Is there cave diving on the West Coast?

[O-ring]

I live in SF Bay Area so it's 40 hours for me. I wish I have so much free time. I'm looking for weekend/long weekend options.

Either move to FL or learn to embrace the kelp. Maybe you can weave a bunch of it together into a tube and dive it at night?

 

[broncobowsher]

There are some flooded mines as well.

 

[vitaly]

There are some flooded mines as well.

WIth public access? Where?

 

[rjack321]

There's some very wet caving (ie fully submerged breathing on scuba) in Alberta and BC. If you are trying to "cave dive" like MX or FL you'll be disappointed. You're also closer to FL and MX than Vancouver Island or the Canadian Rockies. You'll need to connect with local grottos and get engaged with the dry caving communities, most "cave divers" have no idea about the options.

 

[rjack321]

There are some flooded mines as well.

Any mine of any significant divable size is going to be on private land. That's how US mineral laws work(ed).

That said I have dove a few around here. Mineralogically my state is bleh for flooded mines, most mineral veins were surficial and fizzled out at depth. They few that didn't are either private, collapsed, or were never successfully developed in the first place because they got buried under 10s of feet of snow for 8 months out of the year.

Access to this is a huge pain now as it's gated behind an ATV park




This was sketchy AF

 

[vitaly]

There's some very wet caving (ie fully submerged breathing on scuba) in Alberta and BC. If you are trying to "cave dive" like MX or FL you'll be disappointed. You're also closer to FL and MX than Vancouver Island or the Canadian Rockies. You'll need to connect with local grottos and get engaged with the dry caving communities, most "cave divers" have no idea about the options.

Vancouver Island is actually closer for me than Florida. My CCR TEC60 training was in Nanaimo and I drove there from California. My instructor told me about underwater caves on the island but I'm not sure I want to dive in the caves there

 

[vitaly]

There is a nice underwater cave in Nevada but the access is closed for public https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QGTKKws3gM

 

[Cthippo]

Not sure if it counts, but there are some small ones at Deception pass. I've hit them in the kayak, but there may be more fully submerged.

 

[Scott]

There's Ricks Spring in northern Utah. I haven't dived it and I don't know much about it, but I've thought about reaching out to Wendell Nope for more information...

It's seasonal from around August to January due to runoff. If the boil is much more than an inch, you're not getting in.
Water is a balmy 40 degree F.
Sidemount encouraged unless you like removing gear to get in. It's snug in a few spots but has some unique features.
We typically spend the first few dives repairing or replacing the line that is damaged or torn out due to the high runoff flow, so come on up, down or over!

 

[lostsheep]

I'm curious if there are cave diving opportunities that can be reached by car from California?

Hall City

Devils Den

Black Chasm

I suspect California Caverns but not certain.

Allegedly some in Kings Canyon / Sequoia NP

And at least one more well known one

Edit: there’s a cave called “Vanishing River” in Santa Cruz but good luck getting access. I don’t actually know if there’s diving there but the name is promising and there is extensive mapped passage.