Is Puget Sound the best diving in USA?

[Scott L]

Didn't Blue Heron Bridge in West Palm Beach make their list as well?

I don't know why it would. Less than 20' deep and located in the inter-coastal waterway. Good place for equipment tweaking/weight check, Etc.

 

[spectrum]

It was a silly statement. I'm a cold water diver at home and know that a number of SB veterans love their area out there, but let's face it, it's the NORTH. The further South you go the more interesting it gets, PERIOD--- IMHO! No contest. Reefs, coral, more varied and colourful fish and of course, BETTER SHELLS. Don't get me wrong, diving is good anywhere, even in Nova Scotia, but come on! And that doesn't include diving in a shorty or less! What a nice change THAT is.

Even this I consider a narrow view of "best". Superlative in some respects, different for sure but better and bet get into so many aspects of value and appreciation.

Where can I go on a daily basis? Does that contribute to bestness?

I'll be honest, the colorful warm water fish, visibility, temperature and coral structures are nice. However I am just as pleased looking at colorful meadow like cold water plant life.

Is easier diving better diving?

Any diving (within reason) is good diving!

Pete

 

[TMHeimer]

Yeah, to each his own I guess. And of course the Caribbean varies in colorful and interesting stuff. My week in Panama (Caribbean) was superb IMO, but others diving there have said these sites are nowhere near as good as other places down there. Perhaps I have done too much local NS diving which features rocks, seaweed, sand, and varies shells and fish of the dull grey/white variety. Same for the NE/mid Atlantic states N. of NC. For me, none of these places are even as good as any of the diving I've done on the FL panhandle and northern Gulf of Mex., and I dive there in the middle of their "winter".

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

The last issue of Scuba Diver magazine referred to Puget Sound (Washington) as possibly the best diving in USA. While I understand that cold water diving there is very good but Florida has caves, California has kelp forests, North Carolina has sharks, and great lakes have the best preserved wrecks anywhere. Plus there is also Hawaii so I was wondering ... can any of the local dive businesses pay these magazines to make their region "THE BEST" or was there really an element of editorial objectivity in calling Puget Sound the best?

I live here, and even I wouldn't say that. The diving's good ... but we have to put up with heavy plankton blooms in summer, stormwater runoff in winter, strong and often quirky current when tidal exchanges are large, and the water's a bit chilly. And for what it's worth, the best cold-water diving is a few hundred miles north of here on Vancouver Island. Granted, it's not USA ... but it's where Puget Sound divers go when they really want the maximum WOW factor.

AFAIK, "best" is an incredibly subjective term based purely on preferences. That said, it's hard to beat for convenience and marine diversity.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Jim Lapenta]

I've been in Monterey, the Keys, Puerto Rico (it's still the USA), Great Lakes, St Lawrence, and more than a few inland sites and each and every one has something to offer that could conceivably be called the "best" depending on whose eyes it's seen through. I want to get to the PNW to dive with Bob, Peter, and Lynne. Would not give a rat;s butt if the vis were five feet. I know the company would show me some great and make for some great dives. I'm hoping to do SC/NC this coming season. Was not able to this past one. And another trip to the Keys would be great as well. I have not seen the article as I won't waste time on that publication any longer so it's hard to know what their criteria based on. As others have said it could easily be money. That's what their gear reviews seem to based on. Ad revenue.

Best diving for me can be all of the places noted. Or it can be my local mudhole on one of those rare days where the vis is more than 30 feet, the water is warm, the sun is shining, my buoyancy is dead nuts on, and I'm face to face with a vicious man eating 4 inch bluegill that doesn't know the meaning of the word "fear".

 

[HansB]

I'm face to face with a vicious man eating 4 inch bluegill that doesn't know the meaning of the word "fear".

:rofl2:

Almost died laughing... It is so true!

 

[oldschoolto]

I think "BEST DIVING" is a lot like saying a girl is the hottest in the world.... There is no such thing.... I like to say it's a GREAT dive site...

Jim...

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Yeah, to each his own I guess. And of course the Caribbean varies in colorful and interesting stuff. My week in Panama (Caribbean) was superb IMO, but others diving there have said these sites are nowhere near as good as other places down there. Perhaps I have done too much local NS diving which features rocks, seaweed, sand, and varies shells and fish of the dull grey/white variety. Same for the NE/mid Atlantic states N. of NC. For me, none of these places are even as good as any of the diving I've done on the FL panhandle and northern Gulf of Mex., and I dive there in the middle of their "winter".

I dive here in the middle of winter ...

... in some respects, it's the best time to dive ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[DepthCharge]

Best diving in the world is where I am at the time.............
John

 

[TMHeimer]

Bob, Great pics. I've done that sort of thing here in NS a couple of winters when we didn't snowbird. Can't stay in more than 20 mins. diving wet though. If we didn't snowbird most years I'd be the first one to go dry. But it's still the same sand & seaweed here, not like what you guys describe out there. Plus once late Nov. comes here the crabs and lobsters disappear to deeper water and what few boring fish here in summer are gone. Even those exotic flounders. I did see a ray once in Nov., though.