Lets make DIVE ATLAS - USA

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

Scubaboarders! This idea has been on my mind for quite sometime and if there is enough interest then 2016 can be the year that we start working on this. I would like to gauge peoples interest as well as open myself to any ideas and suggestions.

USA has one of the largest coastlines in the world and the diversity of dive sites that it offers is far greater than some of the smaller island nations that are known for diving tourism. If you go into a bookstore you will see dive guides for Bonaire, Caribbean Bahamas etc but there is no definitive dive guide for USA. Due to this information vacuum a lot of Americans living on West coast have little idea that North Carolina is right at par with South Africa in terms of its shark dives and people on the East coast have little idea that Channel Islands with its giant kelp forests is really a world class diving destination. Similarly, I see a lot of people wanting to dive historic wrecks in Scapa Flow and Truuk etc but we tend to ignore that Great Lakes is truly a world class destination. Had there been a lake anywhere else in the world where 17th century wooden ships were lying preserved due to cold water, a lot of Americans will be paying more money to go to this exotic place than they would to dive Scapa Flow but since these wrecks are virtually in our backyard, we never give this place its due credit. I was personally quite impressed by the cold water diving in Cape Ann MA, but there is far more information available on diving Bonaire (a foreign country) than Massachusetts. If the coast of East port Maine is better then why is everyone going to British Columbia for their cold water diving?

There is also the sad story of local dive businesses closing. It makes me wonder how come one of the richest countries in the world that also has one of the biggest coast lines in the world is closing on their dive shops? I think it is also because if you look at dive magazines, than diving is presented as a form of expensive international travel which few Americans can afford. When people realize the amazing dives that can happen in their immediate back yard then local dive shops all over the USA should see an increase in business and the American diver will realize that some of the worlds best diving is not at some other end of the world. It was only a few hours drive from where she lived.

I believe that it is time to write one of the biggest dive guides ever written, with detailed maps, colorful pictures, local legends, important personalities, regional histories etc. In order for this book to happen, a very large number of divers will have to submit their diving photographs along with detailed information on how to dive their home waters. So far the tentative layout that I have in mind for this is something as follows:

SECTION 1: THE EAST COAST

1. FLORIDA
2. NORTH CAROLINA
3. NEW JERSEY / NEW YORK
4. NEW ENGLAND
5. MAINE

SECTION 2: THE GREAT LAKES

1. LAKE ERIE
2. LAKE ONTARIO
3. LAKE HURON
4. LAKE MICHIGAN
5. LAKE SUPERIOR

SECTION 3: THE GULF COAST

1. FLORIDA'S GULF COAST
2. LOUISIANA
3. TEXAS

SECTION 4: WEST COAST

1. SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
2. NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
3. WASHINGTON

CHAPTER 5: HAWAII

1. BIG ISLAND
2. MAUI
3. O'AHU
4. KAUA'I

SECTION 6: ALASKA

1. GULF OF ALASKA
2. BERING SEA
3. ARCTIC OCEAN

SECTION 7: SUBMERGED TOWNS AND OTHER UNUSUAL DIVES

1. LAKE LANIER
2. BONNE TERRE MINE
3. NUCLEAR MISSILE SITES

This is just a rough layout of the book but it should give interested folks an idea of how tremendous yet fun this task would be. Once all the information is collected from all corners of the country the result would be a book that none of us can afford to miss. No matter where in USA you are, no matter what your level of experience of certification there is always something in here that you need. If such a book existed, I would have spent fortune to get it and after that, my perspective on dive travel would be so different. It would also be an opportunity to introduce the American diver to the American dive shop. I think everyone in every capacity stands to benefit from such a work.

Id love to hear peoples thoughts. If you happen to be an active diver in any of those areas and would like to contribute then please state below along with suggestions and ideas. Id love to see where this goes.

Cheers -

Captain Sinbad.

 

[TMHeimer]

To be picky, I would label Florida's Gulf Coast as the Panhandle (S. FL's West Coast is considered "Florida"). I wouldn't leave out Alabama--East of Mobile Bay the water clears up for diving similar to the Panhandle. Gulf Shores, Orange Beach, Perdido Pass--lots of divers go there apparently when "winter" ends. No shore diving in Miss. (unless you like 9' depth and mud), but you may want to include the rigs offshore and boats that take you beyond the barrier islands to clearer water.

It's a good idea. Competition may be that I would think there is a lot of info. on the internet for each U.S. area, and LDS websites that have contact info. and can advise. I have found this to be true when searching an area. Then there is also that really only S. Florida has conditions similar to the tropical locations that naturally attract people worldwide. But good luck with it. If no one from the North Gulf Coast adds anything down the line I can comment on quite a few shore spots.

One of these years I hope to have the money to self publish my clarinet music book. A few ideas come from other players and I give them credit. Am curious -- is this a for profit endeavor? If there are hundreds of people contributing info. how would you work that with sales, copyright, etc.

 

[drrich2]

If this were a printed work, it'd be a multi-volume set. Might well be more workable as an online guide. Here's an example of what I'm talking about...

Let's say you want to write out an intro. guide to diving California, breaking down the options (which I've been researching in planning a trip for next year). Some complications:

1.) North California (north of Point Conception) & South California options are different & extensive.
2.) California's long coast line offers enough shore diving options to write a book, with a lot of variety.
3.) There are 8 Channel Islands; 4 northern, 4 southern, some are larger than some Caribbean islands, and collectively they have many dive sites.
4.) California's got more diving besides that.

Example #2: Ned Deloach's Diving Guide to Underwater Florida is 352 pages.

My suggestion: define your scope (You can't cram extensive, exhaustive dive site descriptions for the whole U.S. into one book with color photos. It'd be huge, & cost on a limited run high). How many pages do you see this book being? About how many pages would you allocate to each section?

Richard.

 

[Hawkwood]

According to this: https://dtmag.com/travelresource/dive-travel/ your outline is missing a chunk of the interior of your country.

 

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

A few ideas come from other players and I give them credit. Am curious -- is this a for profit endeavor? If there are hundreds of people contributing info. how would you work that with sales, copyright, etc.

At this point I am only thinking loud. The idea is still in its very infancy and that is why I am opening it up for discussion. When I started to jot it on paper, I had no intentions of making money from it. It was something that would give some purpose to my diving and would be a fun thing to do.

I am mindful that besides diving, a book like this would require a lot of writing. It is very easy to find people who want to dive but when you ask them to sit and write then very few people can/will do that. Besides the writing part, the book will need a lot of fold out maps, illustrations and layout artwork which will be done by professionals who get paid by the hour. There is major expense involved and I was hoping to get sponsors on board as soon as a team is ready and some ground work is done. I would like to show any potential sponsors what the end product will look like, how it will be produced and how it would benefit the sponsors. I would like to negotiate some kind of an agreement where if you have contributed divesite with pictures and a small 250 - 500 page write up, then not only should that entry be named after you but you should also receive a gift to remember that contribution by. In the end, we should only ask a very large population of divers across USA for very small write-ups. Your entry into this book should be something you can do over a weekend and be done with. Beyond that I am open to suggestions.

 

[Bob DBF]

Not to rain on your parade, but I have a guide on the Seattle area, and another on Rhode Island, they are fairly comprehensive and the two of them are three or four hundred pages, may be more since I haven't dragged them out yet. I can look around and see what else I can dig up. I'm sure the Channel Islands in SoCal have a book or two to cover them. I could probably give a half dozen, or more, dive sites in Oregon, which you didn't mention and I only visited, imagine what a local could come up with there.

An online US dive site would be possible, but huge. The 100 best dive sites in the US would be possible, but not very comprehensive.


Good Luck


Bob

Note: Start a book on your own area and see how it goes.

 

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

My suggestion: define your scope (You can't cram extensive, exhaustive dive site descriptions for the whole U.S. into one book with color photos. It'd be huge, & cost on a limited run high). How many pages do you see this book being? About how many pages would you allocate to each section?

Richard.

Suggestion taken. It makes perfect sense. In order for a divesite to make it into this book it has to be something worth diving. One of the major tasks would be to edit - sort out best or better dives from the Mehhh ... dives. I do a lot of dives in Millbrook quarry but I would not list it as a place to travel to. Since the books assumes that people are visiting out of town (or out of state) to dive that site, the sites selected to be in the book would have to live up to their mention.

This is the reason why the outline is missing a chunk of the interior of the country. There are some sites outside the coastal areas that I plan on putting in. Bonne Terre mine, missile silo in Texas, submerged towns etc will have their mention in the last chapter. If you guys think you state in the interior of the country has the potential to compete with some of these high profile dives then by all means ...YES!

 

[RJP]

3. NEW JERSEY / NEW YORK

Below is a top-line listing of a "handful" of popular New Jersey dive sites. A cursory write up of each of these should yield a concise chapter of 250-300 pages or so...

:shocked2:

 

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

Below is a top-line listing of a "handful" of popular New Jersey dive sites. A cursory write up of each of these should yield a concise chapter of 250-300 pages or so...

:shocked2:

Awesome! This is why we will need the services of good folks like you who have been diving these waters to sort out the above from personal experience and tell us which of these would be the best dives and why? Other information will also be useful such as conditions, temperature, duration of boat rides, where to stay, good place to eat etc.

 

[RJP]

Awesome! This is why we will need the services of good folks like you who have been diving these waters to sort out the above from personal experience and tell us which of these would be the best dives and why? Other information will also be useful such as conditions, temperature, duration of boat rides, where to stay, good place to eat etc.

Now you're up to 350-400 pages.