Panama City and Port St Joe

Diver Protocols

• Use a competent buddy, suitable surface marker/diver-down flag, checked gas and weather limits, and a local emergency plan.
• St. Andrews State Park requires divers to stay within their qualification, dive with a buddy, display a flag and finish a dive one hour before sunset. No park spearfishing.
• Offshore bridge spans and shipwrecks require a site briefing. Open-water certification does not authorize overhead penetration or deep deco profiles. Panama City Diving's standard versus advanced sites differ materially in depth.
• FWC requires red-and-white diver-down devices for masked snorkelers and scuba divers. General boat separation guidance is 300 ft in open water and 100 ft in inlets/channels; obey narrower park-specific proximity instructions where published.
• At St. Joseph Peninsula State Park, the published snorkeler instruction is to remain within 25 feet of the visible dive flag.
• Freedivers should never dive alone and must have rescue-capable one-up/one-down supervision; scuba dive boats are not automatically freediving training charters.
• Before flight, DAN suggests at least 12 hours after a single no-decompression dive and at least 18 hours after repetitive no-stop days; longer exposure warrants longer precautions. These minima do not eliminate risk.

For major incidents call 911 immediately and provide the water-entry or boat GPS position. DAN emergency medical advisers are available 24 hours a day at +1-919-684-9111 after EMS has been activated. Ascension lists 24-hour emergency care at 11111 Panama City Beach Parkway (Panama City Beach), 615 N Bonita Avenue (Panama City) and 3801 E Highway 98 (Port St. Joe). These are stabilization/ER references, not a verified recreational-diving hyperbaric chamber inventory. Operators should have a current oxygen supply, first-aid training, communication equipment and an EMS transfer plan, especially for remote offshore wrecks. Do not promise helicopter access or specific response times.

Seagrass, Wildlife and History

St. Joseph Bay Aquatic Preserve contains sensitive seagrass nursery beds. Avoid propeller scars, dragging anchors through grass, standing on living beds or removing creatures. Gulf County and Florida FWC ask travelers to keep nesting beaches clean, flat and dark from May through October, remove equipment and avoid turtle nests. Do not feed, chase or handle rays, seahorses, sea turtles or dolphins. At Vamar and other historic submerged sites, Florida state archaeological protections prohibit collecting, excavating or damaging artifacts without written permission. In 2026 FWC prohibited recreational scallop harvest in the Gulf County zone; look, do not take. Check FWC red tide notices for new local environmental restrictions.