PORT ST. JOE -- Many South Floridians probably don’t consider the Panhandle a diving destination, but it definitely is — and especially now.

With the passage of Labor Day weekend, the roads and waterways of northwest Florida are much quieter, and water temperatures are still warm enough for comfortable underwater explorations.

Bay scallops — a tasty seafood treat that you have to catch for yourself because buying and selling them is illegal — are open for harvest through Sept. 25. And there might be no better place to find them than St. Joseph Bay near Port St. Joe. Preseason scallop counts conducted by scientists from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute found an average of 154.8 shellfish per 656 square yards — the highest of any region on the Gulf Coast.

Harvesting them is pretty simple. You snorkel or wade (depending on the water depth) in sea grass meadows and look for miniature flying saucer-like creatures decorated with a row of blue lights — their eyes.

You pick them up, put them in a catch bag and keep going — they hardly ever try to escape. The daily bag limit is two gallons of whole scallops in the shell or one pint of shucked meat per person.

For those sick of wrestling with South Florida’s feisty spiny lobsters (and the bite-prone triggerfish that hang with them), scalloping is the perfect low-key anecdote. And, like lobster, there are myriad ways to prepare them — all delicious.

For divers who require a bit more depth and excitement, the Panhandle/Big Bend region offers some 50 artificial-reef sites stretching from Citrus County to Gulf County that were deployed by the all-volunteer Organization for Artificial Reefs, based in Tallahassee.

OAR’s most recent project is Robby’s Reef, sunk 50 feet deep off Carrabelle in May. The reef centers on a 10,000-pound steel sculpture called “Crabtor” that looks like a cross between a backhoe and an early 20th century walking dredge. All around the Crabtor are concrete pyramids, culvert pipes and low concrete boxes that mimic ledges.

Despite its newness, Robby’s Reef already has attracted gag grouper, gray snapper and a host of baitfish. It was deployed in memory of popular Tallahassee resident Robby Redding, an avid fisherman from his wheelchair who died in 2008 at age 27.

An older reef, consisting of concrete beams, is located nearby about 80 feet deep for those who would like some variety in a two-tank dive.

To explore a really big shipwreck the likes of the Spiegel Grove in Key Largo or the Vandenberg in Key West, you would have to travel to Pensacola.

That’s where the 911-foot-long aircraft carrier Oriskany was sunk 212 feet

 deep in 2006.

But today, it sits 12 feet deeper as a result of strong currents and storms, so the shallowest deck level is 84 feet below the surface. That makes the Oriskany an advanced dive for the recreational scuba diver and a good training site for techies using mixed gas.

Whatever your depth, you might want to check out Panhandle diving opportunities before the chill of fall sets in.