When it comes to choices, Boston has plenty of activities to choose from. You can visit the USS Constitution, the oldest commissioned warship afloat, and then dine at the historical Union Oyster House: America's oldest restaurant. You can visit Bunker Hill, then grab a bite and brew at the original Cheers on Beacon Street. You can mix and match by visiting Kings Chapel, the oldest continuously operating church in America across the street from the Parker Omni House Hotel, then devour a foot long Subway sandwich nearby. Or, you can travel out to Fenway Park and watch the baseballs fly by as you enjoy an all American hot dog.

If you think the fun stops on land in Boston, think again. The underwater attractions are as plentiful as the land attractions. You have tons of choices but unless you live in the Boston area, I recommend you call in sick for a few months; it's gonna take you that long to try and explore all the dive sites. In interest of helping out, however, I have made a few lists to help those of you divers who are not familiar with the area.

My short list of dive sites around the Boston area includes over 20 dive sites. My expanded list, which includes the dives around Cape Ann, has over 40 dives. Neither of these two lists includes all the possible dive sites around the islands out in the Boston Harbor so we'll leave that for another time. The topographical substrate at each site varies from pinnacles to boulders to rocks and gravel to sand and walls as well as wrecks and kelp. Needless to say Boston has a lot to offer in diversity when it comes to diving. With so much to choose from I asked local experts at a few dive shops about their three favorite dive sites and here are the results.

Captain James Sullivan of The Boston Harbor Diving Company says The Graves, Martins Ledge and the wreck of the City of Salisbury were his favorite three dives. He likes The Graves because, as he puts it, "the color of rocks, the swim through areas, the striped bass and lobsters," are plentiful. Martins Ledge offers "walls in some spots, a pinnacle that starts at 25 ft. and drops down to 60 ft. as well as Pollock, flounder, and lobster". The Wreck of the City of Salisbury is interesting for its debris field. "The Salisbury has scattered debris," says Sullivan. "The wreckage dropped off into two sections; one section is against a 25 ft. deep pinnacle that goes down to 55 ft. at the base. The bow section rests at 90 ft. and there are still gadgets and bronze items down there." It is interesting to note The City of Salisbury went down in 1938 and was a 415 ft. long freighter.

Nick Fazah from East Coast Divers likes Magnolia Rocks, Cathedral Rocks, and Pickett's Ledge. He likes the Magnolia Rocks shore dive because of the environment. "The Magnolia Rocks has boulder formations and lots of sea life," says Fazah. "I enjoy Cathedral Rocks because it's a nice easy deep shore dive at 70 to 80 ft. with big boulders and lobsters," Fazah says. "At high tide you can do a giant stride entry." Fazah says that a good boat dive is Pickett's Ledge. "There is a lot of lobsters and soft corals such as anemones," Fazah says. "From 20 ft. to 60-70 ft. there is a wall of rocks, tons of crevices and lots of marine life because it's offshore."

Mark Potter's, owner of MASS Diving, favorite dive site is Saturday Night Ledge. "The best part of the dive is between 80' to 100'. This dive site is loaded with sea anemones, northern red anemones, spider crabs, small schooling fish, and lots of different star fish like blood stars, bat stars, and sunburst stars." Mark's second favorite is Halfway Rock because it's a big rock sticking out of the water and it looks like an upside down ice cream cone. "This is a great multilevel dive from 0' to 110'. This site is loaded with marine life and beautiful orange soft corals on the back side around 80' to 110'. You just spiral around the rock. It's a very pretty dive," says Mark. Mark's third favorite site is the Dry Salvages off Rockport . "There are grooves, swim through areas and crevices. It's only 45 ft. deep and it's fun to play with the seals," Mark says. "And of course there are the lobsters". Massachusetts offers a wide variety of dive sites waiting to be explored by you!

These are just some of the local favorites but there are other wreck dives worth mentioning. The Romance, which sank in 1936 in 70-80 ft. is an interesting dive and The Kiowa, which sank in 1903 at 30-40 ft. draws a lot of divers. The Charles Haight liberty ship sank in 1946 in 45 ft. of water and the wreck of the Chester Poling, an oil tanker that sank 90 ft. of water in 1977 are both big dive destinations in the area.

For drift diving there is Broad Sound where you can drift from Nahant to Deer Island with kelp and gravel at 30 to 70 ft. Shore diving is a favorite in the Cape Ann area. When doing the shore dives one has to take parking into consideration. Marblehead Light, aka (Chadley Hovey State Park) allows no diving on the weekends so parking in the area is difficult. Norman's Woe allows residents only to park nearby so you have a long walk to get to the kelp beds in 10-35 ft. of water. At Stage Fort Park there is a fee in-season but no fee off-season. Whale Cove has no parking either but you can plan to have someone drop you off. As with all shore dives, keeping pets on leash, reducing levels of noise and leaving the area litter free will build respect and friendship with the locals keeping these areas open to divers for years to come.

Boston divers are known to go over to Deer Island, dive the coast of Maine and explore the St. Lawrence River in Canada too. Some Boston divers also frequent Dutch Springs in Pennsylvania so there are many choices when it comes to diving in the area. I met Boston divers out in the Grand Cayman, so apparently they aren't afraid to get a bit away from home either.

If you do find yourself in the Boston area and are unsure of where or with whom to dive there is one good place to go and dive with other locals. The Lobster Hunter Specialty Course is offered at local dive shops and appears to be a popular way to break into Boston area diving. You just might meet a Boston area dive buddy and have a chance to dive and dine with/on lobsters. Of course if you catch a lobster over 22 lbs., 3.5 ft. long and over 140 years old, don't eat it...you may have just won a world record. But whether or not you are into lobsters you can still join a local dive club such as the Boston Sea Rovers, Decapod Divers, or join the MIT Scuba Club to meet and buddy up with fellow divers; Boston is a great place to dive and the lobster is optional. For more information about Boston area dive clubs visit www.baystatecouncil.org. ■

Only residents from the state of Massachusettes, with a permit, can legally catch lobsters in Massachusettes waters.