Sand Dog IX Information.

[Bryan]

Sand Dog IX will be held in Panama City Beach Florida June 8th through 10th.

Our dive store will be The Dive Locker Tony Snow is the owner and our host.

Friday's diving will be at the jetties in St Andrews State Park
This is the perfect place to get your gear sorted out and do some relaxing shore diving. Lots of info and pictures all around the net on this site.

Friday night we will be gathering for supper at J. Michael's Restaurant on recommendation by our own Bernie Campoli.

Saturday is boat diving with The Dive Locker. Each person is responsible for making their own reservations for a spot on the boat. Each boat can hold 17 divers and I can see this year we may need both boats.

In between the morning and afternoon dives our own Bernie Campoli and some of his friends will be catering our traditional "Sand Dog" cookout in the parking lot of The Dive Locker. Please be sure and give generously to the beer fund for the all volunteer armada providing us lunch

If you don't want to boat dive the jetties are available as are Morrison and Vortex springs.

Saturday night we will be gathering for supper at Captain Jacks Seafood Buffet

Sunday is wide open....Jetties, Boats, Springs etc.

Hotels are all over the map....I would recommend getting on Orbitz and or a similar site and getting the best deal possible where you can. PCB traffic is a pain like any other resort area so I would recommend finding a place as close to the shop as you can...

Tony says they will fill cylinders to their rated pressure as long as hydro and VIP are current. NO pre 89 aluminum cylinders.
If you have questions or need specific details please contact him directly.

Barb, Bernie and Tony have all been a great help putting all this together and they were so quick about it that we have plenty of time to make plans.
The illustrious Allan K will be handling the media outlets and getting us coverage wherever we can.

LOOKING FORWARD TO A GREAT WEEKEND!!!

[Aileron]

Sounds great, looking forward to it!!

[antique diver]

We are curious about the real story on getting to the water for diving the jetties. I have heard different versions of how far you must carry your gear from your vehicle. I really prefer not to end up carrying my buddies gear too, so Francie and I are hoping to hear from members who have been there, and recommendations. Thanks for any info you can provide.

[Nemrod]

Long walks are traditional torture. Maybe there will be a sag wagon for you old people.

Nemrod

[antique diver]

Long walks are traditional torture. Maybe there will be a sag wagon for you old people.

Nemrod

I'm glad you added a smiley to that! We prefer to think of ourselves as "experienced"... but occasionally some parts feel a little too experienced.

Can we bring beasts of burden to the beach?

[8dust]

Boy, that's a hoot!

I thought our scuba-chickens were country... Where are you there?


I'm no great authority, but I have made two very successful trips down to PCB in the last two summers, both of which involved spending much of my time lounging/splashing/floating around St. Andrews Park with my family, and I can't say enough good things about the place.

To be sure, it is a little walk from the parking area to the water, and if you wait till afternoon to find a parking spot, you better come with someone, drop your gear and them, then go park the car, but that's the way it goes sometimes. All the more reason to dive the "less-is-more approach" and laugh softly at the DIR/new divers, who must make the march with 2 of everything, monster BC, a 1/4" suit, and 24# of lead to sink it!!! On the upside, the little beach shop has big bathrooms, showers, tons of food, and SNOWCONES! ...oh, and the beach & water are beautiful and there's plenty to see.

Two upgrades I have considered for this summer were 1) maybe cobbing together some type of cart with salvaged big wide hollow plastic wheels, cause I could use it for the family trips anyway, and 2) possibly some of that lube distance runners put on their nips, for use on the inner-thigh area. I'm in fresh water a lot more than salt, and depending on how hot-salty-sandy you are, it is possible to work up a little fire down below, esp. on the trip back to the parking. I don't think either item is in anyway a requirement, but neither would be a bad thing if you happened to have and bring along.

It's sure to be a Fantastic weekend, and I really hope there is a big turn-out from the group (mostly so I can tell the same story repeatedly, & drink for free ).

Thanks to Barb, Bernie, & Bryan for their front-end work, SEE 'YALL SOON!!!

[antique diver]

[quote="antique diver

Boy, that's a hoot!

I thought our scuba-chickens were country... Where are you there?
[/quote]


It was in 1996, inland from the Yucatan coast of Mexico. We were packing up for the long trek to the beautiful NaHoch cave system before there was even a useable dirt road. It was a long walk in the heat, but at least the poor horses were carrying all the heavy gear. It was a longer walk back.

[8dust]

That isn't just country, that's back country... way way back...!

You and Ms. Francie are clearly a couple of Studs. I think caves are pretty neat places, but I've never dove in one, and certainly not done anything like that - that far off the grid...

I tip my flipper to you both, and hope we get to meet-up soon.

[Nemrod]

Sorry Antique, I would offer to tote your gear for you but what being 58 myself and having a titanium leg, I will be doing good to tote myself. I might be using aluminum single 50s with pretend decals on them myself due to gross weight limitations on the airframe

Last summer I found two young ladies to tote my gear for me at Lauderdale By The Sea, surely someone so handsome as us all ought to be able to cajole some help, maybe, huh Age has it's priveledges, maybe you just have not discovered them yet Are you supposed to pay them

Hey, I got an extra cane I can loan ya, I made it myself, whittled it right on the spot from an old whale bone I found with my Sea Hawk

Nem

[antique diver]

Thanks 8Dust. Here's why we like cave diving - photo is Francie in Sac Actun system in Mexico. No horses needed there, but I did have to carry her doubles down and back up a lashed "Mayan" ladder. She is a comfortable and competent cave diver, but not so good at carrying doubles.



Sounds like we are off-subject here but the point was originally about PCB, to be that I will probably have to carry Francie's tank at the jetties like I had to carry her doubles when there were no horses available. But she is worth it!

Nemrod, Man would I love to have a real whalebone cane that you hand-carved! I will probably need it some day, but I hope that time is far away.

Hope we can all make it to PCB!

[Creed]

Is there a particular hotel/motel that most people are congregating at?

Note: To be clear, I understand that there is no set hotel/motel for the event, per Bryan's initial post. I was just curious if there is a particular one that at least a few people are looking at.

[Bryan]

Can we keep this thread about Sand Dog XIV please..

[Herman]

Is there a particular hotel/motel that most people are congregating at?

Note: To be clear, I understand that there is no set hotel/motel for the event, per Bryan's initial post. I was just curious if there is a particular one that at least a few people are looking at.

Henry, the ladies and I are staying here http://www.sunsetinnfl.com/index.html it's on the gulf and about 2 miles from the jetty.

[8dust]

Looks like the tides are going to be ideal for St. Andrews that weekend.



Good Job on picking our time to go whoever it was that did.

Bernie, What time does the park open? and how long does it usually take for the first-wave of beach goers to show up and the parking lot to fill? aim to be there at 8am? 9am? on Friday

[Popeye]

LaQuinta Panama City Beach,Florida
A number of months ago I had spoken to the manager the LaQuinta inn located at the center of all the action for Sand dog IX and was quoted a price of $99.00 a night if we had at least 12 people staying,no formal contract just a hand shake. This week I got an PM that La Quinta didn't know anything about any such dealing? So I visited them tuesday and was told due to a change of management and a new front office manager the regular price is $129.00@DAY,$115.00 @ for a group rate with a contract so if more then half don't show who ever signs the contract must pay the difference. He considered my reply rude.

Buyer beware.