NORTH WEST FLORIDA SCUBA DIVING

SCUBA DIVING in North West Florida

Offers some of the best wreck diving in the state.

The north west coastline of Florida stretches along the panhandle from Pensacola to Lake City via Destin, Panama City and Port St. Joe.

North West Florida Scuba Diving will introduce you to the expansive shoreline is often referred to as the “Emerald Coast” where water temperatures range from the mid 60’s in early spring to the low 80’s in the summer.

The visibility ranges from as low as 10-100 feet, with the average visibility in the summer and fall being approximately 40 feet.

This coastline offers a wide range of scuba diving including a long list of literally dozens of wrecks like the USS Massachusetts. Destin alone is home to four Barges, two Liberty Ships as well as LCM landing crafts.

Goliath Grouper and large Southern Stingrays are common and if you’re lucky, you could spy a rare Whale Shark or Manta Ray. Cobia, snapper, flounder, and amberjack are some of the most common fish on the local reefs.

Apart from a long list of wrecks there are also many cold/warm springs to explore, including Morrison Springs, Cherokee Sink, Cypress Spring, Harvey’s Cave and many others. The little town of Branford is known as the Cave Diving Capital of the World and many of the pioneers of cave diving hailed from this section of Florida. Innovations in equipment and techniques for all types of technical diving have been perfected in the North Florida springs. Major cave diving training agencies and technical dive equipment manufacturers are based in the area as well. All this is for good reason. The underground limestone has miles of “Karst” cave formations where cool crystal clear water flows from the Floridan Aquifer through numerous springs into scenic rivers and streams. These fresh water oases are popular destinations for water enthusiasts ranging from snorkelers to the most advanced cave divers.