? on Florida diving

After an absence of several years, my wife and I want to return to scuba
diving. We live in Waco, Texas and there is no decent diving within light
years of this place.

We have (in the distant past) been to Grand Cayman and Cozumel. This time
we would like to be able to drive to a location.

I am looking for any comments, either positive or negative, about the
Florida pan handle. Specifically, the Destin area. We realize this is not
a first class scuba destination but are hoping that it may be fine for our
return.

I get sea sick easily. Are there any places in that area which allow shore
diving? If Destin is just a bum destination for scuba, can anyone offer any
suggestions for the nearest location in Florida that might have better
diving?

Thanks in advance for any comments.

The vis is not the greatest. Eastern (non-gulf) is much better. The
further south the better for shore diving. Lauderdale-by-the-sea is
probably the best but it's about 7 hours from the panhandle.


BosquePhantom wrote:
> After an absence of several years, my wife and I want to return to scuba
> diving. We live in Waco, Texas and there is no decent diving within
> light years of this place.
>
> We have (in the distant past) been to Grand Cayman and Cozumel. This
> time we would like to be able to drive to a location.
>
> I am looking for any comments, either positive or negative, about the
> Florida pan handle. Specifically, the Destin area. We realize this is
> not a first class scuba destination but are hoping that it may be fine
> for our return.
>
> I get sea sick easily. Are there any places in that area which allow
> shore diving? If Destin is just a bum destination for scuba, can anyone
> offer any suggestions for the nearest location in Florida that might
> have better diving?
>
> Thanks in advance for any comments.

The vis is not the greatest. Eastern (non-gulf) is much better. The
further south the better for shore diving. Lauderdale-by-the-sea is
probably the best but it's about 7 hours from the panhandle.


BosquePhantom wrote:
> After an absence of several years, my wife and I want to return to scuba
> diving. We live in Waco, Texas and there is no decent diving within
> light years of this place.
>
> We have (in the distant past) been to Grand Cayman and Cozumel. This
> time we would like to be able to drive to a location.
>
> I am looking for any comments, either positive or negative, about the
> Florida pan handle. Specifically, the Destin area. We realize this is
> not a first class scuba destination but are hoping that it may be fine
> for our return.
>
> I get sea sick easily. Are there any places in that area which allow
> shore diving? If Destin is just a bum destination for scuba, can anyone
> offer any suggestions for the nearest location in Florida that might
> have better diving?
>
> Thanks in advance for any comments.

The vis is not the greatest. Eastern (non-gulf) is much better. The
further south the better for shore diving. Lauderdale-by-the-sea is
probably the best but it's about 7 hours from the panhandle.


BosquePhantom wrote:
> After an absence of several years, my wife and I want to return to scuba
> diving. We live in Waco, Texas and there is no decent diving within
> light years of this place.
>
> We have (in the distant past) been to Grand Cayman and Cozumel. This
> time we would like to be able to drive to a location.
>
> I am looking for any comments, either positive or negative, about the
> Florida pan handle. Specifically, the Destin area. We realize this is
> not a first class scuba destination but are hoping that it may be fine
> for our return.
>
> I get sea sick easily. Are there any places in that area which allow
> shore diving? If Destin is just a bum destination for scuba, can anyone
> offer any suggestions for the nearest location in Florida that might
> have better diving?
>
> Thanks in advance for any comments.

The vis is not the greatest. Eastern (non-gulf) is much better. The
further south the better for shore diving. Lauderdale-by-the-sea is
probably the best but it's about 7 hours from the panhandle.


BosquePhantom wrote:
> After an absence of several years, my wife and I want to return to scuba
> diving. We live in Waco, Texas and there is no decent diving within
> light years of this place.
>
> We have (in the distant past) been to Grand Cayman and Cozumel. This
> time we would like to be able to drive to a location.
>
> I am looking for any comments, either positive or negative, about the
> Florida pan handle. Specifically, the Destin area. We realize this is
> not a first class scuba destination but are hoping that it may be fine
> for our return.
>
> I get sea sick easily. Are there any places in that area which allow
> shore diving? If Destin is just a bum destination for scuba, can anyone
> offer any suggestions for the nearest location in Florida that might
> have better diving?
>
> Thanks in advance for any comments.

The diving's not too bad a bit further east, but I don't think you're likely
to care much for it around Destin. Visibility in that area is bound to
suffer from the proximity of the Choctawhatchee Bay.

On the other hand, I used to have some friends that did some quality deep
wreck diving not too far from there. Problem is, deep wrecks are probably
not the best way to get back into scuba after a longish period.

Lee

The diving's not too bad a bit further east, but I don't think you're likely
to care much for it around Destin. Visibility in that area is bound to
suffer from the proximity of the Choctawhatchee Bay.

On the other hand, I used to have some friends that did some quality deep
wreck diving not too far from there. Problem is, deep wrecks are probably
not the best way to get back into scuba after a longish period.

Lee

The diving's not too bad a bit further east, but I don't think you're likely
to care much for it around Destin. Visibility in that area is bound to
suffer from the proximity of the Choctawhatchee Bay.

On the other hand, I used to have some friends that did some quality deep
wreck diving not too far from there. Problem is, deep wrecks are probably
not the best way to get back into scuba after a longish period.

Lee

The diving's not too bad a bit further east, but I don't think you're likely
to care much for it around Destin. Visibility in that area is bound to
suffer from the proximity of the Choctawhatchee Bay.

On the other hand, I used to have some friends that did some quality deep
wreck diving not too far from there. Problem is, deep wrecks are probably
not the best way to get back into scuba after a longish period.

Lee

We lived in Panama City, Florida, for a year and dove there. It is a
different kind of diving than reef diving. The bottom is dead (just sand
bottom), and you have to dive a lot deeper (mostly 100 feet +) so you use
your air faster. There are some wrecks you can see, and some turtles. The
biggest difference is the fish. In Florida we would see huge schools of
very large fish. That was kind of exciting to see. Not lots of color,
though. We got into some spear fishing there, and that was fun. If you do
that, make sure that your stringer is very long, as you don't want to draw
the big guys too close to you. We learned to dive in Okinawa where the
color and variety of sea life was awesome. We really were spoiled there.
We have dived in Belize and snorkeled in the Philippines which was awesome,
and the Bahamas which was great. We were disappointed with Camp John P.
down in the Keys. The way everyone talked about it, we thought it would be
spectacular, but it's not. Haven't gone to Cozumel yet. We should though,
as it is relatively close. We are just a little north of you in Waxahachie,
Texas. Jane


"BosquePhantom" <BosquePhantom@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:4644f42d$0$4864$4c368faf@roadrunner.com...
> After an absence of several years, my wife and I want to return to scuba
> diving. We live in Waco, Texas and there is no decent diving within light
> years of this place.
>
> We have (in the distant past) been to Grand Cayman and Cozumel. This time
> we would like to be able to drive to a location.
>
> I am looking for any comments, either positive or negative, about the
> Florida pan handle. Specifically, the Destin area. We realize this is
> not a first class scuba destination but are hoping that it may be fine for
> our return.
>
> I get sea sick easily. Are there any places in that area which allow
> shore diving? If Destin is just a bum destination for scuba, can anyone
> offer any suggestions for the nearest location in Florida that might have
> better diving?
>
> Thanks in advance for any comments.