Most interesting or unusual cold water place you’ve dived?

[MaxBottomtime]

My favorite local mudhole, Marineland got down to 46° for two weeks during July several years ago. The wetsuit divers stopped coming, so I had the place to myself. It was like the old days before anyone knew the beach access was still open.

I have a curse when it comes to La Jolla Cove. Every time I've tried to dive there the waves have been too big or the vis was less than three feet. The same thing happened last year when I tried to dive Big Sur. Fog, ten-foot swells, heavy surge, and little vis. Monterey has been the opposite. Every time I've been to Monastery in Carmel it's been a lake. I need to take my Carmel rabbit's foot with me everywhere.

My absolute favorite cold water diving is Browning Pass, British Columbia. I had wanted to dive there for many years and finally got the chance during one of the final runs of the Nautilus Swell. The marine life there is like California on steroids. I've been going back at least once a year to God's Pocket ever since.

 

[muzikbiz22]

Cortes Bank, Southern Cal / Mexico. Read my report/pics here, Cortes Banks Trip Journal

 

[<*)))><]

My favorite local mudhole, Marineland got down to 46° for two weeks during July several years ago. The wetsuit divers stopped coming, so I had the place to myself. It was like the old days before anyone knew the beach access was still open.

I have a curse when it comes to La Jolla Cove. Every time I've tried to dive there the waves have been too big or the vis was less than three feet. The same thing happened last year when I tried to dive Big Sur. Fog, ten-foot swells, heavy surge, and little vis. Monterey has been the opposite. Every time I've been to Monastery in Carmel it's been a lake. I need to take my Carmel rabbit's foot with me everywhere.

My absolute favorite cold water diving is Browning Pass, British Columbia. I had wanted to dive there for many years and finally got the chance during one of the final runs of the Nautilus Swell. The marine life there is like California on steroids. I've been going back at least once a year to God's Pocket ever since.
View attachment 494898

Ha! Glad you posted. Because of your earlier threads about Gods Pocket that was the first place I thought of when I clicked on this thread. Haven't been there yet but soon And thanks for sharing the info.

 

[covediver]

I consider cold water to be anywhere a dryuit or something greater than a hooded 8/7mm wetsuit is required, so I do not include Monterey or points south
Whittier, Alaska
Resurrection Bay, Alaska
Inside Passage Alaska and BC
Pacific Rim National Park BC
Quatro Island, BC
Copper Harbor, Upper Peninsula MI
Straits of Mackinac, MI

 

[FettSolo]

I live in New England, where people assume there is no diving to be done, but:

If you're into wrecks, there are some cool 19th century wooden wrecks in Lake Champlain, Vermont. Alert Diver just had an article about them: Alert Diver | Diving into Lake Champlain’s History

Isles of Shoals off of ME/NH has some beautiful kelp and playful grey seals: Isles of Shoals 2018 | Facebook

And while not scuba, freediving/snorkeling with blue sharks off of RI is awesome: Blue Sharks 2018 | Facebook

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

My favorite local mudhole, Marineland got down to 46° for two weeks during July several years ago. The wetsuit divers stopped coming, so I had the place to myself. It was like the old days before anyone knew the beach access was still open.

I have a curse when it comes to La Jolla Cove. Every time I've tried to dive there the waves have been too big or the vis was less than three feet. The same thing happened last year when I tried to dive Big Sur. Fog, ten-foot swells, heavy surge, and little vis. Monterey has been the opposite. Every time I've been to Monastery in Carmel it's been a lake. I need to take my Carmel rabbit's foot with me everywhere.

My absolute favorite cold water diving is Browning Pass, British Columbia. I had wanted to dive there for many years and finally got the chance during one of the final runs of the Nautilus Swell. The marine life there is like California on steroids. I've been going back at least once a year to God's Pocket ever since.
View attachment 494898

You would like Arena Rock.
Chris G. and I dived it once when he came up for vacation at his house.
I was cruising along and came upon a deep crack. I shined my light inside and saw a HUGE wolf eel coming straight at me. I ducked him and as soon as he was about a foot from my face he took a sharp left turn. I watched his whole body go by me, all 9’ of him. Then I looked further into the crack and saw why he bailed. It had nothing to do with me, he split because of a monster GPO that I saw inside it’s lair, the legs coming out of the body looked to be 4”-6” thick at the base, a head the size of a 5 gallon bucket. I decided I didn’t want my day ruined so I backed out and went on my way.
I’ve. Ever seen sommany scallops in one spot as Arena Rock. The only place that comes close are the oil rigs.

 

[TMHeimer]

I consider cold water to be anywhere a dryuit or something greater than a hooded 8/7mm wetsuit is required, so I do not include Monterey or points south
Whittier, Alaska
Resurrection Bay, Alaska
Inside Passage Alaska and BC
Pacific Rim National Park BC
Quatro Island, BC
Copper Harbor, Upper Peninsula MI
Straits of Mackinac, MI

I've been swimming in Pac. Rim National Park. What do you see diving other than sand? You must've found a good day when the ocean was calm.

 

[tursiops]

Antarctic Peninsula. 28-29 deg F. Any colder and the water gets hard. Amazing anemones, ice structures, and leopard seals.

 

[Ojai Diver]

In California,the diving Mecca is Monterey. In the early 1990"s my then buddy and I rented a Pontiac Grand Am and drove up from Los Angeles. We camped in Santa Cruz--great in itself--and dove in Monterey Bay. Water was a crisp 50 degrees. I don't recall the diving as being spectacular, but it was great to visit the area, especially as we were both John Steinbeck fans.

 

[bfisher]

This goes back a few years to when I started diving. 1969 to be exact. In the Air Foce stationed on the island of Crete, Greece. Me and three buddies decided to dive a fresh water pool about 100 yards wide and 130' deep. I didn't own a wet suit at the time. When we got to the place and suited up it was raining----cold rain. All I could think of was hitting the water to get out of the rain. Well, when I jumped in (last) I immediately felt like a floating popcicle. Talk about cold? We headed down and as I approached 25' I realized it was not good. Every breath was an absolute gasp and I had to concentrate very hard to keep from going into panic mode. I grabbed my buddy and signaled that I had to abort the dive and that he should pair up with the other two. I surfaced and got out into the cold rain, which now felt like a hot shower. Little did I know that the water came from snow covered Mt. Ida, some 15 miles inland. Water temperature? 39 degrees, and no wet suit. Ouch.