Panama City Beach Florida offers some of the best diving opportunities in the southern United States. Visitors from all over the country come to Panama City Beach to dive the underwater coral reefs and ship wrecks, and the beach area has been aptly named the “Wreck Capital of the South”. The area is filled with a number of coral reefs and ship wrecks, natural and manmade, that make for interesting and fun-filled diving adventure.
$20 Off Introduction to Scuba Adventure
If you have always wanted to check out scuba without committing to a whole weekend of training this is the class for you. This is a brief classroom session and a closely supervised dive in the Gulf of Mexico with all gear included. If you know how to swim and want to explore under the sea, you will have a blast!
Location: 106 Thomas Dr, Panama City Beach, FL 32408
Phone: (850) 588-8077
Panama City Dive Charters
Inshore wrecks are shallower shipwrecks within about 7 miles offshore. Wrecks include the Black Bart, USS Strength and the Red Sea, and even the Hathaway Bridge! Deep water wrecks include the El Dorado, Chippewa, Accokeek, Twin Tugs, BJ Putnam, Commander, and Stage 1 as well as the DuPont Bridge Spans and the remaining Hathaway Spans. 3-Tank offshore wrecks These all day charters are the best way for experienced divers to see the bigger deeper and more remote wrecks like the Gray Ghost. 3 dives to 100 feet is no joke so Advanced divers and up only and nitrox is a must if you want to have the bottom time to enjoy these wrecks. Empire Mica Charters – The 436 foot Empire Mica is the largest war wreck in the Gulf. The British freighter was taken down by a German U-boat in WWII. These 3 tank trips are special events usually planned well in advance.
Scuba Certifications in Panama City Beach
Learning to dive is a fun weekend of training and getting certified to dive literally gets you a license for adventure. Once certified, you are allowed to dive without supervision in conditions you have been certified for. The core recreational progression of certification levels is Openwater, Advanced-Adventure, and Rescue Diver. Openwater is the entry level certification and is good for diving in the real world up to 60 feet. Advanced-Adventure is good to 100 feet. Rescue focuses on building on your diving skills so that you can help another diver in an emergency, or ideally prevent an emergency from occurring in the first place. Additionally, there are many specialty certifications as well, like Nitrox (breathing more Oxygen for longer bottom times), Deep Diver (130 feet max depth), Underwater Navigation, Wreck Diver, Boat Diver, Drift Diver, Night Diver, Search and Recovery, and many more. A recreational Rescue diver that has earned 5 specialties is recognized as a Master Diver. A Divemaster is on the other hand a Rescue Diver that has undergone a working internship to become a professional diver. DMs lead other certified divers as guides and help full-fledged instructors teach classes.