Know these waters

Broward County, FL

Home waters of Ocean Verdict. Three coral reef lines run parallel to the coast with a wreck corridor between them, warm Gulf Stream water, and boat or shore access up and down the beach.

Broward County, FL

Florida's shore-diving town: swim out from Datura Avenue to a living reef roughly a hundred yards off the sand, with the 1900 wreck of the SS Copenhagen — an Underwater Archaeological Preserve — just offshore.

Broward County, FL

Broward's wreck hub — Shipwreck Park's Lady Luck and a dense artificial-reef corridor sit a short boat ride out, with a classic fishing pier on the sand.

Broward County, FL

A classic South Florida fishing pier over clean, family-friendly sand, with nearshore hardbottom for calm-day snorkeling just north.

Broward County, FL

The quieter sand just south of Port Everglades, with a fishing pier and easy parking — a locals' beach day more than a scene.

Broward County, FL

A two-and-a-half-mile oceanfront Broadwalk with old-Florida beach-town energy and gentle, lifeguarded swimming.

Miami-Dade County, FL

Wide white sand under the Art Deco skyline with warm, swimmable water most of the year — more scene than solitude, but the ocean here is genuinely lovely.

Miami-Dade County, FL

Barrier-island calm off Miami: Crandon Park's shallow flats and seagrass, a historic lighthouse at Bill Baggs, and steady breeze that makes this a windsports haunt.

Riviera Beach, FL

One of the most famous shore dives in the United States: a shallow site under the bridge at Phil Foster Park where seahorses, frogfish, octopus, and rays turn up on a single tank. Dive it on the slack of high tide.

Riviera Beach, FL

A snorkel lagoon ringed by riprap in the Lake Worth Inlet — clearest on the incoming tide, full of juvenile reef fish, with boat-up sandbar culture on weekends.

Palm Beach County, FL

Drift-diving country — the Gulf Stream runs close here, so boats drop divers on Breakers Reef and pick them up down-current. Goliath grouper gather on the county's wrecks in late summer.

Palm Beach County, FL

One of Palm Beach County's best fishing piers on an uncrowded beach; sea-turtle nesting is heavy here in summer, with the Loggerhead Marinelife Center just up the road.

Jupiter, FL

Serious diver water: deep ledges drift-dived in Gulf Stream current, lemon sharks in winter, and goliath grouper aggregations at the wrecks in late summer. The inlet and jetty fish hard year-round.

Boca Raton, FL

A manicured city beach with a shallow snorkel reef right off the sand — an easy first snorkel, with parrotfish and sergeant majors in a few feet of water.

Stuart, FL

A natural worm-reef breakwater turns this Treasure Coast beach into a calm snorkel lagoon at lower tides — the classic easy snorkel north of Palm Beach.

St. Lucie County, FL

An uncrowded inlet state park with a punchy jetty wave and lobster-rich ledges offshore; the National Navy UDT-SEAL Museum sits just up the dune.

Upper Keys, FL

The self-titled Dive Capital of the World and gateway to the Florida Reef — Molasses, French Reef, and the Spiegel Grove wreck all run from its docks.

Key Largo, FL

America's first undersea park. Snorkel boats run to shallow spur-and-groove coral and the Christ of the Abyss statue at Key Largo Dry Rocks.

off Key Largo, FL

One of the most-dived reefs in Florida: shallow spur-and-groove inside a Sanctuary Preservation Area, thick with grunts and parrotfish — mooring-ball only.

Upper Keys, FL

Sportfishing capital of the world by its own sign — backcountry tarpon and offshore sailfish — with Alligator Reef's lighthouse and the Eagle wreck for divers.

off Marathon, FL

A lighthouse-marked Sanctuary Preservation Area off Marathon with some of the Keys' best shallow coral — mooring-ball only, and usually glassy on summer mornings.

off Big Pine Key, FL

The Lower Keys' showpiece spur-and-groove reef, named for HMS Looe (wrecked 1744) — home of July's Underwater Music Festival and some very large resident barracuda.

Bahia Honda Key, FL

Routinely ranked among America's best beaches — Calusa and Sandspur sands flanking the old railroad bridge, with calm-day snorkeling right off shore.

Lower Keys, FL

The end of the road: Fort Zachary Taylor's rocky snorkel beach, the Vandenberg wreck seven miles out, and flats fishing in every direction.

west of Key West, FL

Seventy miles west of Key West by ferry or seaplane, Fort Jefferson rises out of gin-clear water — moat-wall snorkeling with almost no crowd once the day boat leaves.

Collier County, FL

Powder sand and Gulf-flat water with dolphins working the shoreline at golden hour — Naples sunsets are the whole point.

Lee County, FL

Shelling capital of the United States — the island's east–west curve catches Gulf shells by the ton. Go at low tide after a front.

Estero Island, FL

Seven miles of firm Gulf sand on Estero Island, with big tidal flats at the north end and calm, shallow swimming.

Venice, FL

Shark-tooth capital of the world: fossil teeth wash onto these beaches constantly, and divers sift the offshore fossil beds for megalodon teeth.

Sarasota, FL

Sand that is almost pure quartz — it stays cool underfoot — on a beach regularly voted the best in America. Bathtub-calm most summer days.

Pinellas County, FL

Postcard Gulf water off a lively promenade — Pier 60's sunset festival runs nightly, and dolphins work the pass.

Pinellas County, FL

Wide, warm, and reliably calm — with Pass-a-Grille's old-Florida south end and the sandbars of Shell Key a short paddle away.

Citrus County, FL

The only place in the United States where you can legally swim with wild manatees — hundreds gather in the 72-degree springs of Kings Bay each winter (roughly November through March).

Okaloosa County, FL

Emerald water over white quartz sand. The East Pass jetties are the Panhandle's easiest snorkel, and the charter fleet is one of Florida's largest.

Panama City Beach, FL

The protected jetty pool at St. Andrews is the Gulf's classic calm snorkel, full of juvenile reef fish, while dive charters work the wreck grounds offshore.

Santa Rosa County, FL

The quietest stretch of the Emerald Coast, with a purpose-built artificial snorkel reef a short swim off the sand and one of the Gulf's longest fishing piers.

Santa Rosa Island, FL

Sugar-white quartz sand, Fort Pickens' jetties for snorkelers — and the USS Oriskany, the world's largest artificial reef, an aircraft carrier about 22 miles out.

Brevard County, FL

Florida's most storied surf break — First Peak was the proving ground for generations of Florida pros — and an equally famous snook and redfish inlet.

Brevard County, FL

East Coast surf headquarters: Kelly Slater's hometown break, Ron Jon's neon empire, and mellow longboard waves most of the year.

Volusia County, FL

The most consistent wave in Florida, breaking off Ponce Inlet's south jetty — and, famously, more recorded shark bites than anywhere on earth (nearly all minor).

Volusia County, FL

Hard-packed sand you can still drive on, a big ocean pier, and forgiving beginner surf.

St. Johns County, FL

America's oldest city with a proper beach town across the bridge — consistent surf around the pier and A Street, and long walkable sand.

Duval County, FL

Wide, flat Atlantic sand with a long fishing pier and one of Northeast Florida's most consistent surf zones.

San Diego, CA

San Diego's marine-protected jewel: garibaldi and sea lions in the shallows, sea caves along the bluff, and (in season) leopard sharks a short walk north at the Shores. No take of any kind.

San Diego, CA

A gentle sand entry sloping to the canyon drop-off — nearly every San Diego diver's first shore dive — with harmless leopard sharks schooling in the warm shallows of late summer.

Coronado, CA

Coronado's main town beach, a long sweep of sand along Ocean Boulevard running north from the Hotel del Coronado, with fire rings for bonfires. Mica in the sand catches the light. On summer days from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. the city reserves this water for swimming, no hard boards, with marked surf zones at the beach's two ends.

San Diego, CA

San Diego's mile-long surf beach, broken by rock jetties and running north to the off-leash sand of Dog Beach at its north end. The 1966 pier has stayed closed since storm damage in 2023, and the city plans a full replacement rather than a repair.

San Diego, CA

A sandy beach centered on Crystal Pier, part public fishing pier and part over-water hotel cottages. It is one of San Diego's busiest beaches, with Ocean Front Walk running the sand south toward Mission Beach and both surfing and swimming happening right off the sand.

San Diego, CA

A 68-acre bluff park on Point Loma with sea caves and a long string of named surf breaks below crumbling sandstone cliffs. The Ladera Street stairs lead down to the water and its tide pools from a bluff with a documented history of sudden collapse.

Encinitas, CA

A right point over rocky reef, a rarity in San Diego County, below the bluff where the Self-Realization Fellowship's hermitage stands. A staircase drops from Seaside Park to the beach, and the reef sits inside a marine conservation area that allows hook-and-line fishing from shore and spearfishing for white seabass, yellowtail and other listed pelagic species.

off Mission Beach, San Diego, CA

A cluster of scuttled ships a few miles off Mission Beach, reached only by dive boat. The Canadian destroyer HMCS Yukon flooded and sank a day early in rough weather, settling onto her side in 100 feet of water near the Coast Guard cutter Ruby E.

Avalon, Catalina Island, CA

The nation's first underwater dive park (established 1965): giant kelp, bright-orange garibaldi, and stairs-in entry beside Avalon's landmark Casino. Glass-calm on most summer mornings.

Laguna Beach, CA

Laguna's classic easy entry: rocky reef fingers off a small sand cove, all inside a no-take marine reserve.

Newport Coast, CA

Three miles of bluff-backed coves between Laguna and Newport — an underwater park with kelp and rocky reef for snorkelers who swim past the sand.

Orange County, CA

Surf City USA — the US Open of Surfing runs beside this pier — with miles of forgiving beach break and fire pits down at Bolsa Chica.

Malibu, CA

First Point Malibu is the archetypal California longboard wave, peeling for hundreds of yards on a south swell — lagoon, pier, and all.

Channel Islands National Park, CA

Boat-access kelp forests in the national park and marine sanctuary — Anacapa's Landing Cove is the classic first California kelp dive, thick with garibaldi and sea lions.

San Carlos Beach, Monterey, CA

Where half of California learned to dive: an easy walk-in beside the breakwater into kelp and metridium anemones, with a sea-lion colony that will absolutely buzz you.

Carmel, CA

Reservation-only diving in one of the country's oldest marine reserves — pristine kelp forest off Whalers Cove that regulars call the best shore dive in California.

Santa Cruz, CA

The heavy heart of NorCal surfing: long right points off the cliffs at Lighthouse Point, sea otters in the kelp, and the Santa Cruz Surfing Museum in the lighthouse itself.

North Shore, Oʻahu, HI

One of the world's most famous big-wave breaks, home to the Eddie Aikau invitational when winter surf turns giant. Summer calms the bay for swimming and snorkeling.

Honolulu, Oʻahu, HI

Where surfing met the world: Canoes and Queens still peel gently for first-timers, and Duke Kahanamoku's statue watches over the sand.

Oʻahu, HI

Oʻahu's flagship snorkel — a flooded volcanic crater packed with reef fish. Reservations are required and it's closed early in the week; take the first morning slot.

North Shore, Oʻahu, HI

A boulder-rimmed cove that's world-class snorkeling in summer — and completely unswimmable once winter's North Shore surf arrives (roughly October through April).

ʻEhukai Beach, Oʻahu, HI

The most famous wave on earth breaks over shallow reef a stone's throw from the sand at ʻEhukai Beach — a spectator sport in winter, a swimmable beach in summer.

West Oʻahu, HI

The power plant's warm-water outflow draws reef fish, spinner dolphins, and turtles into strikingly clear water — a swim-out snorkel best on calm mornings.

Maui, HI

South Maui's leeward coast: Kamaole's easy sand, morning-glass snorkeling at the rocky points between beaches, and boats leaving for Molokini at dawn.

off South Maui, HI

A sunken crescent crater about three miles off Maui with some of Hawaiʻi's clearest water inside the bowl — boat-only, best on the first trip of the morning.

West Maui, HI

A marine life conservation district with lush coral along both arms of the bay in summer — and one of the Pacific's great pointbreaks when winter swell wraps in.

Big Island, HI

The coral shelf at the Captain Cook monument drops into deep, glassy blue — some of the Big Island's clearest water, reached by permitted kayak, tour boat, or a steep trail.

Big Island, HI

A lava-shelf entry — two natural steps into the water — beside Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau park: glassy morning water, dense coral, and frequent spinner dolphins.

Kauaʻi, HI

Kauaʻi's sunny south side: a toddler-calm lagoon, green sea turtles hauling out on the point, and gentle surf on the outside.

North Shore, Kauaʻi, HI

A horseshoe reef beneath Makana's peak on Kauaʻi's north shore — summer-only snorkeling through the reef's lava tubes and channels.

Outer Banks, NC

A fishing pier on the Outer Banks since 1939, now a 1,000-foot concrete platform run by the North Carolina Aquariums. The open beach on both sides has a real surf break along the pilings, with rip currents strong enough that the town can close the water by ordinance.

Buxton, Outer Banks, NC

The East Coast's wave magnet, set in the Graveyard of the Atlantic's wreck country — 4x4 sand driving, the old lighthouse, and big red drum in the fall.

Wilmington, NC

North Carolina's tidiest beach town, with year-round surf culture and warm Gulf Stream-influenced water well into fall.

Crystal Coast, NC

One of the East Coast's great wreck-diving hubs: the U-352, the Spar, and sand tiger sharks hanging in the wheelhouses, in Gulf Stream blue 20-plus miles out.

Charleston, SC

Charleston's laid-back surf beach — the Washout is South Carolina's best-known wave — with a long fishing pier and a shrimp-boat horizon.

Savannah, GA

Savannah's beach: wide sand, a historic lighthouse, dolphins in the sound, and warm, shallow water.

Eastham, MA

The outer beaches are raw Atlantic — long dune walks and real waves. Seals crowd the lineup (and white sharks follow them; swim near lifeguards and heed the flags).

Block Island, RI

Block Island's main swimming beach, a long stretch of ocean-side sand on Crescent Beach. The town's renovated beach pavilion runs lifeguards and rents chairs and umbrellas in season.

Queens, NY

New York City's only legal surfing beach: a mostly left-hand beach break off the sand near Beach 90th Street, inside a stretch the city opened to surfing in 2005. The Beach 90th Street subway stop is a short walk inland, so a good day draws a crowd.

Cape Ann, MA

Granite-walled Folly Cove is the North Shore's classic cold-water dive — kelp, lobsters, and flounder minutes from Gloucester's dive shops.

Cape May, NJ

The nation's oldest seaside resort, with more than two miles of tag beaches along a beachfront Promenade. Surfing is permitted at guarded stands including The Cove and Poverty Beach on its two ends.

Jamestown, RI

New England's teaching shore dive: granite coves sheltered from the current, with tautog, lobsters, and — by late summer — warm-water strays riding up on the Gulf Stream.

Long Island, NY

The End: New York's surf town, with Ditch Plains' long rights and a striped-bass run that owns the fall.

Manasquan Inlet, NJ

Jersey Shore classic — boardwalk, inlet jetties, party boats — and the launch point for New Jersey's underrated Atlantic wreck-diving grounds.

Worcester County, MD

Ten miles of Atlantic sand with a nearly three-mile boardwalk, and the White Marlin Open — the world's richest billfish tournament — running out of its inlet every August.

Virginia Beach, VA

A three-mile boardwalk, reliable family water, and the East Coast Surfing Championships — running here since the 1960s.

Mustang Island, TX

One of the Texas coast's drive-on beaches, where cars park along the sand past the 1,240-foot Horace Caldwell Pier on the way to the jetties at the ship channel.

Baldwin County, AL

Alabama's sugar-sand shore, anchored by the Gulf State Park pier and one of the country's largest artificial-reef programs offshore.

Galveston Island, TX

Texas' historic beach city — miles of brown-sugar sand below the seawall boulevard, with jetty fishing where the ship channel meets the Gulf.

Cameron County, TX

The clearest water on the Texas coast, with steady Laguna Madre wind that makes it a kiteboarding capital and bay flats full of redfish.

~100 miles off the TX/LA coast

Salt-dome coral reefs a hundred miles into the open Gulf — a national marine sanctuary with manta rays, summer whale sharks, and August's synchronized coral spawn. Liveaboard territory.

Edmonds, WA

Puget Sound's dedicated dive park: sunken structures thick with lingcod and giant plumose anemones — and the occasional giant Pacific octopus. Cold, rich, green water.

Grays Harbor, WA

Washington's surf town, where the harbor jetty shapes the state's most consistent wave and charter boats run for salmon and albacore.

Clatsop County, OR

Haystack Rock stands in the intertidal — tufted puffins nest on it in late spring and early summer — over miles of moody, walkable Oregon sand. Wetsuit water year-round.

Seward, AK

Glacier-fed Resurrection Bay is Alaska's marine playground — silver-salmon derbies, sea otters and puffins on every boat ride, and drysuit diving for the hardy.