Cape May - Subway Car
New Jersey · 12.8–15.8 m
Artificial reef built from Subway Car (Redbird II) NJDEP deployment record: Subway car, material: Subway Car (Redbird II), deployed 2003.
Boat entry
United States Dive Sites — Page 12
Showing 265–288 of 1,024
Continued from the United States dive sites guide, which covers regions, seasonality, and planning details.
Cape May - WINTHROP
New Jersey · 12.8–18 m
Artificial reef built from 120' Trawler - "Winthrop" NJDEP deployment record: Ship, material: 120' Trawler - "Winthrop", deployed 1989.
Boat entry
Cape May - WYOMING
New Jersey · 12.8–18 m
Artificial reef built from 100' Clam Dredge - "Wyoming" NJDEP deployment record: Ship, material: 100' Clam Dredge - "Wyoming", deployed 1991.
Boat entry
Cape Romain Reef
South Carolina · Up to 20.1 m
Artificial reef built from Approximate Center of Reef
IntermediateBoat entry
Capers Reef (R8)
South Carolina · Up to 13.1 m
Artificial reef built from Cooper River Bridge rubble
Boat entry
Capt. Sam Crayton Reef
South Carolina · Up to 11 m
Artificial reef built from Concrete junction boxes
Boat entry
Caribsea
North Carolina · 21–27 m
The Caribsea was a 251-ft American freighter torpedoed by U-158 on 11 March 1942, now resting in about 90 ft of water on the east side of Cape Lookout Shoals. The site is mostly a low-lying debris field with a prominent stern section and propeller. It is one of North Carolina's most famous sand tiger shark dives, with aggregations that on good days can number in the dozens, and the sharks here tend to be larger than at deeper sites. Visibility ranges 20-100 ft, most commonly 30-60 ft.
IntermediateBoat entry
Carmel River Beach
California · 6.1–18.3 m
A long, gently sloped beach at Carmel River State Beach, far more forgiving than neighboring Monastery Beach. The bottom drops in rocky steps from 20 to 30 to 40 feet and then slopes past 60 feet, beneath one of the healthiest kelp beds in Carmel Bay — often too thick to surface-swim through in summer and fall. Enter and exit at the very north end near the Scenic Road stairs.
IntermediateShore entry
Carnelian Bay
California · 3–7.6 m
Carnelian Bay, on Tahoe's north shore at Patton Beach/Waterman's Landing and Carnelian West Beach, is a free, year-round beginner site named for the reddish carnelian stones found along the shoreline. A very gradually sloping sandy bottom averaging 20-25 ft holds a scattering of semi-historic debris — a sunken barge, engine blocks, deteriorating fishing boats and enormous logs — with 50-60 ft visibility typical. It is the lake's most popular summer night-dive site, alive with crawfish, sculpin and rainbow trout after dark.
Shore entry
Carter Lake - The Saddle
Colorado · 3–12.2 m
Carter Lake is a 3-mile-long foothills reservoir near Berthoud operated by Larimer County, and The Saddle on its east side is the approved shore-diving site. Large boulders are strewn along the bottom and visibility can reach 30 feet on good days (averaging 5-10 ft), with nearby Coffin Rock known for walleye sightings. Divers must notify Larimer County Natural Resources 24 hours before each day's diving, and are advised to stay shallower than 40 feet.
IntermediateShore + boat
Casablanca
Florida · Up to 32 m
Artificial reef built from 327' LST Landing Craft Sunk in the Summer of 1972
AdvancedBoat entry
Catfish Hotel Sink
Florida · 3–21.3 m
Catfish Hotel is a duckweed-covered karst window in Manatee Springs State Park on the Suwannee River, connected to the Manatee Springs cave system. Divers descend a wooden staircase into a ~35 ft basin, with a large cavern entrance around 50 ft that opens into a daylight zone reaching about 70 ft. It is a classic North Florida cavern/cave training and staging site, named for the schools of catfish that congregate in the basin.
IntermediateShore entry
Cathedral Cove (Anacapa Island)
California · 6.1–21.3 m
One of the best-known dive sites in Channel Islands National Park, on the sheltered north side of East Anacapa Island about 1-1.5 hours by boat from Ventura. Reef structures top out around 20 ft and drop to 70+ ft sand channels, draped in giant kelp with arches and cavern-like formations, abundant gorgonians and a nearby sea lion rookery. The site lies inside a long-established no-take marine reserve, so fish life is dense and giant sea bass are seen with some regularity.
Boat entry
Cathedral Rocks
Massachusetts · 6–24.4 m
Cathedral Rocks is an advanced shore dive off the granite cliffs of Pigeon Cove, Rockport, reached by climbing down jagged rocks to a slab entry. Straight out the bottom drops to about 80 ft, with boulder ledges left and right famous for large lobsters, anemone-covered rock and gamefish. Conditions must be near perfect: ocean swell makes the climb-out dangerous, so it is dived far less often than neighboring beaches.
AdvancedShore entry
Catherine
Florida · Up to 4.6 m
The Catherine was a Norwegian sailing vessel that ran aground on a sandbar about 300 yards from shore while entering Pensacola Pass in a storm on August 7, 1894; all 18 crew were rescued by the Santa Rosa Island Life Saving Station. Her remains, including a brass binnacle found by recreational divers, lie in roughly 15 feet of water off the Fort Pickens area of Gulf Islands National Seashore. It is one of the few historic wrecks in the region that can be reached by swimming from the beach, though shifting sand alternately exposes and buries the timbers.
Shore entry
Cave Rock
Nevada · 3–12 m
Cave Rock is an easy, beginner-friendly shore dive on Lake Tahoe's east shore in Nevada, entered from a sandy beach beside the Cave Rock boat launch (Lake Tahoe Nevada State Park). Sandy shallows give way to rocky patches that attract trout and other fish in warmer months, then slope very gradually westward - it's a long swim to get past 10-15 ft, which keeps beginners out of trouble. At ~6,225 ft elevation this is true altitude diving, and Nevada law requires a dive flag. The area is open year-round with heated restrooms.
Shore entry
Cayman Salvage Master
Florida · Up to 28 m
Artificial reef built from 187' Former US Army Minelayer, the "Lt. Col. Ellery W. Niles", Upright in Sand
IntermediateBoat entry
Cayuga Lake Canal Boat Wreck (Aurora)
New York · 18–21.3 m
A well-preserved mid-1800s canal boat wreck in Cayuga Lake, one of the Finger Lakes, lying in about 70 feet of water roughly half a mile offshore and two miles northwest of Aurora. The hull and deck are identifiable (covered in algae and mussels), with cargo-hold ports still defined, a large rudder attached to the stern, an intact bow, and coal still in the holds. A boat dive guided by local Finger Lakes operators.
IntermediateBoat entry
CCA-Edisto 40' Reef
South Carolina · Up to 14.9 m
Artificial reef built from Cooper River Bridge rubble
Boat entry
CCA-McClellanville Reef
South Carolina · Up to 14 m
Artificial reef built from Cooper River Bridge rubble
Boat entry
CCA-North Inlet Reef
South Carolina · Up to 11.9 m
Artificial reef built from Approximate Center of Reef
Boat entry
Cedarville (wreck)
Michigan · 10.7–32 m
The Cedarville was a 588-ft self-unloading limestone carrier that sank on May 7, 1965 after colliding in dense fog with the Norwegian freighter Topdalsfjord in the Straits of Mackinac, killing ten of her crew — one of the largest vessels ever lost on the Great Lakes. She lies broken nearly in two on her starboard side, rolled past vertical, in about 105 ft of water east of the Mackinac Bridge, with the shallowest parts of the hull reachable around 35-40 ft and the pilothouse and cabins near 75 ft. Now the marquee dive of the Straits of Mackinac Shipwreck Preserve, she is buoyed each season but demands respect for her size, orientation, current, and variable visibility.
AdvancedBoat entry