By Mike Hughes
Writer, Dive News Network

Padre Island is the second longest island in the United States. The north end of the island is home to the Padre Island National Seashore. There is close to 70 miles of hiking trails and beachfront where 380 species of birds migrate yearly and where sea turtle science and recovery has led to the re-introduction of kemp’s ridley, leatherbacks, loggerheads and hawksbill sea turtles. It is also home of the Malaquite Visitor Center where you can find out more about local inhabitants and so much more.

As for recreational activities and the best diving sites in general, the south island area is the ultimate destination for annual diver migrations.  I asked a representative of American Diving, a scuba instructor college located in the area, what the top three spots off South Padre Island, (SPI), were. He said that the number one site had to be the Texas Clipper. This 473 ft. long ship was sunk as an artificial reef on November 17, 2007. It currently rests on its port side at 60 to 130 ft. There has been a lot of growth on the wreck in the last five years, and besides all the big ling and snapper, the latest family to move in and take up residence on the ship is a family of stingrays. The ship is so big that you can’t see it all even on a couple of dives. Not only that, but while you are looking at tropical fish on one end of the ship, divers in the middle may be watching dolphins catching bait fish right above them, and at the other end of the ship divers are busy photographing invertebrates and oblivious to the silhouette of a passing whale shark; so no two divers or groups of divers, ever experience a dive on the Texas Clipper quite the same way. This is why diving here has become the number one attraction in town.

Before four million was spent on the cleanup and removal of 700 tons of metal and debris from the ship to ensure it would be creature and diver friendly, the Texas Clipper served as the USTS Queens as an attack transport to carry troops to Iwo Jima and wounded away from the island during WWII. It was also part of the occupation force in Sasebo, Japan. From 1948-58 the ship was converted to a cruise liner as the USS Excambien with the American Export Lines, and carried passengers and cargo to the Mediterranean. In 1965 it was loaned to the Texas Maritime Academy at Texas A&M University in Galveston where it was used for 30 years as a merchant marine training vessel. This explains the big A&M lettering on the sunken ship.

Besides the Texas Clipper, sometimes charters will do a second or third “tons of steel dive” at one of two iron reefs such as the gas rig Little Sara at 105 ft. or Seana’s Rig at 126 ft. Both of these rigs have tons of life on the horizontal beams at 35-65 ft., so whether you want to find damsels, sergeant majors, or octopus, just look around the horizontal beams. Pelagics are known to swim around the rigs on a routine basis: up to and including whale sharks. Los Torres is another well-known oilrig, but at 240 ft. this is a tech dive. Expect to see pelagics such as amberjacks, hammerheads, silky, and white tip sharks here.
Some other (SPI) wrecks you may wish to see include the shimper boats Deep Six, Pat’s wreck, and the Dona Nelly. Deep Six is an 82 ft. long boat at 60 ft. 11 miles from shore where rays, red snapper, and turtles are usually spotted. Pat’s Wreck is an 80 ft. shrimper 22 miles off shore at 138 ft. Dona Nelly has a deck at 85 ft. and descends to135 ft. The Albatross wasn’t a shrimper, but this boat went down 80-105 ft. with machinery cargo and 10,000 lbs. of shrimp.

For other wrecks that are really big, but might take a two day dive trip to explore, you have the (Mustang Island) three 441.6 ft. long liberty ships 18 nm from Port Aransas up north which include the Conrad Weiser, the Rachel Jackson, and the Charles A. Dana. You can visit the three Port Mansfield liberty ships 23 nm from SPI or 15 nm from Port Mansfield which include the Edward W. Scripps, the Joshua Thomas, and the George L. Farely at 96-100 ft., in addition to 9 rigs to reef structures down at 50-60 ft. Tarpon, tigers, black tips, grouper, and cobia are found at these sites.

Last but not least, we have the Texas Underwater Park, which has tugboats, 2 oilrigs, a US navy work barge, and 32 reef balls 65-73 ft. underwater.

As for natural reefs, the Sponge Gardens is a seamount at 150 ft. deep so out of reach for most divers, but 7 Fathom Reef is made up from a series of four distinct rises and at 24-45 ft.  This sandstone area 2 miles offshore was an ice age coastal fresh water lake when local waters were 350 ft. lower than they are today. Mammoth, mastodon, and fresh water snails can be found imbedded in the stone substrate. Invertebrates such as tubeworms, sponges, bryozoans, mollusks, and crustaceans now call this place home.

As for shore dives, they say you can find sand dollars in Dolphin Cove, and numerous critters around any of the jetties, but the truth is that the vis can get really low next to shore unless blue waters have moved in next to the coast line. Hence, the visibility is usually better the farther out from shore you go and that’s why dive boats, charter boats, and private boats are so popular here.

Another thing to keep in mind with diving South Padre Island is that you may want to set aside at least a day off from diving, as there are so many other local activities to do. Families love the Schlitterbahn Beach Water Park. It’s a tropical theme park with a variety of splash rides, a lazy river, and white sand beaches. You may also want to take a dolphin tour or visit the Dolphin Research and Sea Life Nature Center. Sea Turtle Inc. Rescues, recovers, and rejuvenates unfortunate sea turtles. You can see the turtles close up and personal, or help with their hatch and release program. South Padre Island has a Birding and Nature Center as well as an Island Equestrian Center; horse riding on the beach anyone? You can even walk on the 1,500 ft. long Laguna Madre Nature Trail boardwalk and name the migratory birds, but don’t try to count them.

As you can see from the list, you could spend a week on the boat and not see all the dive sites, you could spend a week on shore and not see all the land sites, and maybe that’s why, besides the birds and turtles, so many people return here on an annual basis.

You can drive here from Houston like many dive clubs and dive shops do, or you can fly into Brownsville at the BRO International Airport and drive across the Isabella causeway to South Padre Island. Either way, have a great time and great dives. ■

By Bruce Watkins

While the entirety of California offers spectacular opportunities for divers and other water enthusiasts, the San Diego area stands out among the best of the best. San Diego County is the most southern of the California counties, and is bordered by Mexico to the south and Orange and Riverside Counties to the north. San Diego is all about sun, sea, beaches, wrecks, animals, and affordable entertainment.

San Diego has nearly perfect weather. The average daily temperature is a wonderful 70° F, while average winter low is only 48° F, and the average summer high is a comfortable 77°. The area only gets about 10 inches of rain each year, making it a Mediterranean climate near the coast and nearly a desert inland. Its many picturesque beaches attract sun worshipers, and its calm waters draw sailors, boaters and divers from around the world.

Those seeking creature comforts can find gourmet and quality, affordable dining establishments throughout the San Diego area, but some of the more interesting nightclubs and restaurants are located in the Gaslamp District, near downtown and the airport, as well as in La Jolla Village. The County has a large number of prestigious colleges and universities and the combination of student culture and a thriving business community maintains both the quality and affordability of the nightlife and recreational opportunities.
For animal enthusiasts the area has one of the nation’s best collections of zoos and aquariums: Sea World, Birch Aquarium, San Diego Wild Animal Park, and the San Diego Zoo. Of course, we divers prefer to experience our animals in the wild, and this area has a lot to offer. San Diego County offers up two distinctly different reasons to dive: superb beach diving and marvelous offshore wreck diving.

Most of San Diego County sports beautiful, sandy beaches. However, this often results in a near-shore sandy bottom with the better reefs located a healthy swim from shore.  The west coasts oldest marine reserve, La Jolla Cove Ecological reserve is a designated MLP (Marine Life Protected area.  It abounds with very large fish populations harbor seals and sea lions are seen there on almost every dive. Sites like San Onofre, Carlsbad and San Elijo State Beaches have great offshore reefs that are accessible to divers with boats or kayaks, or those who enjoy long swims. The La Jolla Submarine Canyon, commonly referred to as Scripps Canyon, is best experienced by boat, but can be accessed after a 150-yard swim from the boarder of La Jolla Shores Beach where it meets Blacks Beach.  The most popular night dive in the region is the La Jolla Canyon dive right off the beach from Kellogg Park.

Besides La Jolla Cove, many accessible beach dives may be found near La Jolla Village, where divers can find a large number of stunning beaches with great diving a short swim from shore. Sites like Children’s Pool, Boomer Beach, , Goldfish Point, and Marine Room are home to a cornucopia of marine life and are comfortable sites for beginner divers and yet have enough marine life to entertain the most advanced divers and photographers. These sites have healthy kelp beds with colorful invertebrates and fish, including dozens of species of nudibranchs, spiny lobsters and arguably the ocean’s most colorful fish—the garibaldi. Goldfish Point takes its name from these, orange largest members of the damselfish family in the world. In summer large numbers of leopard and horn sharks and guitarfish migrate close to shore to allow their offspring to be born in the area’s warm summer water. Divers and snorkelers often find these sharks in shallow water, directly beneath unsuspecting swimmers and waders.

The only difficult part about diving La Jolla sites is finding a place to park. While there are plenty of parking spaces, divers share them with swimmers, sun worshipers, and picnickers and they tend to fill up early. My advice is to arrive before 7 AM on weekends or dive the area on weekdays. However, once in the water you will find the diving relaxed and less crowded.

San Diego’s second diving experience is found a mile off Mission Bay, an area that divers call Wreck Alley. This is a group of six large, famous wrecks and handful of smaller ones, most of which were cleaned and deliberately sunk as artificial reefs intended to attract fish and wreck divers. All rest in water 70 to 100 feet deep and are in a variety of conditions—the older wrecks are beginning to collapse, while the younger wrecks are mostly intact. Visibility on the wrecks ranges from 20 to 60 feet. All have been underwater long enough to have acquired a healthy coat of encrusting invertebrates, and have attracted a variety of fish.

The El Ray was a kelp harvester sunk in 1987; although her wooden superstructure has collapsed her hull is still intact. The Ruby E was a former Coast Guard Cutter is 165 feet long and was sunk in 1989. She has a long career first in 1934 as a deterrent to “Rum runners” during prohibition, later used in anti-submarine warfare during World War II, and then as a fish processor and salvage vessel. The Naval Ocean Systems Center (NOSC) tower is the only true wreck in the area and was once a naval research laboratory before it collapsed.  It has the best assortment of schooling fish found in Wreck Alley and in healthy numbers.

La Jolla Cove

One of the more popular San Diego beach dives is La Jolla Cove near downtown La Jolla. The entry is both picturesque and protected, and good, shallow diving may be found only a short distance from shore. The bottom near shore is rocky and is covered with a thick layer of kelp, most notably, feather boa kelp. This is a great place to snorkel since many garibaldi and kelp bass find homes among the swirling mass of kelp. Depths are mostly less than ten feet.

After one swims past the shallow rocks the bottom quickly drops to about twenty feet and very gradually drops to about forty feet. The rock bottom is most flat with ledges and rock piles. In the crevices within the rocky areas hide numerous lobsters, abalone and fish. Since La Jolla Cove is a reserve, none of these animals may be taken or disturbed, making this a great place to photograph game animals. Yes, they know they live in a reserve and you can’t touch them.

The low-profile rocky reef is covered with encrusting invertebrates--golden gorgonia, sponges, and tunicates. Also, along the rocks are found numerous nudibranchs, navanax, shrimps and crabs. This is a good place to find skates, horn sharks and leopard sharks in summer.

The surest way to encounter the broad nose Seven Gill Sharks and Soup Fin Sharks (Tope) at the La Jolla Cove Ecological Reserve is by hiring an experienced scuba or snorkel San Diego guide.  They will most likely introduce you to Barney the Psycho Seal that is amorous with local dive guides.

Yukon
The HMCS Yukon is the most recent addition to Wreck Alley and its most popular. This 366-foot Canadian Mackenzie Class Destroyer was cleaned and deliberately sunk by the San Diego Oceans Foundation in 2000 as an artificial reef. Multiple holes were cut into her hull to provide access to divers, and she was intended to come to rest upright. However, she prematurely foundered and now rests on her port side. The Yukon is the most intact of the wrecks, and is one of the few designed to carry people as well as cargo, so she offers more opportunity for deep penetration and getting lost.

She sits in 105 feet of water, and on average she rises about 40 feet off the bottom. The Yukon has been underwater for over a decade and the marine life is beginning to coat the wreck in a tapestry of brilliant colors. In some areas huge, white Metridium anemones cover the superstructure and deck equipment; in other spots pink and lavender Corynactis cover the metal. Countless fish find a home within her hull.

So come to San Diego for its great beach and wreck diving, stay for the many parks and great, affordable food and recreational activities. San Diego harbor is also a gateway to the spectacular diving in the Southern Channel Islands and the islands of Northern Mexico, including Guadalupe. But, that’s a story for another time. ■

By Karen Cox
Guest Writer, Dive News Network

There they were! Every time we descended they were there waiting. They were there waiting to follow us. They stalked us like jealous ex-boyfriends making sure we were not on our way to date anyone else. Sometimes they were silently behind us, and others they were right in our face as if they wanted us to acknowledge them. Sometimes they were right next to us just like a good dive buddy; but they were always there. What did they want?  Why lunch of course!

Our stalkers were the local groupers of the Cayman Brac area. Normally friendly, divers and groupers have always had a good relationship; however, these overly friendly groupers had learned if they follow the divers, they might get a free, very tasty and exotic meal; lionfish. Groupers cannot catch lionfish, but as soon as the dive master spears one, there’s a grouper right there to eat the tasty carcass. 

In March of 2011, I got the chance to dive the Cayman Brac. I often do group dive travel events with the folks at Helena Scuba in Helena, MT. The owners, Karen and Glen McKinnon, plan some fantastic trips and I have never failed to have the best time. Cayman Brac is an island that’s part of the Cayman Islands. It is located about 90 miles northeast of Grand Cayman and 5 miles east of Little Cayman. The Cayman’s a favorite destination place for the rich and famous; however, Cayman Brac has little on it that would appeal to anyone other than a diver.
This trip to the Cayman Brac was one I had scheduled for 2008 but Hurricane Paloma changed those plans. She took her toll on the island and the resort the day before we arrived so our trip was delayed until shortly after they completed re-construction. Our group of 12 people from the Helena Scuba dive shop flew to Cayman Brac in late March.  We arrived to an entirely rebuilt Brac Reef Beach Resort.

A family-owned all-inclusive getaway the Cayman Brac Resort is located on four and a half acres of white-sand beachfront on the island of Cayman Brac. Diving is their specialty, but they cater to non-divers too. We settled in comfortably and went directly to Reef Divers II for the dive orientation. 

Reef Divers is located on the Brac Reef Beach Resort property just steps from the rooms and dining hall but they are owned and operated by a different company.  The boats are newer and in great condition and our BCD’s were waiting for us each morning hanging on a fresh tank.  We had the same dive master most of the time during our visit to Cayman Brac. This is really important to me, because I like the concept of my dive master getting to know me as a diver and helps make for a better trip. The dive masters were fun and tried to make each dive briefing entertaining by adding some good (and bad) jokes.  One of the dive masters even brought us some fresh fried Lionfish so we could experience just what the groupers found so tasty. 

There is a lot of scuba diving to be done in the Cayman Brac area including a 330 ft. Russian Koni class frigate built in the Soviet Union in 1984 for the Cuban Navy. It is easily dived. The Koni II class frigate was purchased and sunk by the Cayman Islands government in September 1996. It was rechristened the M/V Captain Keith Tibbetts, after a well-known Cayman Brac politician when it was sunk. It is located in a sandy area with generally good visibility, approximately 650 ft. offshore from Buccaneer, on the island’s north side, near the western tip of the island. The diving around Cayman Brac is all boat diving however there is very little down time while you travel to the dive sites. There is a choice of 120 dive sites including the world-renowned Bloody Bay Wall which has been rated one of the top dives of the Caribbean.It is a sheer wall and you can look down into the abyss. Divers will discover lobster hanging out at 94 ft.Vis was about 100 ft. and there are a lot of fish along with thousands of garden eels.

The East Chute is a very popular dive site and is located on the north side of the island. This is both a wall dive and a wreck dive. The chute slices through the wall and begins at about 50 ft. The wreck diving part is the Cayman Mariner at 60 ft. This wreck was sunk in 1986. There are rays, groupers and eels that make the Chute and the Cayman Mariner their home. The vis was about 70 ft. Another site everyone talks about is the Inside Out. This is a section of wall on the south side of the island. Among the sand chutes and large sponges you will discover a coral head in about 50 ft. of water. Divers can take this dive all the way to 96 ft. and see great marine life darting along the wall. Both of these dives are fairly easy so all levels of divers will enjoy them. The crystal clear water helps you to appreciate the beauty of the underwater area.Five days just wasn’t enough!

The Brac Reef Beach Resort provides a full meal package and I highly recommend choosing that package.  There is almost nothing on Cayman Brac so your dining choices are limited and many locals even come to eat at Brac Reef.  The food was buffet style with many different choices plus dessert every night and everything was fabulous!  The wait staff was so personable and even knew the names of everyone in our group after only a day.  After a fun day of diving there is a nice beach bar with appetizers for purchase and a warm fresh water pool to soak the salt out of your skin.Comfortable lodging, friendly people, good food, great drinks, and superb diving all come together at Brac Reef Beach Resort for a pleasant dive vacation.

Editor’s Note:
Karen Cox is an avid diver as well as a real estate professional for Windermere Real Estate in Oak Harbor, WA.

Some dive businesses believe absolutely everyone should be able to dive and while the thought is great, wouldn’t it be even better to put that concept into action? You know…like A-1 Scuba and the Denver Aquarium have? That’s right the Denver Aquarium along with a dive shop, an icon in their community of Englwood, Colarado, are putting action behind the concept and it is turning out lots of new divers.

Shane Taylor, son of Scott Taylor who is the owner of A-1 Scuba is pretty proud of the program his third generation dive shop has with the local aquarium. The two dive industry leaders have developed a program offering different types of diving to the landlocked community. “A lot of people here have never even seen the ocean,” says Taylor. “With the Dive Downtown program folks can not only dive in an ocean-like atmosphere but they can also see a great number of ocean animals they would never see in one place at the same time.”

The Dive Downtown program was developed in 2006 and Todd Hall, the Corporate Dive Safety Officer for the Denver Aquarium says that A-1 Scuba was the perfect choice as a partner for the program. “Our relationship with A-1 Scuba has been great,” says Hall. “As a partner for this program A-1 Scuba has been the best choice. They have over 50 years of history in the dive community in Denver and they are very professional in the way that they operate. They support everything we do here. They believe in a solid foundation and that has helped the program develop over the years.”

Hall and Taylor agree that the programs offered at the aquarium are unique to the dive industry. “The program has evolved a lot from it’s beginnings and it is very successful today,” says Hall. “Our programs bring both divers and regular folks who maybe are just getting into diving the opportunity to get up close to animals that you would normally have to travel far and wide to see.” Taylor adds that there are many different programs and that divers of all experience levels will find something here. “It is a truly unique experience,” Taylor says.

The Dive Downtown offers a variety of programs. There are a number of public programs within the Divedowntown program that A-1 Scuba is a part of. There is “Swim with the Fish” where folks get to experience a snorkeling adventure right in the heart of Denver. Experience what it’s like to swim with a 400 lb. Queensland Grouper, Moray Eels, red drums, nurse sharks and 400 other exotic underwater animals in the Under the Sea exhibit. There’s “Dive with the Fish” where divers get to the complete diving experience seeing marine animals that they would not normally see together in one place. Perhaps the most exciting program is the

“Dive with the Sharks” program where divers get to get up close and personal with large sea turtles, saw fish and a large variety of sharks. Divers swim with Sand Tiger sharks, Brown sharks, Zebra sharks, barracudas and Guitar Fish and all while being under the watchful eyes of the professionals at A-1 Scuba.

“We provide a safe environment here and your loved ones can watch you dive as you do it,” Hall adds. “We all love what we do here and we love the fact that we are able to partner with A-1 Scuba to make this program work.”

Taylor adds that A-1 Scuba is involved in a number of instructional courses at the aquarium as well including PADI specialty training. “We are the only dive shop that works with the aquarium and we are a full service facility ourselves,” Taylor says. “We enjoy our partnership with the aquarium too and hope to be working with them within these programs for a very long time to come. For more info visit www.Divedowntown.com or www.A-1scuba.reachlocal.com. ■