United States Dive Sites — Page 31

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

Perdido Pass Jetties / Alabama Point

Alabama · Up to 8 m

Alabama Point (the Perdido Pass jetties) is a popular walk-in shore dive on the east/southeast side of Perdido Pass in Orange Beach, with public beach parking, restrooms and showers. The rock-and-concrete jetty drops into roughly 5-21 ft of water and hosts abundant marine life, but the area carries heavy boat traffic and tidal current, so divers should use a dive flag and time the dive for an incoming tide near high water. Visibility can reach about 25 ft on good days.

Shore entry

Pete Tide II Ship

Florida · Up to 32 m

Artificial reef built from 180' Steel Ship, the "Pete Tide II"

AdvancedBoat entry

PG Site - Barge 85

Florida · Up to 22.3 m

Artificial reef built from 90' X 26' Steel Barge

IntermediateBoat entry

Philadelphia Quarry

Tennessee · 1.5–22.6 m

A 3-acre spring-fed quarry off I-75 exit 68 between Knoxville and Chattanooga, used year-round by East Tennessee divers and training classes. Six small boats sit at depths of 30-65 ft and training platforms are set at roughly 16, 20, 25, 30 and 74 ft, plus a buoyancy course. Summer water temperatures reach about 80 F with typical visibility around 25 ft.

Shore entry

Philips Quarry (Philips Outdoor Center)

Indiana · 3–16.8 m

Philips Quarry is a 2.5-acre flooded limestone quarry on the east side of Muncie, mined until 1917, run as a Philips-family swimming hole from 1922, and used for scuba training continuously since about 1959-1960. Now operated as the non-profit Philips Outdoor Center, depths reach about 55 feet with attractions including six boats, two cars and a Cessna fuselage, and zebra-mussel filtering has produced exceptional visibility, up to 75 feet or more in winter. Access must be arranged in advance through Tom Leaird's Underwater Service, which controls entry and collects the site fee.

Shore entry

Phoenix

Vermont · 18.3–33.5 m

Launched in 1815, the 146-foot Phoenix was the second commercial steamboat on Lake Champlain; she burned to the waterline on the night of September 4, 1819 en route from Burlington to Plattsburgh, killing six of the 46 aboard. The fire-charred hull now lies on the northern face of Colchester Shoal reef, bow in about 60 feet of water and stern dropping past 110 feet, with charred frame ends, engine mounting rods, and rudder hardware still visible. One of the oldest steamboat wrecks in North America, she is the signature advanced dive of the Vermont Underwater Historic Preserve system.

AdvancedBoat entry

Phoenix Wreck

Vermont · 18–34 m

shipwreck in Lake Champlain

IntermediateBoat entry

Pinthis Wreck

Massachusetts · Up to 32 m

The Pinthis, a 206-ft steel coastal tanker, was rammed by the passenger liner Fairfax in dense fog on 10 June 1930 and sank in flames with all 19 crew lost. She lies turtled (upside down) in roughly 100-105 feet of water off Scituate on a rock-and-sand bottom that often yields 30 ft+ visibility, with several interior chambers accessible to trained wreck divers. It is one of the South Shore's classic advanced boat dives.

AdvancedBoat entry

Pitas Point

California · Up to 8.5 m

Artificial reef built from Quarry Rock

Boat entry

Plum Cove

Massachusetts · 3–6.1 m

Plum Cove is a small, well-protected neighborhood beach in the Lanesville section of Gloucester with clear, shallow water of 10-20 ft and one of the easiest entries on Cape Ann. A small rocky reef lies just outside the cove off the right-hand point, and the sheltered, gradually sloping bottom makes it a favorite for training, night dives and bail-out days. The main constraint is summer parking, which is restricted to Gloucester beach-sticker holders during the day.

Shore entry

Plum Point

Maryland · Up to 9.1 m

Artificial reef built from other materials

Boat entry

PM Site - Lindens Car Bodies

Florida · Up to 21.9 m

Artificial reef built from Car Bodies, Known as "Linden's Mystery Car Bodies"

IntermediateBoat entry

Point Loma Kelp Beds

California · 12.2–30.5 m

One of the largest and healthiest giant kelp forests in Southern California, stretching along roughly six miles of the Point Loma peninsula's outer coast and reachable only by boat (about 25 minutes from Mission Bay marinas). More than 20 named spots - including New Hope Rock, Six Fathoms and Horsehead Reef - feature boulder reefs, ledges and overhangs in 40-70 ft, with the deeper 'ancient cliffs' zone dropping to about 100 ft beyond the kelp line.

IntermediateBoat entry

Point Lookout

Virginia · Up to 4 m

Artificial reef built from Reefballs

Boat entry

Point Pinos

California · 6.1–36.6 m

The rocky northern tip of the Monterey Peninsula, where Monterey Bay meets the open Pacific. Rock ridges, kelp beds and depths from 20 to 120 feet reward divers with dense invertebrate life, but the boulder-covered beaches, breakers and currents make it an advanced shore dive that is only safe in ideal conditions. Several pullouts along the shoreline serve different entries; many divers prefer to dive it by boat.

AdvancedShore + boat

Pooles Island

Maryland · Up to 6.1 m

Artificial reef built from Concrete rubble

Boat entry

Pop DuBose's Place

South Carolina · Up to 11 m

Artificial reef built from Approximate Center of Reef

Boat entry

Port Isabel Reef

Texas · Up to 21.9 m

Port Isabel Reef is a dive site in United States. Maximum depth is around 22 m. The site is reached by boat. Rated intermediate based on available data.

IntermediateBoat entry

Port Jefferson/Mount Sinai

New York · 26.8–28.7 m

The Port Jefferson/Mount Sinai Reef is a 50-acre NYSDEC artificial reef in Long Island Sound about 1.79 nautical miles northeast of Port Jefferson Inlet, in 88-94 ft of water. Built from a barge and concrete buoy sinkers with concrete blocks added in 2025, it is a deep Sound reef best suited to advanced/deep divers. Black sea bass, tautog and scup hold on the structure; visibility is variable.

AdvancedBoat entry

Port Mansfield

Texas · Up to 19.8 m

Port Mansfield is a Texas Parks & Wildlife artificial reef in the Gulf of Mexico off the South Texas coast, reached by boat from the Port Mansfield jetties. The nearshore reef site, lying in roughly 65-70 feet of water about seven nautical miles offshore, has been built up with thousands of concrete culverts and a sunken tugboat to create durable fish habitat. Deeper waters in the same general area also hold the separate Port Mansfield Liberty Ship Reef, made of three sunken WWII-era Liberty Ships and several oil-platform jackets. The reefs are designed to serve both recreational anglers and divers.

IntermediateBoat entry

Port Mansfield Liberty Ship

Texas · Up to 31.1 m

Port Mansfield Liberty Ship is a dive site in United States. The site reaches a maximum depth of about 31 m. The site is reached by boat.

AdvancedBoat entry

Port O'Connor

Texas · Up to 20.1 m

Port O'Connor is a dive site in United States. Maximum depth is around 20 m. The site is reached by boat. Rated intermediate based on available data.

IntermediateBoat entry

Port Orford - Nellies Cove / Redfish Rocks

Oregon · 6–26 m

Port Orford is a premier south-coast saltwater dive destination, with boats lowered into the harbor by crane (Oregon's only dolly-launch port). Nellies Cove is a sheltered, beginner-friendly kayak/boat dive just outside the harbor with a sloping wall, while nearby Tichenor Rock offers deeper, fishier water with small red gorgonians around 85 feet. The adjacent Redfish Rocks Marine Reserve is among Oregon's most diverse dive areas, with five islets, sheer walls, surge channels, boulder fields and kelp forest over high-relief habitat. Boat or kayak access is recommended since shore entry over the rocks is hazardous.

IntermediateBoat entry

Portage Quarry

Ohio · 3–21.3 m

Portage Quarry Recreation Club, just south of Bowling Green, was for decades one of Ohio's most popular dive quarries: a 23-acre spring-flooded limestone pit with average depths of 50-60 feet and a maximum around 70 feet. Attractions sunk for divers included a 68-foot Hansa jet, a bladeless helicopter, a school bus, a grain silo and a swim-through semi-trailer. The property changed hands and the recreation club is now listed as closed; divers should confirm status before planning a visit.

Shore entry