Destination guide
Texas, United States has 33 public dive sites on PickADive. Use the list below to compare mapped sites by depth, access, difficulty, ratings, and reviews before opening a site page.
Seasonal patterns
Typical conditions by month across dive sites in Texas, United States— historical patterns, not a forecast.
From 32 sites’ typical conditions · historical typicals, not a forecast
Best time to dive Texas, United States: full month-by-month data →
Showing 1–24 of 33
Texas · 0–8.5 m
A 28-acre spring-fed former clay quarry in Athens, East Texas, operating as a dedicated dive park since 1987. More than 25 sunken attractions sit in shallow water, including a Cessna airplane, a Lockheed airliner fuselage, boats, vehicles and training platforms. Visibility is unusually good for a Texas inland site and the shallow depth makes it a popular open-water training and underwater photography venue.
Texas · 1.2–7.6 m
A 1.3-acre, 3.5-million-gallon spring-fed pool in the Chihuahuan Desert of West Texas, built by the CCC in the 1930s over San Solomon Springs. The artesian spring pumps clear 72-76 F water year-round, giving 25 ft depths with excellent visibility and two endangered desert fish species. After multi-year renovations the park is fully reopened, and scuba is allowed daily for certified divers who sign the park diving agreement.
Texas · Up to 17.4 m
A dive site in United States. The site reaches a maximum depth of about 17 m. The site is reached by boat.
Texas · Up to 15.2 m
A dive site in United States. The site reaches a maximum depth of about 15 m. The site is reached by boat.
Texas · Up to 14.6 m
Big Mans Reef is a dive site in United States. Maximum depth is around 15 m. The site is reached by boat.
Texas · Up to 18.3 m
A dive site in United States. The site reaches a maximum depth of about 18 m. The site is reached by boat.
Texas · 0–33.5 m
Canyon Lake, a US Army Corps of Engineers reservoir on the Guadalupe River between Austin and San Antonio, is the standard open-water site for Hill Country dive shops. Comal Park on the south shore and North Park near the dam offer shore entries onto bluff walls, submerged cars, boats and standing timber, with depths over 100 ft available off Comal Park. Visibility is typical Texas-lake (5-12 ft above the thermocline).
Texas · Up to 22.3 m
A dive site in United States. The site reaches a maximum depth of about 22 m. The site is reached by boat. Rated intermediate based on available data.
Texas · 16.8–39.6 m
A salt-dome-capped coral bank about 100 miles off the Texas coast in the Gulf of Mexico, part of Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary and home to some of the healthiest coral reef in the western Atlantic region. The reef cap sits at roughly 55-90 ft with massive boulder star and brain coral heads, and is reached by overnight liveaboard charters out of Freeport/Galveston using sanctuary mooring buoys. Famous for mass coral spawning about a week after the August full moon and seasonal manta and whale shark encounters.
Texas · Up to 31.1 m
Freeport Liberty Ship is a dive site located in United States. Depths run to roughly 31 m. The site is reached by boat. Rated advanced based on available data.
Texas · Up to 16.8 m
George Vancouver Liberty Ship is a dive site in United States. Maximum depth is around 17 m. The site is reached by boat.
Texas · Up to 14.9 m
Kate's Reef is a dive site in United States. Maximum depth is around 15 m. The site is reached by boat.
Texas · Up to 21.9 m
Lonestar Reef (MU-770L) sits about 10 nautical miles off Port Aransas in 72 ft (22 m) of water, where the Texas Parks & Wildlife artificial reef program placed three sunken barges; at 31 acres it is among the program's oldest and smallest sites. It serves mainly as a fishing reef rather than a dive destination, but the structure holds fish typical of Texas nearshore artificial reefs, including red snapper, sheepshead, and schooling Atlantic spadefish. Plan around Gulf conditions: nearshore water clarity is often poor, with the warmest water and best visibility from April through October. Boat access only.
Texas · 0–21.3 m
A 65-acre dive park in Clute (Brazoria County) southwest of Houston with more than 150 sunken objects, headlined by the fuselage of a C-130 cargo plane plus a short bus, boats and sculptures. Average depth is about 38 ft with a deep hole reaching 65-70 ft depending on water level. Visibility is modest (5-10 ft typical) and a marked thermocline cools the deeper water.
Texas · Up to 18.3 m
The Matagorda Nearshore Reef (TPWD site BA-439) is a 160-acre artificial reef in Texas state waters of the Gulf of Mexico, roughly 10 miles off the Matagorda County coast. Built under the Texas Parks and Wildlife Artificial Reef Program with Deepwater Horizon restoration funds, it consists of three-sided concrete pyramids (8 ft tall, 10 ft bases) placed on sandy bottom in about 60 feet of water. The structures were deployed to create hard-bottom habitat for Gulf marine life and to give anglers and divers an accessible nearshore destination, part of the largest nearshore reefing effort in the program's history.
Texas · Up to 32.6 m
A dive site in United States. The site reaches a maximum depth of about 33 m. The site is reached by boat. Rated advanced based on available data.
Texas · 25–33.5 m
Mustang Island Liberty Ship is a dive site located in United States. Depths run to roughly 34 m. The site is reached by boat.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Texas · 3–30.5 m
Hell's Gate is a pair of 90-foot limestone cliffs framing a cove on the clear south end of Possum Kingdom Lake on the Brazos River, long regarded as the best natural lake diving in North Texas. The rocky bottoms and limestone walls near the cliffs and Morris Sheppard Dam can produce visibility far better than typical Texas reservoirs in dry years. The former lakeside dive operation (Scuba Point) has closed, so divers now access the area by boat from local marinas or from coves in the state park.
Texas · 14–20 m
RGV (Rio Grande Valley) Reef is the largest and most complex artificial reef off the Texas coast, a 1,650-acre site 13 miles northeast of South Padre Island built since 2017 from tens of thousands of recycled concrete railroad ties, cinder blocks, box culverts and cleaned steel-hulled vessels. The graduated low- and high-relief patches in roughly 45-65 ft of water hold huge numbers of red snapper and other reef fish, and local dive operators run charters to the reef alongside the nearby Texas Clipper wreck.
Texas · Up to 13.1 m
A dive site in United States. The site reaches a maximum depth of about 13 m. The site is reached by boat.
Texas has 33 public dive sites in the PickADive catalog. Start with the map when coastline, nearby alternatives, and travel distance matter.
Explore sites on the mapCurrent public data shows 11 intermediate and 7 advanced dive sites. Listed depths range from about 0m to 49m where available. Boat is the most common listed access type. Use those signals as a starting point, then confirm the plan against training, equipment, and current local guidance.
PickADive can help with research and comparison, but it does not certify that a dive is safe today. Weather, current, visibility, entry, boat traffic, and local rules can change quickly.
How condition context worksUse the ranked list on this page to compare 33 public dive sites in Texas. PickADive highlights ratings, reviews, depth, access type, difficulty, and mapped location so you can move from destination research to a specific site page. 9 dive sites are recorded with shore access and 24 with boat access.
Yes. PickADive currently marks 7 dive sites in Texas as advanced or expert level. Listed depths in the catalog reach about 49m at the deepest sites, and 24 dive sites are recorded as boat access. These dives deserve extra attention to depth, access, current, visibility, and local guidance.
Listed PickADive depth data for Texas ranges from about 0m to 49m. Both shallow shore entries and deeper boat sites appear in the catalog: 9 dive sites are recorded with shore access and 24 with boat access. Use that as a research starting point, then verify current conditions and site-specific guidance.
Yes. Use the map link on this page to compare Texas dive sites by location, coastline, nearby alternatives, and individual site details.