Texas

Brazoria County

Divers will travel far and wide to find the best diving. But those who live in the United States have plenty of great diving on their doorstep as well, with plentiful access to the Atlantic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. From warm-water reefs to temperate seas, here are some of the top places to scuba dive in the United States.

United States

Has many wrecks for all levels of divers. Main attraction is the C-130 aircraft.

Mammoth Lake is located right off Dixie Rd. Hydrosports Scuba is the shop located on the lake. Plenty of parking at the shop or at your own covered pavilion, with the dock located right next to where you park.

The park is closed during the winter season.

Clute

Mammoth Lake

Though it's better known as a training spot for scuba divers, Twin Lakes is the perfect place to cool off without having to fight the traffic, and the crowds, in Galveston. Just 20 minutes south of downtown off the farm roads of 288, this aquifer-fed pool is clear enough for the aforementioned training and features five sunken fishing boats, a school bus and an Airstream trailer. Above ground there are floating docks, picnic tables, overnight campsites and a snack bar. Bass, catfish, turtle and perch live in the water, and if you're not there to dive admission is only $5. Just note that no alcohol or glass containers are allowed on the property. 31 acre lake, bass, catfish, turtles; 50ft deep, 20 ft viz; campsites, picnic tables, air fills; About 20 minutes from Houston, go south on hiway 288 to hiway 6, go east for 1.8 miles to the park.

Twin Lakes Scuba Park



15-minute drive south of downtown Houston

288 Lake is also known as Tiki Lake, The Reef.

288 Lake

This wreck is incredible.  For starters, it's big and the wreck is in a few pieces.  Its cause of sinking was a huge explosion in the ship.  Large schools of fish abound and hammerhead sharks are also seen.  Visibility can vary and there are some stinging corals so consider wearing a wetsuit.

The SS V.A. Fogg went down on February 1, 1972. she is over 572 feet in length.

33 miles Southeast of Freeport

V.A. Fogg



Flower Garden Banks NMS

Stetson Bank is also known as Flower Gardens.

Stetson Bank

Oil Rig dives are great dives for divers of all skill levels! Great for photography, spearfishing, fish identification, and just good old fashioned fun. Similar to diving a wreck, the rigs are covered in a variety of sea life and all sorts of critters such as barnacle, corals, blennies, gobies, a wide variety of small reef fish, schools of bait fish, and huge pelagic species such as tarpon, cobia, amberjack, and ever whale sharks.

The best way to access the Gulf of Mexico Oil Rig Platforms is by hiring a charter boat. A charter boat is a boat for hire that you can book for a group exclusively or book a single spot and join a group.

Offshore Oil-Rig  Platforms is also known as Rig Diving.

Offshore Oil-Rig  Platforms

Blue Lagoon Scuba Park outside of Huntsville, TX is a good training site.  Good for OW and Rescue training.  Great camping.

North of Huntsville. Shore entry.

Blue Lagoon Scuba Park

Large hard coral.  Manta rays are commonly sighted.  Hammerhead and whale sharks in the right season.

Out in the open Gulf of Mexico.  Mooring buoys in place.

West Flower Garden Banks is also known as Flower Garden Banks NNMS, Texas Flower Gardens.

West Flower Garden Banks

These two sites are especially interesting since in the summer time there are various tropicals such as damsels and butterflyfish, as well as game fish such as snook and sheepshead.  There is a lot of algae, barnacles, and crabs on and in the rocks, and at South Padre, I have personally seen 10 sea turtles (most of them Kemp's Ridleys, but a couple of greens too) in just and hour and a half while snorkeling there one July.

The south jetty at Port Aransas, TX (channel side) is a good shore dive/snorkeling spot for late spring to early fall with visibility in the 5-25ft. range with an incoming high tide.  Depths are about 7-14ft. along the large granite boulders.    Also the north jetty at the southern tip of South Padre Island is a good shore diving/snorkeling spot (Gulf side, but may be good channel side too) with similar visibility and depths along the rocks.

Port Aransas and South Padre Jetties

Lots of large hard coral.  Manta rays are commonly sighted.

Out in the open Gulf of Mexico.  Mooring buoys in place.

East Flower Garden Banks is also known as Flower Garden Banks NNMS, Texas Flower Gardens.

East Flower Garden Banks

The visibility of the lakes and rivers in the area vary from zero to about 2 feet year round. What makes the area unique is that if something falls into the water (and lots of stuff does) it is generally written off without a search.  We have found thousands of items over the years (outboard motors, propellers, boats, automobiles, firearms, fishing and hunting gear to name a few) so diving in these waters is never dull. There are also lots of critters (turtles, gators, garfish and catfish) which are bigger than I am you just never see them until you come into contact with them.  There is some lake diving in the northern part of the state which affords better visibility (upwards of 10 feet in places).  The most popular type of diving in the southern part of the state is offshore rig diving where we can generally achieve 25-40 feet of visibility and the rigs are like vertical reefs with a sizeable accumulation of marine life.  These decommissioned rigs have been in place for 10-20 years and it's similar to an open wreck dive. We also visit the Gardens, which is the northernmost natural coral reef in North America.



Mammoth Lake

Snorkeling and Scuba Diving at Mammoth Lake