Panama City Beach is home to a wide variety of artificial reef material. Materials include bridge pilings, old-piers, and special designed reef habitat. Although these locations won't attract divers, you can be sure that they will attract fish when there is a sunken ship with reef modules surrounding it.
Both beginners and experts can find excellent diving spots at Panama City Beach. You can find over 50 artificial coral reefs within walking distance of the World's Most Beautiful Beaches. This includes bridge spans, shipspans, bridges and hundreds of natural limestone coral reefs. They range in depths from 18 to 110ft.
You may not know that PCB, the Wreck Capital in the South, is home to over 50 wrecks. You can find over 150 dive locations in our interactive map for scuba diving Panama City Beach. It also includes eight feature dive sites and more than 50 wrecks. This interactive map will give you the inside scoop on why scuba divers need to visit the Florida Panhandle.
Have you ever tried scuba diving? It's possible. Panama City Beach is the perfect spot to get your feet wet. The dive shops can help you get certified and take you to the deep blue. Scuba Dive Panama City Beach, for example, is well-equipped to help you get started with your aquatic lifestyle. They offer dive training, equipment rental, and repair.
Inshore diving can be defined as being less than 8 mi from St Andrew's Pass. This is more accessible to open-water divers. Red Sea, an 125-foot tug boat, was built in 2009 and is a notable dive. Also, the wreckage of the E. E. Simpson Tug which sank back in 1929 are also noteworthy. Stage 2 (a Navy platform which was demolished and rebuilt in 1984), Fontainebleau's Boxcars (two boxescars and related reef material) and two Voodoo planes that are anchored in Seltzer Reservoir make for interesting dives. Below is a list of all inshore dive locations in Panama City Beach, with their bottom depths.
The wave duration is more important than its absolute size in the waters around Panama City Beach. While long interval waves can create rollers, short interval waves cause the boat to rock up and down. Divers are difficult to spot because of this.
Our definition of inshore diving is less than 8 miles from St Andrew’s Pass and generally safe of open water divers. Notable dives here include the Red Sea, a 125' tug boat installed in 2009, and the historic wreck of the E.E. Simpson Tug that sank in 1929. Other interesting sites include Stage 2 (a Navy platform that was demolished in 1984), the Fontainebleau Boxcars (two boxcars and associated reef material), and a pair of Voodoo jets anchored in Seltzer Reef. Below is our table of inshore dive sites in Panama City Beach with associated bottom depths.
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.