives on the Emerald Coast. The channel side, on the west jetty, has depths of 70 feet. The rocks at St. Andrews State park attract and hold many sea life species, including octopus red snapper redfish grouper and other tropical fish. It is possible to get the best diving conditions if you are able to spot an incoming tide.
For good reason, the St Andrew's Park Jetties is where you start your shore dive in Panama City Beach. From the parking lot, it's only a short walk to the beach. Once you are in the water, it's easy to get back. The beach-side has very little boat traffic. You should bring your diving flag if crossing to the channel side. The rocks around the jetties are home to many tropical fish. High slack tide is the best period to dive. The visibility and current are also better. St Andrew's Park jetties make for great snorkeling spots in Panama City Beach.
Sport Diver's summer trip was so successful that a journalist wrote an article about us and the amazing diving off Panama City Beach.
Never hold your breath
As every good entry-level dive student knows, this is the most important rule of scuba. And for good reason — breath holding underwater can result in serious injury and even death. In accordance with Boyle's law, the air in a diver's lungs expands during ascent and contracts during descent.
As you become a qualified scuba diver, you learn the basics of an essential scuba system. A cylinder, weights, an exposure suit, regulators, BCD gauge and timing device, mask and fins are the bare essentials.