World's Best Cold-Water Dives

We've compiled a list of the world's best cold-water dives — plus the scuba regulator you'll need to dive in this environment.

1. Channel Islands, California

“For frequency, Santa Cruz is hard to beat,” says Chris Callahan. The manager of the Santa Barbara-based dive shop Truth Aquatics has just been asked which of the Channel Islands delivers the best odds for sea lion and harbor seal encounters. The area is also home to some of the country’s most stunning underwater scenery: Like fairy-tale beanstalks, the ropes of kelp climb 80, sometimes 100 feet, to the surface — and on a clear day, nothing’s more magical than watching these curtains part, revealing a bright-orange garibaldi, bat nose ray or leopard shark.

2. Port Hardy - British Columbia, Canada

You’ll hop a plane, car and ferry to reach this outpost on the northwestern tip of Vancouver Island, but the diving at sites such as Browning Wall and God’s Pocket is spectacular enough to warrant the arduous trek. Start with a garden of color — spiny red sea urchins, orange tunicates, purple hydrocorals. Then add massive fish, from wolf eels to red Irish lord sculpins. Finish with the charismatic creatures, including seals and Pacific octopuses.

3. Bergen, Norway

“I can never decide which is better,” says underwater photographer Christian Skauge of the 381-foot M/V Ferndale freighter and the 98-foot rescue steamer Parat — two World War II wrecks 4 feet apart off the coast of Bergen, Norway. Parat came to assist after Ferndale crashed into a rock, but an air raid sent both sinking. This area is also home to two additional wrecks, including Frankenwald, a pristinely preserved 400-foot German freighter. And while the wrecks enjoy most of the attention, the kelp forests also warrant visiting. At Kelp Canyon, the plants aren’t vertical curtains like those of California, but rather like cornfields sheltering thousands of species, including sea stars and cod. Note that late January to early February is the ideal travel time, offering visibility of 100 feet and beyond.

4. Passamaquoddy Bay, Maine

The Bay of Fundy, the rabbit-eared inlet between Maine’s east coast and the west side of Nova Scotia, is legendary for a 25-foot tidal range, which packs currents up to 12 knots. “The currents force-feed nutrients into the surrounding environs,” says underwater photographer and local resident Jonathan Bird. Purple, pink and yellow tealia anemones carpet the rocks. The invertebrate life here includes a few arctic species, including winged sea stars living alongside spiny sun and blood stars.

5. Scapa Flow, United Kingdom

“Scapa often gets mislabeled as a techie place, but one of the things we’re blessed with is that all our wrecks fall within 130 feet,” says instructor Kieran Hatton of Scapa Flow, the bay surrounded by the Orkney Islands off Scotland’s northeast tip. Hatton, who works for Scapa Scuba, is referring to the 52 ships scuttled by the Germans on June 21, 1919. The sunken fleet includes four light cruisers, including the 510-footlong SMS Coln, the group’s most intact. With anchor chains and easily accessible swim-throughs, says Hatton, “it’s instant shipwreck gratification.”

6. Bonne Terre Mine, Missouri

“The No. 1 appeal here is consistency,” says Doug Goergens of the Bonne Terre Mine, the dive resort he owns an hour’s drive south of St. Louis. This former lead ore repository became a divers’ haven in 1962 when the pumps were shut off, creating 17 miles of underwater trails. Water temperatures stay at 62 degrees F, and 100 feet of visibility is standard. Trails are numbered one to 50; after divers have been checked off with an instructor on the introductory sites, they can explore the higher numbers.

7. Bell Island - Newfoundland, Canada

Even without the handful of frozen-in-time WWII shipwrecks, Newfoundland presents a compelling argument for visiting: The cool Labrador Current merges with the warmer Gulf Stream, creating a habitat where you’re as likely to encounter humpback whales as passing icebergs. As for the ships: In fall 1942, German U-boats escorted a half-dozen to the bottom off Bell Island, including the ore carrier Evelyn B., SS Saganaga, 455- foot SS Lord Strathcona, 455-foot SS Rose Castle and the 400-foot PLM 27. Of them, Rose Castle is the deepest at 100 feet, and the most preserved. Its most impressive sights include the 12-foot anti-submarine gun, the telegraph, the radio room, and the still-hanging rigging, now covered in soft corals and anemones.

8. Rainbow Warrior, New Zealand

On July 10, 1985, Rainbow Warrior, then the flagship of Greenpeace, became New Zealand’s most prized wreck when French saboteurs bombed and sank it off Matauri Bay in the Cavalli Islands, just off the country’s northernmost tip. The 131-foot ship is largely intact, lying amid a current that satiates the neon-orange and fuchsia jewel anemones and patches of kelp knitted into the bow’s crannies. Large openings allow for easy penetration into the mess hall and engine room, now packed with big-eyes and snapper. The site is 89 feet at its deepest, giving divers time to swim the ship’s exterior passageways.

9. Fathom Five National Marine Park, Tobermory, Canada

“The Arabia is virtually intact — like everything else that’s down there,” says Lynn Graham, owner of Divers Den in Tobermory, of the 132-foot sailing barque, part of the sunken fleet, 22 strong, at Fathom Five National Marine Park. Find it almost due east of Alpena, Michigan, across Lake Huron, at the mouth of the Georgian Bay. Highlights of Arabia include its windlass, battering-ram-like bowsprit, anchors still resting in their cradles, and the artifacts littering the vessel.

10. Thunder Bay, Alpena, Michigan

The wrecks contained within Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary date back 200 years, and include 25 sailing vessels, 35 motor-powered ships and seven barges. The Great Lakes in general proved difficult for captains, and this section of coastline around Alpena, Michigan — the northwestern tip of the lower peninsula — is especially wrought. The most requested sites include the 1875-sunk Cornelia B. Windiate, a 138-foot wooden schooner with three masts still aimed toward the heavens, and the 296-foot Grecian, a 1906- sunk steel steamer where the midships has collapsed.

Gear Up

You'll need at least a 7mm cold-water wetsuit to dive many of these sites; most likely, you'll want a drysuit for many of them. In addition, you'll need a reg that's built for the harsh conditions of a cold-water environment. This impressive reg was a Best Buy when ScubaLab tested it, thanks to its excellent breathing-simulator and real-world breathing scores. Cressi combined a classic design with the latest technology when it made this reg. It delivers consistent intermediate pressure and high performance, even with low tank pressure. The pneumatically balanced second stage delivers smooth airflow in a compact package.