Things to do in Pensacola

[Sabre170]

Besides Seville Quarter, and McGuire's let start a thread of things to do in Pensacola and if possible an average cost associated with those listed.

So far my family has found:

Blue Angel Recreation (off of Hwy 98) park with Pontoon boats to rent for $120 a day, they have camping, disc golf, put put, Paintball, and hiking/bike trails.

Emerald Cost Skydiving - http://www.emeraldskydive.com This is where you will do your Parasailing in API.

Lambert Cafe - in Folley, AL (go West on 98, turn Left on Hwy 59, go a few miles it will be on your left). Great atmosphere. They throw rolls at you and you get a lot of food. You will not leave hungry. Average meal was about $12.


Of course there is the beach. Anyone else have some cool places they have been or have done while here in P'Cola

 

[Fly Navy]

For Restaurants, see here: http://www.airwarriors.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7122

Go to the last page for a downloadable spreadsheet.

 

[hornetframer]

Fishing- There is Bob Sikes Bridge (bridge connecting Gulf Breeze and Pensacola Beach), Pensacola Beach Pier (costs around $6 for military), and anywhere from shore that you are allowed to get a line out in.

 

[Fly Navy]

They reopened the pier? It was still closed 2 or 3 weeks ago.

 

[phrogpilot73]

Is there still a dive shop on NAS Pensacola? In between API and Primary (I had about a 2 month wait), I got my open water qual. Extremely cheap on base. Even if there isn't a dive shop on base, I would reccomend looking into getting an open water qual, tons of wrecks to explore off of Pensacola and where else will you be stationed (in the continental US) where the water is warm enough to dive all year in 5mm or less?

 

[Fly Navy]

What about jet skis, anyone know a good place to do that at?

Hurlburt AFB. If I recall, it's like $150 for a DAY. UBER-cheap.

 

[snizo]

Is there still a dive shop on NAS Pensacola? In between API and Primary (I had about a 2 month wait), I got my open water qual. Extremely cheap on base. Even if there isn't a dive shop on base, I would reccomend looking into getting an open water qual, tons of wrecks to explore off of Pensacola and where else will you be stationed (in the continental US) where the water is warm enough to dive all year in 5mm or less?

Make sure you ORM it! If you are part of the education training command ... you can't go diving until you thoroughly discuss it with your supervisor and he approves.

 

[E5B]

Fishing- There is Bob Sikes Bridge (bridge connecting Gulf Breeze and Pensacola Beach), Pensacola Beach Pier (costs around $6 for military), and anywhere from shore that you are allowed to get a line out in.

YES.

Get yourself a chair, icechest full of "coke", 8' surf rod at Wally world (33 bucks) and some squid and mullet and head to the beach (I frequented Navarre) right before sunset and sit there and fish/drink/study??? and have fun reeling in the bull redfish and shark. Man what a good time.

The night fishing is the way to go. We fished Pcola pier a few times and Navarre pier (when it wasn't a hazard) all the time.

Hunted Eglin AFB

Went to a shooting range in Pace

Rented a boat from Whiting park on the blackwater river

All kinds of stuff to do.

 

[Fly Navy]

Rented a boat from Whiting park on the blackwater river

I FORGOT AbOUT WHITING PARK!

It is one of the best deals in the Navy. Seriously. You can rent a ski-boat and equipment for like $15/hour. Wake-boarding is a BLAST. They have wake-boards, skis, kneeboards, etc. Also have kayaks and such. Hopefully they're not wrecked from the last hurricane.

Before Ivan, NASP had a great deal with sailboats. You could rent a 25' sailboat for $11/hour. No sh!t.

 

[phrogpilot73]

Before Ivan, NASP had a great deal with sailboats. You could rent a 25' sailboat for $11/hour. No sh!t.

Hmmm... I wonder what happened. I do know that one of my Lt's had to take leave and go to P-Cola to deal with his sailboat that ended up in a parking lot at NASP...

 

[Fly Navy]

Hmmm... I wonder what happened. I do know that one of my Lt's had to take leave and go to P-Cola to deal with his sailboat that ended up in a parking lot at NASP...

There are still sailboats on ground in places around Pensacola. I remember one off Route 90 in the marsh. They couldn't get to it.

 

[bch]

diving. P-cola has some great diving. MBT right out the front gate has some good prices and is real military friendly.

 

[Sabre170]

What would it cost to get open water certified? What does equipment cost to rent?

 

[phrogpilot73]

What would it cost to get open water certified? What does equipment cost to rent?

If I remember correctly, I paid something like $180 bucks. It included all the pool time, and we did the open water part right there on NAS Pensacola. The nice part was that they felt we were "cheated" because the open water portion was a shore dive, so they include a 2 tank boat dive for free. Rental gear was included in the course. Of course, if they've closed the dive shop on base (which I've heard they did), then it might be more.

As for renting gear when you're done, why not just buy? Most dive shops will sell used gear (old rentals) for cheap. I wouldn't recommend buying used unless it is from a dive shop and they've certified it. Scuba Diver Magazine recommends against any online shops, but http://www.discountdivers.com is an actual dive shop in Washington that specializes in selling used equipment. I ended up buying a whole rig from them. I haven't dived in a long time though, USMC makes it difficult sometimes...

 

[phrogpilot73]

Make sure you ORM it! If you are part of the education training command ... you can't go diving until you thoroughly discuss it with your supervisor and he approves.

You've gotta be sh!tting me! Whatever happened to being treated like an officer... I mean, how many problems have been encountered with officers diving? I could understand if SNA's were killing themselves on a regular basis, but c'mon, a little common sense!!