Best place to live in USA if you are a diver

[KenGordon]

West Coast if you like wildlife *SoCal to Seattle depending on your affinity for cold water*, somewhere between NC and NJ if you like wrecks *though they're getting destroyed quickly*, and Florida for all around diving. I wouldn't want to live in the Great Lakes region because of the limited diving season due to the ice.

If I had to choose, it would probably be Tampa. Close wreck diving, close shore diving, 5 hours to Marianna caves, 3 hours to Peacock area, 5 hours to Key Largo which is easily doable for weekends. On the gulf side so no real risk of hurricanes, Major city for flying around. Water is warm all year, though the summers are brutal, but for overall if I had to choose one place for best overall balanced diving, it would probably be Tampa. Not necessarily the best in any one type of diving, but proximity to everything it is probably the best overall. If you're a cave diver, you're far better off going to Gainesville or Tallahassee, reef diver to Largo, wrecks to NC. all obviously my opinion

What is happening to the wrecks? Divers damaging them, shipping interests or just old age and decay?

 

[scubadada]

When I did 10 dives in 5 days with Jupiter Dive Center, I learned they did 2 boat trips/day, but generally the 1st boat didn't make it back in time to making boarding the 2nd practical, and for strictly recreational 'no-deco.' dives (which is all I'm trained for), for an area where every briefing seems to start with 'it's 90 feet to the sand' and profiles tend to be near-bottom much of the dive, I wasn't sure even EAN 36% would've made 4 45 minute dives/day easily within NDLs (I could drag out my old dive tables & work it out I guess...). They were drift dives with hot drops/pickups, and we stuck with the guide every dive.

I point that out for others; you'd already know it. How deep does the diving out of Boynton Beach tend to run?

Richard.

Hi Richard,

I've done the 1:30 afternoon dive with JDC many times after doing the morning trip. The four, 45 minute dives are easily within recreational limits on 36%. You are not required to ascend with the guide, you may ascend on your own SMB at the end of the 45 minute bottom time. JDC offers other alternatives, like the 3 tank trip on Fridays and Sundays. On Friday, there is also a 3:30, 2 tank that I have combined with the 3 tanker. They offer a 2 tank night dive at least once a month. As you pointed out, Jupiter is on the deep end of the spectrum for our local reefs.

The reefs in Boynton Beach run shallower than in Jupiter. The outside, East facing, reef is 70-90 feet and the inside, West facing, is 55-60 feet. The inside reef is most commonly dived by most. It is easy to have bottom times of an hour or more. The operators out of Boynton Harbor Marina generally offer a morning and an afternoon 2 tanker, occasional 3 tank and night dives are available.

As I pointed out in my previous post, sea conditions limit dives at times. Boynton Inlet is most affected, followed by Jupiter and then West Palm. It pays to be flexible with regard to dive location. There are many opportunities to get in a significant amount of diving in SE Florida.

Good diving, Craig

 

[tbone1004]

I am confused here, are you saying that staying cold is good and warm is bad from deco and Nitrogen absorption point of view??

What is happening to the wrecks? Divers damaging them, shipping interests or just old age and decay?

mainly old age and decay. Not a lot a person can do to big ass ships like that, but some improper tie ins have superficially damaged them. Rising CO2 levels are causing acidification and compound that with the increased temperatures in the oceans and the wrecks are rotting faster than they were. Considering the WWII wrecks are all about 70 years old now, by the time that I retire, I fear there aren't going to be many of them left that are diveable. Sure there will be the debris piles, but not a lot that will be safe to swim through.

 

[seattlepaul1975]

Seattle! You have Puget Sound, Wrecks in Canada and just awesome year round diving!

 

[Bratface]

I live in a US territory and we dive all year round.

 

[Brandon]

If I had my way, I'd spend winter/spring in Florida and summer/fall in BC or Alaska.

I have half of that sorted out at least...

 

[Aquavelvet]

Another vote for Seattle, though Hawaii and Florida have some nice points as well. On the whole, however, the Seattle area has a lot going for it - Puget Sound and the northern end of Vancouver Island not too far away, mild winters and easy summers, two beautiful mountain ranges and many choices for recreation in addition to diving.

For true tropical diving, we're an easier flight to the Philippines, Indonesia or Thailand compared to the east coast. Hawaii is only five hours away, but it's temperate water, not tropical. And the Yucatán peninsula is an easy trip to dive the Cenotes.

 

[Banyan]

I lived on Guam and am currently living at the tip of Florida. For 'get off work, grab a tank and a friend, and jump in the water', Guam wins hands down. Even the shore diving on Guam was more varied that off of a Key Largo boat. If I was close enough to Blue Heron Bridge to dive it casually, I might be more positive since I thought it was really impressive. In terms of access elsewhere, the cheap direct flights from Miami to Caribbean destinations are amazing. Though from Guam, you have direct (but still pricey) flights to Palau, Yap, Kosrae, Chuuk, etc, which normally demand multi-week vacations from the States.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I can't talk about the best place, since I haven't tried them all. I will say that I sure like living in the Puget Sound area. I can dive year round. I have a nice shore dive site five minutes drive from my home. On week-ends I can choose from at least 50 different places within reasonable driving distance ... this past week-end I drove 75 miles south to Hood Canal on Saturday and 100 miles north to Anacortes (gateway to the San Juan Islands) on Sunday. Completely different types of diving, but both sites were great shore dives. Yes, the water's cold, the vis isn't the greatest, and you have to plan your dives around tidal exchanges that can produce kick-arse current. But that tends to produce some pretty solid divers over time, which isn't a bad thing.

Then there's those long week-end getaways to Vancouver Island ... world-class diving that you can get to without the need to fly.

And when I don't feel like diving, there's mountain ranges on either side of the Sound to play in ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[covediver]

Socal--San Diego Ventura-Santa Barbara. Shore dives, lots of boats to offshore locations, nicer than LA/Orange County.

CentCal. Monterey

Kona coast, Hawaii. I have friends who move there and dive two or three times a week.