Where in the continental US??

[DiverDave76]

No doubt where I would go! West Palm Beach Florida. The Gulfstream comes within 1/2 mile of shore here. The reefs are healthy, the water is warm (all year), and the vis can be up to 100 or more feet. Lots of wrecks also if that is what you want.
The reason I like it is because we always see big life. Lots of turtles, sharks, and eels. I was ther 3 weeks ago on a spearfishing trip. We were a little north of WPB and we saw Manta rays! They were huge! Had to be 14 ft tip to tip. We did 17 dives during the week...saw 10 Huge Jewfish, somewhere in the neighborhood of 25 turtles (many lager heads which are the largest of the turtles). We even saw yellow nurse sharks sleeping around a sunken barge. These things were 12 ft if they were an inch. Several dives we saw reef sharks.
You can't go wrong in WPB. It's all drift diving so you see a lot and don't burn much air and the boat rides are only 10 minutes to dive sites.
Try contactin Diving Solutions. Doug and Tracy runa terrific operation. Everyone wants to spend a lot of money to go off to some exotic location. One of the best dive locations is right here in our backyard!

www.divingsolutions.com

Dave

 

[Boosted]

Guys, maybe I'm biased, but to me South Florida, and more specifically, Miami is paradise. There is great diving all the way from Jupiter (West Palm Beach area) in the North, to the Keys in the South. (that's not even mentioning the fresh water springs/cave diving in Central Fla, and the diving on the Gulf side!) Though I've never dove in California, I did go to Santa Monica in AUGUST and I couldn't even put one foot in the water it was so cold...not for me. I have a couple a friends that live and dive in Cali and they don't seem to be to impressed...but who am I to say?
As far a Florida goes:
Jupiter has some good drift diving and great spearfishing.
Ft Lauderdale has good beach dives and wrecks.
There are quite a few wrecks in Miami, they have this thing called the "Wreck Trek" which is a mapped out series of wrecks all along the Miami Beach coastline.
Then, of course, you have the keys. Key Largo alone boasts enough diving to keep anyone occupied for years. Fantastic reefs, and marine life, great spearfishing, and also some really great wrecks.
There are the Coast Guard sister ships the Duane and the Bibb. Both are wonderful dives (the Bibb in on her side) and then there is the grandmama of them all: The Spiegel Grove, a 510ft Navy Ship that was sunk a couple of years ago and is the largest ship to be sunk as an artificial reef/dive site (until they sink the aircraft carrier in Northern Florida next year!!)
I dive the Spiegel 2 or 3 times a month when the weather permits. It is so massive that it's impossible to see the whole thing in one dive. There is great penetration available, some are already roped out for your convenience and safety. She lies on her side and starts out at around 55ft at the middle of the ship, and descends all the way down to 134ft. We never get tired of it.
The water temp is mid 80's in the Spring/Summer/Fall, and Mid 70's in the winter, so you don't even need a wetsuit in the summer (though I still use a 3mm to be comfortable on deep and repetitive dives) and can get away with a 3mm in the winter...in Cali I believe you need a 5-7mm in the summer and a dry suit in the winter!!!
I've been to Turks and Caicos, and Cozumel so I think I can comfortably say that the Florida Keys are a wonderful dive destination, not just in the US, and an awesome place to live.
Since I live here, I've used quite a few dive ops in town. My favorite dive op is in Key Largo and is called Amoray Dive Resort. They have nice sized boats, great crews, and nice lodging right on location. They reguarly dive the Spiegel and the Duane if you are interested in wreck dives, followed by a nice reef dive.