Are you an experienced diver looking to explore new waters within a safe and great dive setting? Panama City Beach has some of the very best dive sites in all of North America, and best of all, the very limited current allows for safe and visibly clear diving.
The best shore dive in Panama City Beach is the Jetties at St. Andrews State Park, which on a rising tide provide excellent shore diving and snorkeling.
Please Read: Why You Need to Visit Panama City Beach’s Shell Island..
Near shore, Panama City Beach has 5 popular wreck dives (including a minesweeper, hovercraft and supply boats) and 9 large artificial reefs to explore. Both types of dive sites provide excellent training opportunities for novice divers, but are still complex enough to entertain more experienced divers. These shallower sites rest in about 75 feet of water, with the tops of the structures extending all the way up to 45 feet.
Please Read: Know and Understand the Water Safety Flag Colors While on the Beach..
Further offshore there are 10 additional wreck sites (including the Accokeek), seven larger artificial reefs, and hundreds of limestone reefs. Since these sites are a little deeper they are for Advanced Divers only – the bottom is 100-110 feet deep.
Need more of a challenge? For the most advanced technical divers there are even more wreck dives available, like the USCG Zinnia, USS Ozark, the Birmingham Queen, and the HMS Empire Mica. These wrecks are 40+ miles offshore and range in depth from 110\’ on the Empire Mica to 330\’ to the USS Ozark!
Panama City Beach has diving for every experience level and enough diversity in dive sites to keep regular visitors coming back to explore the unknown for a long time.
