SSDS Upcoming Trips

Southern Skin Divers is a business that acts like a club for our divers. We very much like the low key atmosphere and fellowship of all our diving friends. Currently our staff escorts about 300 customers per year on diving trips all over the globe. These trips are offered at low prices that we are able to obtain because of our volume purchases. SCUBA diving is a fun sport and we at SSDS intend to keep it that way for you. We are extremely proud of our perfect safety record which cannot be equaled by any other dive center.

On a regular basis, we all take a trip to South Carolina to renew some old friendships with some heavy duty diver friends in that area. We take our deck boat and have

some friends show us some of their favorite places to find fossils and giant sharks teeth. In the dinosaur times, sharks were up to 100 feet long and some of their teeth are over 5 inches long and can be quite rare to the collector.

In the past, we've found sharks teeth, a giant sloth tooth, teeth from camels and bison, and lots of petrified wood. Most people that go looking for sharks teeth are lucky to find one, we found over 200 total. This was quite a haul. Also, we get to dive in a beautiful area.

This South Carolina trip is always very popular, and a trip we make often, so watch for updated trip schedules here as they develop

April 25th - 27th That's when we are taking our next trip to South Carolina to look for relics, sharks teeth and other fossils. We always find lots of fossils and relics here in 15 - 35 feet of water. There are currently spots available for this dive trip to the Morgan and Cooper Rivers for divers with advanced certification and at least 25 logged dives. Last time there were plenty of artifacts recovered including 4 different Megalodon teeth that were over 5 and a half inches long. The passport member price of $700 includes transportation from near Birmingham, tank rentals and air fills, 3 days of diving, the use of a personal diver locator system, hotel accommodations and food and beverages on the boat. This is a fun trip to a pretty place. Don’t miss this trip!

You can also get your Solo Diver or Underwater Hunter & Collector certifications while on this trip, and it's excellent training as well as producing great fossils. Call The SCUBA School and speak with Forrest or Steve if you are interested. You can see more pictures of what you can expect to find on this trip here.

Passport club members only. This is high risk diving. Do not consider this dive trip to be a routine recreational dive trip. This trip is only for the divers who want to be on the edge and want to find relics and fossils. We have heard of at least two very experienced divers that have been killed in the last 3 years in the areas in which we dive. Hazards include no visibility, really strong currents, boats that ignore dive flags, shrimp boats pulling nets along the bottom, alligator and shark breeding grounds. These are only some of the hazards that we know of and there are more that we don't know about. This trip is only for a few experienced divers who want to be exposed to this type of high risk. The danger is similar to hang gliding, cave diving, sky diving or rock climbing. We don't want to encourage anyone to go on this trip but we also don't want to deny our club members the freedom to go where others have not been before. Passport Member price $700.

May 2nd - 4th Orange Beach Spearfishing Trip Due to the thousands of sites along the Alabama Gulf Coast in the Artificial Reef Program, Orange Beach has some of the best Spearfishing anywhere. We will be spearfishing for two days on some of the same sites that we dive on in the Spearfishing tournaments we compete in. In years past we mainly did this in Panama City, FL but it seems like we are getting bigger and more fish off the Alabama Gulf Coast. This time of year we will be hunting Grouper, Black and Mangrove Snapper, Flounder, Amberjack, Triggerfish and Cobia. For this trip we have chartered a 30 ft boat that is very fast and seaworthy. It works perfectly for spearfishing. It uses twin 4 stroke engines that don't have much exhaust. It is very quiet and gets us to the big fish in a hurry. This trip includes two days of offshore spearfishing and two nights of hotel accommodations.

Those of you who like to spearfish & are considering a new gun should come by SSDS and check out some of the specials we have on custom upgrades for Gulf Coast spearing.

May 16th - 18th Panama City Shallow Water Wreck Diving This weekend trip we will be diving some of the shallow water wrecks off Panama City, FL just like we did in mid-April. Some of the group did see a huge sleeping Sea Turtle as well as a 300 lbs. Goliath Grouper on that trip. This is the next step for all of you newly certified divers that are ready to experience boat diving in the Gulf of Mexico. Also, you junior open water certified divers will be able to participate since we are limiting the depth on all of the dives both days. If you sign up for this trip and give us some notice, you can come to a CD slide show of the particular boating procedures of diving off this vessel.

Bonaire May 31st - June 7th, 2008
We know that the Spring Break trip to Bonaire sold out faster than was anticipated so we have purchased another 20 spots for an early summer trip. The most popular package for this trip includes: Round trip airfare on a direct flight from Atlanta to Bonaire, truck rental with unlimited mileage, oceanfront condo accommodations, breakfast daily, unlimited air and Nitrox diving if you are Nitrox certified. Boat diving is available as well for those that want it. This package is $1695 each to the first 20 that sign up.

Southern Skin Divers Supply will be diving this weekend from one of the largest and fastest dive boats in the Panhandle area. We have chartered this boat along with its crew for the entire weekend. Saturday there will be two dives made on the USS Oriskany, the largest wreck ever sunk as an artificial reef in the world. On Sunday morning we will dive with the same group on two other dives in the area. This trip will be in the Gulf Shores/Orange Beach area. There are limited spaces available on this trip so call us for more details.

The Oriskany is the largest vessel ever sunk as an artificial reef in the world. She was put down in May 2006 and now rests in 212 ft of water approximately 23 miles offshore. The top of the tower starts at 68 ft and there is plenty to see above 100 ft, perfect for recreational diving. There are a couple of requirements that need to be met prior to this wreck dive so call us for more info. Passport diver price is $525 for wreck diver certification and processing fees, two nights in a hotel and two days of offshore wreck diving including one day on the Oriskany.

Panama City Flounder Spearfishing Trip

Fall is the best time of year for Flounder. Last year on this trip we took 80 in two days. The Flounder are in abundance and are closer to shore enabling us to stay in longer. If you already own a speargun it works fine but the best is a pole spear with a paralyzer tip. These are much less expensive than guns and much more practical for Flounder. This is a very enjoyable trip, especially if you like to eat fresh fish. On Saturday evening we will take some of our catch to the Captain's Table Restaurant in St. Andrews and have them prepare our catch. There is nothing like fresh seafood and the Captain's Table does a great job. We just received a shipment of the latest spear gun models available. Come by the Scuba School and check them out. You just might be interested in this type of diving.

Cozumel We travel to the Yucatan a couple of times a year to Cozumel...one of the top dive destinations in the world & known for having clear warm water and easy drift diving.. If you're looking for a quick well-deserved getaway, then this is the trip for you! Usually a week long trip filled with plenty of diving, fun, and nightlife. More fun than you should be allowed to have, this is truly a super trip. Our next trip?? ...........

SOON Advanced Class and Wreck Diving Trip Panama City, FL.
All of you recent students that are ready to do an advanced trip, this is it. The classroom session will be at the Scuba School. The topics covered will be boat diving, wreck diving, deep diving, underwater navigation, night diving and using a lift bag. The Passport Diver price is $495. This includes classroom training, 2 days of offshore wreck diving and 2 nights in a hotel and processing fees with a certification agency.

In Hawaii right now it is perfect on land and in the water. Hawaii is just another word for perfect. Beautiful water, great diving with turtles, manta rays, sea shells, eels, colorful rare fish, no hurricanes, no passports needed, no stomach problems, no bugs, two 14,000 ft. tall mountains, active volcano with lava flowing into the sea, safe location, English language (well pidgin anyway), surfing, low prices. You know Hawaii sounds so good and we haven't been there in a while, so why don't we just go back as soon as we can.........

More Trips Planned Soon! Hawaii, The Big Island. We are planning another trip to the big island of Hawaii for late October or early November. Hawaii has something to offer for everyone with the beautiful water, great diving with turtles, manta rays, sea shells, eels, rare fish some of which are only found in Hawaii. We even swam with a whale shark there once. There are also no hurricanes, no passports needed, no stomach problems, no bugs, two 14,000 ft. mountains, and an active volcano with lava flowing into the sea. Here is a link to some Hawaii pictures from previous trips: http://www.ssdsupply.com/hawaii.htm. This 10 day trip to the Kona coast includes RT airfare from Birmingham to Kona, 2 bedroom 2 bath condos, rental car or SUV with unlimited mileage, boat diving, including the famous Manta Ray night dive and unlimited shore diving. Watch for more details here, and give us a call if you're interested.

We recently returned from our trip to Truk Lagoon. Once again, a fantastic trip! We've got new info, pictures & trip logs from this trip here ---->TRUK

Truk Lagoon, Micronesia
We are always planning a trip to Truk, so come along and dive the greatest shipwrecks in the world. Look at our website at http://www.ssdsupply.com/images/Tant/index.html for photos from the last trip. We are going to do a 2 day extension to either Guam or Pohnapei on this adventure. This is a great opportunity to get over 30 dives on this live aboard trip. Now is the time to sign up for this 12 day trip. Watch for more details here, and give us a call if you're interested.

FUTURE TRIPS
We are in the process of setting up escorted group trips for the year. We’d appreciate it if you would call the Scuba School and let us know where and when you want to dive. We will probably not set up too many 3-4 day trips outside the country. These cost as much as week-long trips and allow too little diving because of having to fly.

Southern Skin Divers Supply - 4515 5th Avenue South - Birmingham, AL 35222 - (205) 595-3052