Where do you live and dive? What kind of diving?

[phoenix31tt]

Where do you live and dive?
I live in Trinidad and Tobago, and dive both places

Is it close to your house?
Trinidad: 30 mins drive no traffic, 90mins with.. then 15-25mins boat ride to most sites, Tobago: 20 mins flight or 3 hour ferry, then dive sites available up and down the island depending on where you dive form

Anything special required to dive there?
A boat, shore diving is basically non-existent with only 2 real shore diving sites between the islands

What kind of diving is it?
Trinidad: Mix of Wall Drifts and anchored, low viz for the greater part of the year, Tobago: mainly drifts with good viz for the greater part of the year.

 

[AlwaysBeachin]

I live just outside of Mobile, AL, between there and Pensacola, FL (28 miles to the FL line). I do most of my dives around Pensacola about an hour away). I did some of my OW cert dives at the springs 2 hours away. I also have all the panhandle beach area from 1-3 hours away including Destin and Panama City. There are also a couple of places to dive out of Gulf Shores, AL, (slightly closer but not as good). Oh, and I take an annual trip to Key Largo (11 hour drive).

 

[AfterDark]

Here in RI, USA we have hundreds of miles of coastline that includes a bay with I think the deepest natural entry channel in the country. It is possible to be within 100 yards of shore and have 200+FSW under you. We have a mostly rocky coast and large areas of shallow sandy bottom.
Gooseberry Island has 2 natural archways created by the receding glacier. The island is my #1 favorite dive on the New England coast.
We have an a lot of wrecks including the last Nazi U-boat sunk during action in WWII the U853. The currents are many, fast, strong and changing. Squalls move in create large waves, wind and rain then move out. Many dives are required in some areas to get the "feel" for the areas. Past 60FSW a canister light is needed. Ambient light is almost gone by 80fsw for sure. The water gets to 70F surface in the summer with 100FSW abt. 60-65F. There are not shortage of shore dives but not as many as when I started. Still if one wants to dive in RI there are a lot of easy shore dives. We have it all except for clear, warm water, which is over rated anyway.

 

[tracydr]

I live in East Mesa, AZ. We do most of our diving in CA-Channel Islands such as Catalina, or the Northern Channel Islands. We also dive San Diego, which has good diving for wrecks and lobster, some kelp forests.
We try to go on a tropical trip every two to three years. Our travel has been less frequent lately because my husband is working on his PhD and did his MBA just previous.
I hope that we can travel a lot once he finishes school. He promises that he won't spend his summers working once he gets a job as a professor. I'm not holding my breath.
We will probably be moving next summer, depending on where he gets a job. I'm semi-retired now so it will be based on his teaching and where he gets hired. I'm hoping for somewhere with good diving, either cold or tropical. The Pacific NW is high on my list.

 

[tplyons]

I live in Northern New Jersey. I'm less than two hours from the Jersey shore and a little over an hour from Dutch Springs (our local quarry)

Diving at Dutch Springs doesn't require anything special, except a thick wet suit, hood and gloves. NJ wreck diving generally means carrying a pony bottle or using doubles. I sling a pony.

Most of my diving off the Jersey shore is wreck diving. At Dutch Springs, it's mostly practicing skills.

 

[Eff]

Where do you live and dive?
Is it close to your house?
Anything special required to dive there?
What kind of diving is it?

I live in the SW New Jersey / Philadelphia region, when stateside.

I dive wrecks off the New Jersey and Long Island (NY) coast.
Average trip is a 1 to 1.5 hour drive to the dive boat (I use several), and then a 1/2 to 6 hour boat ride (depending on the wreck)
Recommended equipment: tech training, doubles or rebreather, drysuit, SMB & lift bag, camera, reels, etc etc.
The shallower wrecks can be dove in a single tank and wetsuit, but nearly every dive boat out here requires a pony of some type.

The other place I mainly dive is Dutch Springs, PA. (freshwater spring / quarry)
The drive up to there from south NJ / Philly area is 1.5-2.5 hours depending on traffic.

 

[grantwiscour]

Living in North Texas our local diving is limited to local scuba parks, lakes and a few rivers.

Like the OP, we really dig HI but don't get there as often as we'd like. Fort Lauderdale and the Keys are a relatively cheap dive trip with some great diving.

My wife and I just returned from Guanaja in the Honduran Bay Islands and that was quite an experience.

Dive everywhere you can...sometimes you get good viz, sometimes you just get to dive.

 

[James R]

Central Texas
Lots of local diving, most of it is lower viz of 4-10' on a good day. There's a spring-fed lake with really nice 50+ viz which we can dive from time (requires a scientific diver course and permission). There are a couple other fairly clear places (Comal River for example - if no recent rain) we can go, along with a private quarry to teach. For me, I love the local diving. Some people think the only diving in Texas worth doing requires a trip to the coast and a 20+ mile boat ride off shore.

I am fortunate enough to get a few stamps in my passport from places where the water is blue, warm, and the marine life abundant every year. For that I am grateful, but I still like my local diving.

 

[socaljohn]

So Cal, dive mostly Laguna but not lately due to poor conditions. So Cal shore diving, cold water, surf entry and exit. I took 2 trips to Catalina over the last month. Kelp forests are the best.

 

[freewillie]

I live in Orange County in Southern California. I usually dive locally at Laguna Beach with multiple beach locations to choose from.

Normally 20 min drive to Laguna Beach. No special requirements for local shore dive. Just need to have suitable conditions. When waves get too high beaches get closed to diving like they have for last 6 weeks.

To dive San Diego takes 80-90 min depends on traffic. Usually dive off boats there so reservations required. Either Long Beach or San Pedro harbors are about 30-40 min drive. Dive boats going over to Catalina Islands from both locations. Trip is about 90 min to 2 hours depending speed of boat and conditions. Casino Point dive park is at Avalon in Catalina. Just over an hour by ferry boat. Quick 5 min taxi to dive site or you can walk it but kinda far with al the gear.

Local diving involves kelp forests and rocky reefs. Water temps usually upper 50's. Quite doable in 7mm wetsuit with hood, gloves, and booties. Not exactly toasty warm but comfortable enough not to be cold unless down for longer dives. Kelp is just fun. It creates underwater forest with lots of marine life. I've seen seals, bat rays, eels, octopuses, small leopard sharks, big sheep head crabs, sheep head fish, Garibaldi, nudibranchs, lots of schooling fish. It's just neat experience.