United States Dive Sites — Page 13

Continued from the United States dive sites guide, which covers regions, seasonality, and planning details.

Champlain II

New York · 4.6–10.7 m

The Champlain II was a 244-ft sidewheel steamer launched in Burlington in 1868 as the Oakes Ames and converted to a passenger vessel in 1874. She ran hard aground near Barn Rock north of Westport, NY on the night of July 16, 1875, and today about 160 ft of her lower hull and machinery debris rest on a sloping bottom in 15-35 ft of water close to the New York shore. The site is a designated underwater historic preserve marked by a yellow mooring buoy with underwater interpretive signage, and free annual diver registration is required.

Boat entry

Charleston 60' Reef

South Carolina · Up to 18 m

Artificial reef built from Ronald McDonald House rails

Boat entry

Charleston Coastal Anglers Reef

South Carolina · Up to 9.1 m

Artificial reef built from Approximate Center of Reef

Boat entry

Charleston Community Reef

South Carolina · Up to 9.1 m

Artificial reef built from Approximate Center of Reef

Boat entry

Charleston Nearshore Reef

South Carolina · Up to 9.1 m

Artificial reef built from 100 Concrete ballast blocks

Boat entry

Chatfield Reservoir

Colorado · 3–21.3 m

A state-park reservoir southwest of Denver used regularly for scuba training, with a designated dive area featuring a sunken sailboat on its trailer, a fire hydrant and a toilet connected by rope lines. Old flooded gravel quarries in the 30-50 ft range dot the lake, which reaches about 70 feet at its deepest; the soft silt bottom usually keeps visibility under 5-15 feet. The main lake may be dived with a flag, but boat traffic is heavy in summer.

Shore entry

Chepanoc - Starfish Reef

Florida · Up to 32.6 m

Artificial reef built from 129 X 24 X28' Tugboat, the "Chepanoc" funded by County TDC

AdvancedBoat entry

Cherrystone Reef

Virginia · Up to 9.8 m

Artificial reef built from concrete

Boat entry

Chesapeake Beach

Maryland · Up to 7 m

Artificial reef built from Tire units

Boat entry

Chester A. Congdon Wreck

Michigan · 6.1–61 m

The Chester A. Congdon was a 532-ft steel bulk freighter that ran onto Congdon Shoal at Canoe Rocks in fog in November 1918 and broke apart, becoming one of Lake Superior's first million-dollar losses. The bow section with its intact pilothouse sits upright in roughly 70-110 ft on the south side of the reef, while the intact stern lies on the north side, with wreckage running from near-surface shoal depths down past recreational limits. It is one of the signature dives of Isle Royale National Park, marked by an NPS mooring buoy.

AdvancedBoat entry

Children's Pool (Casa Cove)

California · 6.1–10.7 m

A shallow rocky-reef shore dive off the seawall-protected beach in La Jolla, with depths around 30 feet and an easy entry aided by the wall's sheltered pool. Famous for its resident seal colony; the beach is closed to public access during the winter-to-spring seal pupping season, and surge over the reefs demands calm conditions.

IntermediateShore entry

China Cove (Donner Lake)

California · Up to 15 m

China Cove is a sheltered, sandy day-use beach on the southern shore of Donner Lake inside Donner Memorial State Park near Truckee, and the lake's best-known easy shore dive. The clear, cold cove bottoms out around 40-50 ft with visibility commonly in the 50-60 ft range, making it a relaxed beginner altitude dive with crawfish and trout over sand and granite. Picnic tables, BBQs and seasonal restrooms sit right behind the beach; a state park day-use fee applies.

Shore entry

China Wreck

Delaware · 12.2–15.2 m

The broken remains of an unidentified late-19th-century wooden sailing ship (often attributed to the 1880 barkentine D.H. Bills) lying at the mouth of Delaware Bay roughly 12 miles off Cape Henlopen. The low rubble mound, about 100 ft long and 6-8 ft high in 45-50 ft of water, still yields fragments and occasionally intact pieces of its Victorian-era English china cargo. It is one of the region's classic artifact dives but must be timed to slack tide because bay currents rip across the flat sand bottom.

AdvancedBoat entry

Chippewa

Florida · Up to 31.1 m

Artificial reef built from 204' Tugboat, the "Chippewa"

AdvancedBoat entry

Choptank River Bridge - Dorchester Count Side (Old Route 50 Bridge/Fishing Pier)

Maryland · Up to 7 m

Artificial reef built from Concrete Bridge Rubble

Boat entry

Christina Nilsson Wreck

Wisconsin · 3–4.6 m

schooner that sank in Lake Michigan

IntermediateBoat entry

Circle Rigs (Port Fourchon)

Louisiana · Up to 30 m

A cluster of offshore platforms reached from Port Fourchon/Grand Isle, among the few Louisiana sites dived recreationally. Clear blue water below the surface muck layer attracts large schools of fish, sharks and the occasional whale shark in summer.

AdvancedBoat entry

Clear Lake - Main Pool Sunken Forest

Oregon · 3–30.5 m

A spring-fed lake in the Central Cascades along the McKenzie River, formed when a lava flow dammed the river roughly 3,000 years ago, drowning a standing forest. Visibility commonly exceeds 100 feet (sometimes 200+ in fall), letting divers see the surface from 100 feet down in the deep spring potholes. The main draws are the submerged forest of upright tree trunks up to 80 feet tall, the deep basalt potholes where ice-cold spring water wells up, and the extreme clarity. Motorized boats are banned. Water is 31-42F, making regulator free-flows a real risk, and this is an altitude dive (over 3,000 feet).

AdvancedShore + boat

Clint Water's Reef at Cook's Point

Maryland · Up to 7 m

Artificial reef built from Reefballs

Boat entry

Columbia Wreck

Illinois · Up to 4.6 m

paddle steamer excursion boat that collapsed and sunk in 1918

IntermediateBoat entry

Comanche Reef

South Carolina · Up to 32 m

Artificial reef built from Approximate Center of Reef

AdvancedBoat entry

Cooper River Fossil Drift Dive

South Carolina · 6.1–15.2 m

A famous blackwater drift-dive fishery for fossils northeast of Charleston, where divers comb shifting gravel beds 20-50 ft down in the tannin-stained, tidal Cooper River for megalodon teeth, whale and mastodon fossils and colonial artifacts. Light disappears within 10-15 ft of the surface and bottom visibility is typically 1-2 ft by dive light, with strong twice-daily tidal currents. Charters such as Dive the Cooper and Tooth Fairy Charters run trips from landings near Cypress Gardens in Berkeley County.

ExpertBoat entry

Copper Roof House (Carmel Point)

California · 6.1–27.4 m

A Carmel Bay shore dive at the south end of Carmel Beach, named for the distinctive copper-roofed home above the entry. A staircase leads to the beach, and divers enter on the far left (south) side near the rocks, working out to kelp-covered granite reefs and an outer reef in 20 to 90 feet of water. Easy on flat days but quickly becomes an intermediate-to-advanced site when swell wraps into the bay.

IntermediateShore entry

Cora F. Cressey Wreck

Maine · —

ive masted schooner built at the Percy and Small Shipyard in Bath, Maine, in 1902

IntermediateBoat entry