Showing 697–720 of 1,024
Continued from the United States dive sites guide, which covers regions, seasonality, and planning details.
Wisconsin · 4–5 m
The Ottawa, built in 1881 as the Boscobel, was one of the largest and most powerful wrecking tugs on the Great Lakes until she burned at her mooring off Red Cliff in 1909. Most of her hull structure, including a 158-foot run of port side and large starboard sections, rests on sand in just 12-16 feet of water in Buffalo Bay. The shallow, sheltered site is a favorite of beginner divers, snorkelers and kayakers in the Apostle Islands region.
California · 3–18.3 m
A quiet cove on Ocean View Boulevard about a quarter mile up the coast from Lovers Point in Pacific Grove, named for the sea otters that frequent its kelp beds. A broad shallow shelf of kelp- and coralline-covered rock in 10-15 feet extends offshore before the bottom slopes gradually to around 60 feet. Far less crowded than the Monterey classics, but the rocky shallows make it a high-tide dive.
Florida · Up to 25 m
The PC Barge and Towers is a public artificial reef in the Escambia County reef zone off Pensacola Beach, consisting of a steel barge with holes opened along its sides and two sets of steel towers deployed alongside. The complex sits on sand in about 82 feet of water and provides good relief for schooling baitfish, snapper and spadefish. It is typically dived by charter together with the nearby Soule Barge, Tug Sylvia and Tug Deliverance.
California · Up to 21.9 m
Artificial reef built from Quarry Rock
South Dakota · 4.5–27 m
The largest and deepest reservoir in the Black Hills (about 800 acres, up to 150 ft deep), 15 miles west of Rapid City, flooded over the 1950s gold-rush-era town of Pactola. Divers explore remnants of the old town site, a dynamite bunker, railroad bed and CCC-camp structure, with roughly ten recognized dive spots from 15 to 90 ft; common entries are the swim beach at Pactola Point, the dam and the trail below the visitor center. Water is clear for the region (20-25 ft visibility) with a sharp thermocline around 40 ft, and this is a high-altitude dive at roughly 4,600 ft elevation.
California · 27–37 m
The USS Palawan (ARG-10) was a 441-foot Liberty-hull internal combustion engine repair ship that served at the end of World War II. Substantially dismantled - superstructure and engines removed - she was scuttled in 1977 about two miles off Redondo Beach as part of California's artificial reef program and sits upright in roughly 120 feet of water, a 10-minute boat ride from King Harbor. The hull is now a vibrant reef draped in anemones and gorgonians; depth, currents and variable visibility make it a solid advanced dive.
California · Up to 21 m
A dive site in United States. The site reaches a maximum depth of about 21 m. The site is reached by boat.
Michigan · 27.4–33.5 m
The Panther was a 249-ft wooden bulk freighter (built 1890 by James Davidson, West Bay City) that sank on June 26, 1916 after being rammed in dense fog by the steamer James J. Hill about four miles southeast of Whitefish Point; the Hill kept her bow in the hole until the Panther's crew climbed aboard, and no lives were lost. Located in 1975, the wreck sits upright and largely intact in 90-110 ft, with two anchors at the bow, grain cargo, and tools visible in the stern. It lies within the Whitefish Point Underwater Preserve, one of the last places in the Great Lakes where wrecks remain free of zebra-mussel encrustation.
North Carolina · 25.9–36.6 m
Known to divers as the Papoose, this wreck is actually the 435-ft tanker W.E. Hutton, torpedoed by U-124 in March 1942 and misidentified for decades. It lies upside down in about 120 ft of clear Gulf Stream water roughly 36 nautical miles from Beaufort Inlet. The site is one of North Carolina's most reliable sand tiger shark aggregation dives, with 20-50 sharks seen on many dives.
South Carolina · Up to 11 m
Artificial reef built from Approximate Center of Reef
South Carolina · Up to 10.1 m
Artificial reef built from 48" Concrete manholes
Virginia · 12–17 m
Parramore Reef is a circular Virginia Marine Resources Commission artificial reef site 8.4 nautical miles off the Parramore Beach cupola on Virginia's Eastern Shore. Its main structures are a pair of Liberty ships, the USNS Page and USNS Mona Island, joined by the fishing vessel Prince of Peace and other material in roughly 50-55 ft of water. The hulks attract sea bass, tautog, flounder and spadefish and are visited by divers and spearfishermen as well as anglers.
South Carolina · Up to 9.1 m
Artificial reef built from Approximate Center of Reef
Arizona · 3–25 m
A state-park lake in the rolling hills of southern Arizona near Nogales, averaging about 80 feet deep near the dam, which is reachable only by boat or a long shoreline carry. It is a dark-water dive: light fades by 20 feet and divers report effectively zero visibility at 25 feet even with lights, so most stay at 10-15 feet along the rock wall near the day-use area to see fish. Paved walkways at the day-use area provide decent entries.
South Carolina · Up to 11 m
Artificial reef built from Approximate Center of Reef
Nevada · 45.7–48.8 m
The wreck of a PBY Catalina flying boat that flipped and broke in two while attempting a water landing on Boulder Basin in 1949 with its landing gear down. The airframe rests in roughly 150-160 ft of water and is dived only by technical divers on guided charters; it is one of Lake Mead's protected submerged cultural resources alongside the better-known B-29. Exact coordinates are not published to protect the site.
Illinois · 3–25.9 m
Pearl Lake is a spring-fed former sand quarry in South Beloit at the Illinois-Wisconsin line, run as a campground and beach resort that has long served as the primary open-water training lake for Chicago and southern Wisconsin instructors. Average depths are 30-40 feet with a maximum around 85 feet, and sunken attractions include a 33-foot 'yellow submarine,' an airplane, boats, a bus, concrete culverts and an underwater buoyancy course. Diving runs roughly late April through October from 8am until dusk.
Massachusetts · 3–10.7 m
Pebble Beach on Penzance Road is one of Cape Ann's most popular backup shore dives, prized for free roadside parking and shelter from northerly seas. A roughly 150-yard swim over sloping sand and gravel reaches a band of grassy, kelp-fringed boulders parallel to the beach, with depths topping out around 25-35 ft. Easy conditions make it well suited to new divers, though waves can complicate the loose-pebble entry.
Florida · Up to 25.9 m
Artificial reef built from 110' X 28' X 36' Steel Tugboat, the "Pegasus"
Louisiana · Up to 30 m
Offshore platforms dived on overnight/advanced charters out of Bourg and Cocodrie, Louisiana. The deepwater rigs offer some of the Gulf's best big-animal encounters once past the shallow turbid layer.
Kentucky · 1.5–39.6 m
A 22-acre spring-fed rock quarry south of Hopkinsville run as Kentucky's only full-service, diver-exclusive facility, with some of the clearest inland water in the state. Depths run from 5 ft shelves to about 130 ft, and more than 40 sunken attractions include a yacht, school bus, motorhome, vans, a 1941 Dodge fire truck and a helicopter. Water temperatures range from the mid-80s F at the surface in summer to around 49 F at depth.
New Mexico · 3–18.3 m
Santa Rosa's second dive site, a small spring-fed lake about a 10-minute drive from the Blue Hole, used for training and as an overflow when the Blue Hole is crowded. A cleaned twin-engine airplane and a car were sunk as attractions, lying in the 50-60 ft maximum depths, and visibility is more limited than the Blue Hole. Diving is managed by the city and requires the same city-issued dive permit.