Is Puget Sound the best diving in USA?

[covediver]

My favorite feature of diving is kelp, so I'm glad I live here in California.

Have you dove the rest of the Channel Islands? Is the northern part of these islands different than the rest of them? (I've only dove San Clemente and Catalina - never the northern islands).

I have been diving at every Channel Island except San Nic. San Clemente Island and Catalina are different than the northern islands. there is a transition that starts at about the middle of santa cruz island, species and conditions start to change. have to agree with you about kelp diving, i do miss that about socal.

 

[BoltSnap]

I miss diving in New England a lot (MA, ME, RI) but I don't miss diving in NY/NJ at all.

 

[CT-Rich]

This discussion is starting to sound a lot like baseball... Sox vs Yankees. Everybody likes there backyard or takes it for granted.. The things that I always treasure from dives are not the big things. It's the moments. I remeber hanging mid-water and watching crab larva swimming inches from my face. or the first time I came across a skate buried in the sand. or seeing a loggerhead turtle gliding along the bottom. there are a thousand places that they could occur, but that I was lucky enough to notice them or be in the right place at the right time tells me the dive is as much about the diver as the dive site. A great dive is about what goes on in your head as much as what is happening in front of your mask.

 

[bowlofpetunias]

X2 on that CT-RICH! I've had divers complain about sites being "boring" watch em go! Flying around like they were in an Olympic swim.. missing fascination stuff. If it isn't as big as a VW bug they don't notice it in their hurry! Some enjoy a fast swim to look at terrain

I had someone in one of my classes recently complain about our local diving.. calling it boring! He came to that conclusion after 2 dives... we have probably 50 or more different shore dives within a 3 hour drive of Sydney... then there are the boat dives! I have dived in enough places around the world to know that I am lucky in the dive sites available to me. I know that it is my attitude and effort that will determine my dive experience.

Sweeping statements like "The Best" "The hardest" "The most challenging" ad nauseum turn me off. We are fortunate to have sites to enjoy where ever we travel and the forums available to allow us to "dive" so many sites "vicariously" through trip reports and pictures. Arguing who has the best, biggest, most colourful, etc is pretty much a waste of time IMHO.. just keep sharing the info and pics please!

 

[TSandM]

I really can't think of anywhere I've dived that I haven't enjoyed . . . and places that are different from my home environment are always enjoyable, because they are new.

But I've dived Cozumel, and the BVI, and Indonesia, and Australia and the South Pacific, and Hawaii . . . and for my money, the best diving in the world is up and down the west coast of North America. The kelp forests in Southern California and the oil rigs; the granite pinnacles and hydrocoral in Monterey; the fascinating wildlife and easy conditions in Puget Sound, and the spectacular visibility, dramatic structure and amazing color of Vancouver Island -- it's all worth the exposure protection and the weight it takes to dive cold water. We are very lucky, we West Coast folks!

 

[oldschoolto]

And I have a GREAT TIME diving in the frog pond with it's 6' to 8' visibility with my wife.... :blinking: When we're in to a fancy dive we'll drive down to nickerson lake with it 30' visibility and lake trout.... Can alway recover a beer bottle or old jar.... If i'm in the water with my scuba-girl it's the "BEST"...

Jim

 

[BoltSnap]

I really can't think of anywhere I've dived that I haven't enjoyed . . . and places that are different from my home environment are always enjoyable, because they are new.

But I've dived Cozumel, and the BVI, and Indonesia, and Australia and the South Pacific, and Hawaii . . . and for my money, the best diving in the world is up and down the west coast of North America. The kelp forests in Southern California and the oil rigs; the granite pinnacles and hydrocoral in Monterey; the fascinating wildlife and easy conditions in Puget Sound, and the spectacular visibility, dramatic structure and amazing color of Vancouver Island -- it's all worth the exposure protection and the weight it takes to dive cold water. We are very lucky, we West Coast folks!

Lynn,

Try diving in the Long Island Sound. You will NEVER want to go diving there again. Maybe never diving again anywhere!!


I dove there in places where you can't see the light from your own torch an arm's length away from you.

 

[SeahorseDeb]

Ok... Make a hole!!! Checking in from Great Falls, MT And I have to tell you that the best place in the US to dive is right... Well... Nope, can't even come up with a good lie about that! It's not here! But we do the best we can... Keep diving!

Yodelhawk I was just visiting in your city last weekend and wondered where to dive. I saw the cold water springs,...gorgeous, not deep enough, then I saw the salmon exhibit, but that was only 18" deep, and the river was flowing fast above the dam. If you are ever near Spokane, Coeur d'Alene, or Sandpoint, visit our FB web page Inland Northwest Divers. We are getting ready for the salmon spawn, so our diving activity is actually getting really exciting. Go to pictures, then Albums and find the Higgins Salmon Dive, that's where the best diving is for us right now!!!

I've dove Hawaii twice and the 80 foot viz was stunning. On a good day I've had 30' in Puget Sound. But when I saw the 12" octopus in Kona, I thought "Oh my, it doesn't hold a candle to our Giant Pacific Octopus. My largest GPO sighting was about 10-12 feet! In Hawaii I loved that i didn't need my drysuit, and weighed much less...I felt free!

I love the diverse life PS has to offer, macro photography opportunities abound, and the farther north we go, the better it gets. Vancouver, British Columbia is on my bucket list.

I love kelp, so I enjoy going to Catalina, it's a fantastic location, however PS offers great kelp dives up in the San Juan Islands too.

So is Puget Sound the "best?" I haven't done my last dive yet, so I don't know. What I do know is that I never come up from a dive there without having had an amazing look at a world that I wish non-divers could view.

 

[Scott L]

Ok, I am bringing some video. Can your area compare???

 

[Zen Diving Inc.]

Ok, I am bringing some video. Can your area compare???

is that 2nd video hole in the wall?...never mind I see the description...