SoCal....love the kelp forests
Giant kelp forests are on my bucket list.
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SoCal....love the kelp forests
It is cold water diving (42F-51F depending on the season) which means you do need a drysuit (thick wetsuits are an option but few serious local divers use them).
I'm stuck on Hawaii diving and longing to be there, but I have heard here are other very good dive spots around the mainland U.S.
I live in Sydney, capital of New South Wales, Australia. It is 15 minutes to the nearest shore dive, I can have my boat in the water and on a dive site in under one hour. We have dozens of excellent shore dives and hundreds of boat dives within an hour or two from leaving home. The diving is in water from 15 to 22C, reef dives and wreck dives. The visibility ranges from 7 to 30 metres (23 to 100 feet), with 10 to 12 m (33 to 40 ft) being an average.
We also dive other places in NSW. Each year we travel to a Pacific country, although this year we are off to Scotland to dive the Scapa Flow German WWI warships.
The diving in Sydney is as good as any in the world, and it would not worry me too much if I never dived anywhere else again.
Where do you live and dive? Southern Maine/ mainely Maine
Is it close to your house? 10-60 minutes with occasional longer trips up or down the coat.
Anything special required to dive there? Simple single cylinder diving. Protection ranges from trunks to full drysuit. 7mm w/2X on the core is a common denominator that does the trick for many. Diving dry is nice but not at all needed to get started.
What kind of diving is it? Shore diving for the most part. Usually a very short walk from the vehicle. Depths mainly in the 20-40 foot range with some sites going to 100 feet or so. Rocky ledges, plenty of critters and pretty bottom plant life.
Pete