Scuba diving locations in United States of America:

• On the west coast, San Francisco's Farallones Marine Sanctuary has some huge great white sharks which come to hunt northern elephant seal.
• The Channel Islands are a a string of islands that run south from Los Angeles to San Clemente. On Santa Catalina Island, there is a sheltered side where you can see the bright orange garibaldi, which is known as the State fish. Santa Barbara island hosts hundreds of California sea lions and curious harbor seals.
• On the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, the reef of the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary is at a depth of 60 feet and densely covered with huge coral heads hiding countless fish. Bluehead and Yellowhead Wrasses, schools of Chromis and Creolefish, and a variety of Damselfish are the most commonly seen closer to the surface.
  
• On the east coast, North Carolina, stretching down from Nags Head to Cape Fear, there are an enormous amount of wrecks, including three U-Boats.
• South Carolina, with its warmer waters, has more reefs and tropical fish, such as angelfish, lionfish, amberjack, spadefish, barracuda, jewfish and sunfish, as well as turtles and sharks.
• Off Pensacola, North Florida, there are some interesting wreck dives.
• At Venice Beach, prehistoric shark teeth, some as long as 6 inches, have been found by divers.
• The Florida Keys islands curve support the Florida Reef, the only living coral garden in North America. Key Largo is home to John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, which has diveable 16th century treasure galleon wrecks as well as more recent shipwrecks.
• To date, in Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary, more than 50 shipwrecks have been discovered within the sanctuary and an additional 30 wrecks have been located outside of the sanctuary boundaries, ranging from an 1844 sidewheel steamer to a modern 500-foot-long German freighter.
• Hawaii Big Island has most of its dives located off the leeward coast, where the conditions are often glassy with near-perfect visibility, because the coast is sheltered from the trade winds by the large mountains.
• Oahu, Hawaii, has sites ranging from offshore lava formations and grottoes to plane and shipwrecks,
• Most of Maui's dive sites are located off the west coast.
• In the waters of Kauai during the winter months large swells make the north shore generally inaccessible for diving, but during summer months and on calm days the north shore has some excellent locations.
• Ni'ihau, Hawaii, is home to gigantic sea arches, endangered monk seals, large pelagic fish and other rare species of fish.
• Lanai is known for its lava formations which house a large variety of marine life and can cause some amazing light effects.
• Along the entire South side of the island of Molokai lies the longest barrier reef in Hawaii. Seldom visited by divers, this natural sanctuary offers the chance to see Hammerhead sharks, Tiger sharks, monk seals and the gigantic Whale shark.

When to scuba dive in United States of America:

• The water off the west coast generally varies between 12°C and 18°C.
• The water in the Gulf of Mexico varies between 19°C and 29°C. In the Flower Garden Banks, 7-10 days after the full moon in August, usually between 9 pm and midnight, several coral species participate in a mass spawning event, releasing their gametes into the water column where they can mix and fertilize, later becoming larvae that settle to the bottom and start new coral colonies. July to September brings the possiblity of seeing whale sharks. From January to March, it's not unusual to see large schools of Scalloped hammerhead shark.
• Hawaii's waters are warm all year, raraely dropping below 21°C. Whale-watching season takes place from late November to mid-April, with most of the whales congregating in the waters off Maui.
• The waters off the east coast vary from around 8°C in January to upwards of 26°C in August. The water is a lot warmer south of Cape Hatteras.
• Florida's water temperature varies from 19°C to 26°C, but late summer is hurricane season. manatees congregate at Crystal River from November to April.

Local standards for gear:

The best scuba diving spots in United States of America:

• On the west coast, at Ship Rock, Santa Catalina island, it is possible to see the rare and well-camofagued Angel shark.
• Off Florida, the USS Oriskany was an aircraft carrier deliberately sunk by the US Navy 24 miles out of Pensacola, and is the world's biggest artificial reef.
• The Mizpah Corridor on the lower Atlantic coast is a series of four wrecks forming an artificial reef: the Mizpah, a 185ft Greek luxury liner, sunk in 1968; the PC1170, an old patrol craft measuring 160ft in length, split in two pieces under the bow of the Mizpah; only the hull and bottom deck of the 450 foot Amaryllis remain as the other decks were removed to salvage the boat after it washed ashore during a hurricane; and the wreck of the China Barge is the fourth.
• Off Mexico Beach, is the wreck of the Empire Mica, a British tanker sunk in 1942 by a U-boat.
• Off North Carolina, lies a victim of U-124, the Papoose, which was sunk on the 19th March 1942 and lies at 90 to 120 feet.
• O'ahu, Hawaii, Shark's Cove has lots of arches and open-ended lava tubes, allowing deep light penetration and easy access.
• On Hawaii Big Island, Kailua Bay has Manta rays congregating in the early evening, and then, after dark, they are attracted to the plankton drawn to lights that are placed on the bottom of the ocean in about 30 feet of water.

The best spots to snorkel in United States of America:

• On Hawaii Big Island, Kailua Bay has Manta rays congregating in the early evening, and then, after dark, they are attracted to the plankton drawn to lights that are placed on the bottom of the ocean in about 30 feet of water.

Fun scuba facts:

Country data:

Administrative details

• Currency: US dollar (USD)
• Population: is about 312,300,000 (2011)
• Time Zone: varies by location from (GMT-5) to (GMT-10), Summer varies by location from (GMT-4) to (GMT-10)
• Main languages spoken: English, Spanish ## Diveable overseas territories: Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands.

American diving federations:

UNDERWATER SOCIETY OF AMERICA ((USOA](organization://USOA)),YMCA SCUBA PROGRAM (YMCA), CMAS AMERICAS (CMAS-AMERICAS) are all members of Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques ([CMAS].(organization://CMAS))

Local diving laws and regulations (and PADI-equivalent certifications):