This site is unique because of its structure. Divers can explore the wheelhouse from 40 feet below. The deck is located at 66 feet down and has access to the cargo holds. On the sand, the ship's head (toilet), can be seen outside the wreck. It is adorned with a smiling skull. You can also find plenty of sealife at the nearby Warsaw Reef.
The SS Tarpon is a significant shipwreck. She went down in 1937 killing 18 crew members, including Willis G. Barrow who was her captain. Adley Baker, a member of the crew, was able swim the 9 miles to shore in gust-force winds. It was a difficult 25-hour race, but Adley Baker survived.
The threshold for offshore diving lies more than 8 miles away from St Andrew's Pass. These sites require advanced certification. A nitrox certificate would be a good idea. These trips are not available every day due to the distance involved. Check with the dive shop for the latest trip information. Or, plan a trip with well-qualified friends. They might be able put one on the calendar.
Sport Diver wrote a wonderful article about us during the summer.
Scuba Dive Panama City Beach offers a variety of water-based snorkeling opportunities, such as Black Bart and St. Andrews State Park. You can see many ocean creatures close up at the park's rocky jetties, including redfish and octopus, when it is high tide.
Scuba Dive Panama City Beach restricts dive trips to only 14 divers to ensure everyone is comfortable and has enough space. Our charters can be accessed by the public, provided there is enough space. We typically run two trips per day during season.
There is quite an extensive collection of artificial reef material deployed around Panama City Beach. Materials range from bridge pilings to old piers to specially designed reef habitat. Most of these sites wouldn’t attract divers on their own, but when you see a sunken ship surrounded by reef modules, you can bet there will be lots of fish down there.
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.