Staying on Top of Panama City Beach

Panama City Beach is quickly becoming a Mecca for divers throughout the southeast. The warm water of the Gulf of Mexico hold abundant marine life, but it’s the wreck diving and artificial reefs that bring scuba divers to the area. For snorkelers and those who don’t want to venture out on a dive boat, the jetties off St. Andrews State Park offer some of the best shore diving in the region.

Even if you own a full set of scuba gear, you’ll probably still need to get your tanks filled while you’re in town - For that, and to book an offshore charter or to rent or buy scuba equipment, you’ll want to stop by one of Panama City Beach’s dive shops. Here are the 4 dive shops in Panama City Beach with the pro’s and con’s of each:

A relatively new shop, these guys are making their reputation on superior customer service, a large dive shop with a designated classroom for diver certification classes, and the cheapest air fills on the beach. Panama City Dive Charters’ primary dive boat is a custom designed Newton 36", which is built from the keel up to be a dive boat. The boat is rated to hold 20 divers, but Panama City Dive Charters limits trip loads to 14 divers, as a space consideration. They also offer free snacks and drinks, and a warm-water shower, which is just nice. The professionalism of the crew both on the boat and in the shop is noteworthy, and if you’re interested in spearfishing, you’ll definitely want to talk to these guys (although spearfishing trips must be booked separately). A full line of scuba gear (and wetsuits) is available here for purchase or rental, and Panama City Dive Charters offers the most comprehensive diver instruction classes in the area, including several diver certification classes, and an "intro to diving" experience. Dive classes here include a boat dive, while many other instructional classes perform their open water certification dive from shore.

With a nearly identical Newton 36", the Dive Locker runs a similar trip to Panama City Dive Charters, although they allow a full capacity of 20 divers on the boat and space can be a little tight. However, they also offer the hot shower option, and a slightly downgraded selection of snacks. The Dive Locker has been a mainstay of Panama City diving for years, and thousands have learned to dive here under instructor Todd Yarbrough, who has been named by PADI as a "Top 10 Dive Instructor." The Dive Locker also offers a full range of rental gear, diving equipment, and air fills.

This shop sits at the curve of Thomas Drive (just about a mile west of St. Andrews State Park) and also offers chartered dive trips, although their boats are converted crew boats, and therefore less comfortable for divers. On the bright side, at 48" length, there is plenty of room for a large dive group. The shop is on the small side, but they still offer a full line of scuba and snorkeling rental gear, along with air fills.

This is the only dive shop in the PCB area to boast two locations (one in Panama City Beach and the other in Panama City). They also run a dive charter service and advertise a more intimate experience, limiting their dive load to 13 divers. However, their Delta 28" is the smallest of the dive vessels mentioned here, so even with 13 the trip can feel quite crowded. The shop staff here is friendly and courteous, although not always the most knowledgeable, depending who is available when you walk in. However, the scuba instruction is good, with a range of classes to choose from. Air fills and a full line of equipment rental is also available.