Scuba Diving in Texas, United States

33 mapped sites

Best dive sites in Texas, United States

Showing 25–33 of 33

Possum Kingdom Lake - Hell's Gate

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.

IntermediateBoat entry

West Flower Garden Bank (Flower Garden Banks NMS)

Texas · 18–39.6 m

The western of the two coral-capped salt domes in Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary, about 110 miles off Freeport and 12 miles from East Bank. Its reef cap (roughly 60-100 ft) carries the same dense boulder star and brain coral cover, with deep sand flats and reef margins sloping past recreational limits. Dived from liveaboard charters on sanctuary mooring buoys, usually combined with East Bank and Stetson Bank on 2-3 day trips.

AdvancedBoat entry

East Flower Garden Bank (Flower Garden Banks NMS)

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.

AdvancedBoat entry

George Vancouver Liberty Ship

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.

Boat entry

Windy Point Park (Lake Travis)

Texas · 0–48.8 m

The best-known scuba park on Lake Travis northwest of Austin, with shore entry to a steep underwater point dropping well past 100 ft. Training platforms at several depths, sunken boats, cars and metal sculptures (diver, sea turtle, shark, manatee) line guide lines from shore. Visibility runs 15-30 ft and the deep water stays cold year-round; depths depend strongly on the lake level.

IntermediateShore entry

The Scuba Ranch (Clear Springs Scuba Park)

Texas · 0–19.2 m

A 22-acre spring-fed quarry lake northeast of Terrell, about an hour east of Dallas, opened as a dive park in 2000 and rebranded as The Scuba Ranch. Underwater attractions include 'Sisco' the 50-foot shark sculpture, the S.S. Minnow cabin cruiser, a sailboat, a Cessna and six training platforms served by nine entry docks. A sharp thermocline near 20 ft drops temperatures into the 50s F below.

Shore entry

S.A.L.T.

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. Rated beginner based on available data.

Boat 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

Rio Grande Valley

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.

IntermediateBoat entry