When someone thinks of diving for the first time, they usually picture a hot sun sitting over white sandy beaches, brightly colored fish, and crystal clear warm waters. And if you are lucky enough to live in one of these locations, good for you. However, many of us live in locations where the water is cold, the weather is cloudy, and the water may be murky. So it is quite normal that many people ask if cold water diving is really worh it and if there is anything to see. In short I can say that it depends on the person, but in short yes, it is definitely worth it.

I started diving 10 years ago on the northern Califonria coast and it is still where I have the majority of my dives. The water here is pretty cold (48f-54f) and is quite often very murkey with visibility ranging from a few feet on bad days to about 40 feet on good days. The oceans can also be quite volatile with large surge and waves one day and completely calm oceans the next. On top of this you will need additional gear not required to dive in tropical areas. You will need a thick wetsuit or drysuit, boots, gloves, and a hoodie. You will also need to wear quite a bit of weight to comensate for all of that extra neoprene. The extra weight and cumbersomeness of the gear makes getting to the water more difficult. Now I know what you are thinking, nope, cold water diving isn’t worth it. And after reading the above paragraph I know it must seem that way. But read on and I will explain why diving in places like the California coast can be an amazing experience.

First off lets cover the difficulties. Learning to dive and training in a slightly rougher environment will help you become a better diver. If you learn to dive in rough waters with low visability and a lot of heavy gear, then diving in tropical waters really does seem like a vacation. It can be difficult at first, but you will gain a level of confidence that can really help improve your diving career.

It is true that there is a lack of clearity compared to the tropical waters. This is something that you get used to. Once advantage of murky waters is that you learn to search for smaller organisms. Due to murky waters you are forced to look harder and this allows you to find a lot of life you might not otherwise get a chance to see. When the waters are clear and you get great visibility then you really due gain an appreciation for diving in cold water. Seeing the sun rays break through a kelp forest at 60 feet in the Channel Islands is still one of my top 5 dives.

So what about life and things to see, that’s why we are there right? Believe it or not cold water has ana amazingly large variety of life. There is also a large variety of plant life. You don’t get the bright colors you do with tropical waters, but I believe there is actually more life. it is just harder to see. To get a feel of what some of the life may look like and the clearity of waters when they are good, check out the Monterey Bay Aqarium. They also have a number of web cams setup to view their various exhibits.

Now I can honestly say that I am someone who hates the cold. I get cold very easily and diving without the right gear can take the fun right out of diving cold water. However, wetsuit and drysuits are getting warmer and more flexible ever year. If you get cold very easily as I do, then I recommend that you get a drysuit. It will make diving cold water much funner.

I would love to hear everyone’s experiences with diving cold water as well. Please feel free to leave comments. If you found this article useful, please subscribe to my rss feed for similar content

I recently wrote an article on Enzine articles titled “Choosing Gear For Your Scuba Island Vacation“. The article is mainly about choosing your gear if you are an avid travel, but also covers what you should take/not take. I plan to write more articles in the future and will be sure to post links to them on the scuba island whenever I do. I hope it is helpful in helping you plan for your next trip.

• Affordable Scuba Diving Trips – … travel destinations like Thailand and Australia are still out of your price range, remember that an area that continually ranks among the top 10 Scuba destinations in the world is right here in the United States – The Florida Keys. …

• Into the Blue – Thousands of scuba destinations to pick from. A recent study by Forbes Traveler revealed the best underwater sights in the world to help narrow down the choices: Palau tops the list for most diversity in sights. …

• Best Scuba Diving Locations for Beginners – Bonaire a small island off of the coast of Venezuela in the Dutch Caribbean is generally recognized by Scuba professionals and Dive magazines as one of the top Scuba destinations worldwide. All of Bonaire’s waters have been legally …

• The Best 10 Diving Destinations in the world – But with 70 percent of the globe consisting of water, and thousands of scuba destinations around the world, even the pickiest travelers will have trouble narrowing it down. So put aside your nautical maps and read on, because we’ve …

• World’s 10 best scuba spots (MSNBC) – But with 70 percent of the globe consisting of water, and thousands of scuba destinations around the world, even the pickiest travelers will have trouble narrowing it down. Continue… LOS ANGELES—-PeopleSupport, Inc. , a leading offshore …

• Top 10 Caribbean Island Desinations – According to The Orbitz Insider Index, a monthly, in-depth look at travel trends from an industry insider’s perspective, the most popular….

Scuba diving is not only a great sport, but is now also something that has the potential to help improve and maintain the condition of our oceans. When you visit diviing areas let them know what you think about the quality of the ocean and reefs. Keep this in mind when planning your next scuba destination.

You can find the full article on USA Today here.