Advanced Diving

MID-SHORE, OFFSHORE, AND ORISKANY CHARTERS

Pensacola has lots of options for advanced divers to explore. The challenge of diving deeper and farther offshore offers scuba divers more excitement and more chances to see large pelagic species. Most of our advanced dives are the mid-shore and offshore range which is 9-25+ miles from shore.  Depths are usually 80-130 feet. We also have several rigs that drop down to 175. Most of our natural bottom dives are considered advanced diving due to the depths.  Of course, there is the crown jewel of Pensacola advanced dive, the USS Oriskany, an aircraft carrier and the largest artificial wreck in the world.

In order to scuba dive on the sites we consider to be an advanced dive, we do have basic requirements and guidelines before we will take you out to these sites. Safety is always on the forefront of our mind, and if we do not feel you are prepared – both in experience and equipment – we will suggest you dive on another site. Please check with us if you have any questions about your qualifications and experience.

When diving on the more advanced sites, we ask that you have the experience to conduct such a dive. Obviously, you will want to have an Advanced Diver certification through your training agency to dive deeper than 60 feet. Even with an advanced certification, you need to have the experience in diving to conduct a dive of this type. As a guideline, you should have at least 25-50 dives under your belt and are comfortable scuba diving. If you are not comfortable diving, we have some amazing dives that are less deep. You also need to have good, quality working dive gear and your own dive computer. Given the depths, a dive computer is an essential piece of scuba equipment.  Nitrox certification is strongly recommended. Our advanced dives are square profiles, which means the the top of the wreck or reef is well under the surface and not a gradual slope down. This is perfect for Nitrox to maximize your safety and bottom time. We can assist you in selecting the correct mix for the dive site, but typically a mix of 30% is perfect.

If you don’t have the experience but still want to dive these sites, you can hire a private divemaster to assist you. This is at an additional expense, and individual dive guides set their own rates. We can assist you in finding an experienced local dive guide for your advanced dives here in Pensacola.

Be sure to read our Trip Info page for detailed info about diving with Niuhi Dive Charters.  Need to rent tanks or gear for your dive? Please visit our friends at Dive Pros Dive Center in Pensacola for a great experience.