Diving in Cold Water

Diving by country

• United Kingdom19
• Canada9
• Norway9
• Sweden9
• Ireland7
• Russia7
• United States7
• Germany5
• Denmark4
• Iceland3
• Japan3
• Argentina2
• Finland2
• Poland2
• Antarctica1
• Austria1
• Belgium1
• Faroe Islands1
• France1
• Lithuania1
• Netherlands1
• Slovenia1
• Switzerland1

Best diving in Cold Water for wrecks, big animals, beginners, macro and liveaboards

One destination per theme, picked from the species, dive types, access and site records on each destination page.

• Wrecks

  Weymouth & Portland

  United Kingdom

  Its dive sites take in 9 wrecks, including Alex Van Opstal and SS British Inventor.

• Big animals

  Skjervøy

  Norway

  Orcas, whales, dolphins and 1 more big species are all on its species list, the most of any destination here.

• Beginners

  Fehmarn

  Germany

  Rated for beginners, with mild current and shore diving. Best Jul–Aug.

• Macro

  Puget Sound

  United States

  Muck and macro diving is one of its main dive types, with octopus & cuttlefish, nudibranchs and macro critters on the species list.

• Liveaboards

  Shetland

  United Kingdom

  Dived only from liveaboards, best Jun–Aug; whales and orcas are on its species list.

When is the best time to dive Cold Water?

• Best Aug

  Åland Islands

  Finland

  Windjammer-era sailing ships and wartime wrecks kept intact in the Baltic

  1–17°C · 34–63°Fadvanced
• 

  Best Apr–Oct

  Anglesey

  United Kingdom

  Wrecks, tide-timed Menai Strait dives and sheltered shore bays

  8–16°C · 46–61°Fvis 10 m · 33 ftintermediate
• 

  Best Dec–Feb

  Antarctic Peninsula

  Antarctica

  Dive beneath icebergs alongside penguins and leopard seals

  -1–2°C · 30–36°Fvis 35 m · 115 ftadvanced
• Best Jun–Aug

  Aran Islands

  Ireland

  Diving Poll na bPéist, the Wormhole of Inis Mór

  10–16°C · 50–61°Fintermediate
• 

  Best Dec–Feb

  Attersee

  Austria

  A 169 m alpine lake ringed with shore dives, a sunken forest and a notorious deep wall

  3.5–21.1°C · 38–70°Fvis 30 m · 100 ftintermediate
• Best May–Dec

  Baltimore & Cape Clear Island

  Ireland

  The U-260 submarine and the Kowloon Bridge, both dived from Baltimore

  10–16°C · 50–61°Fintermediate
• Best Sep–Oct

  Barkley Sound

  Canada

  Sheltered cold-water pinnacles and walls, diveable all year

  8–19°C · 46–66°Fvis 30 m · 100 ftintermediate
• Best May–Oct

  Belgian North Sea — Nieuwpoort

  Belgium

  An upright steamship and a German destroyer a boat ride from Nieuwpoort

  7–18°C · 45–64°Fvis 10 m · 33 ftadvanced
• 

  Best Jun–Aug

  Bell Island & Conception Bay

  Canada

  Four ore carriers torpedoed at their pier in 1942, still lying at 27–40 m

  0–15°C · 32–59°Fvis 30 m · 100 ftadvanced
• 

  Best Jul–Sep

  Bohuslän & Gullmarsfjord

  Sweden

  Sweden's only cold-water coral reefs, inside its first marine national park

  2–18°C · 36–64°Fvis 20 m · 66 ftintermediate
• 

  Best Jun–Sep

  Bornholm

  Denmark

  Granite walls and boulder fields — Denmark's only true rock diving

  2–19°C · 36–66°Fvis 20 m · 66 ftintermediate
• 

  Best Jun–Sep

  British Columbia — Browning Pass

  Canada

  Giant Pacific octopus and anemone-covered walls in the 'Emerald Sea'

  7–13°C · 45–55°Fvis 20 m · 66 ftadvanced
• 

  Best Apr–Oct

  Cape Ann & Stellwagen Bank

  United States

  Rocky shore reefs off Cape Ann and fishing-boat wrecks on Stellwagen Bank

  4–19°C · 39–66°Fintermediate
• Best Mar–Nov

  Capernwray & the Lake District

  United Kingdom

  Friendly sturgeon and scuttled wrecks in a former limestone quarry

  5–15°C · 41–59°Fvis 15 m · 50 ftbeginner
• 

  Best Aug–Sep

  Chausey Islands & Granville

  France

  Century-old wrecks and kelp walls in Europe's biggest tides

  9–19°C · 48–66°Fintermediate
• Best Nov–Feb

  Comox Valley & Hornby Island

  Canada

  A sea lion colony at Norris Rocks and summer sixgill sharks off Flora Islet

  8–10°C · 46–50°Fvis 30 m · 100 ftintermediate
• 

  Best May–Sep

  Cornwall — Padstow & the Manacles

  United Kingdom

  A reef that has claimed more than one hundred ships, with its wrecks still on it

  8–19°C · 46–66°Fintermediate
• 

  Best Dec–Feb

  Discovery Passage & Campbell River

  Canada

  Slack-water walls of giant tube worms in the strong currents of Discovery Passage

  7–15°C · 45–59°Fvis 30 m · 100 ftadvanced
• Best Mar–Nov

  Donegal Coast — Downings, Tory & Arranmore

  Ireland

  A cavern and swim-throughs off the walls of remote Tory Island

  9–15°C · 48–59°Fintermediate
• Best May–Oct

  Dover & Folkestone Wrecks

  United Kingdom

  Upright WW1 liners and steamers a short boat ride from Dover

  8–18°C · 46–64°Fadvanced
• Best Jun–Aug

  Dublin Bay

  Ireland

  Seals at the Muglins and drift dives through Dalkey Sound

  9–15°C · 48–59°Fintermediate
• 

  Best Jun–Sep

  Farne Islands

  United Kingdom

  Curious grey seals routinely approach and play with divers

  6–15°C · 43–59°Fvis 15 m · 50 ftintermediate
• 

  Best Jun–Aug

  Faroe Islands

  Faroe Islands

  Basalt cliffs continuing underwater into surprisingly clear Atlantic water

  6–12°C · 43–54°Fvis 30 m · 100 ftadvanced
• Best Jul–Aug

  Fehmarn

  Germany

  Anemone-covered Baltic wrecks a short RIB ride from an easy shore

  2–18°C · 36–64°Fbeginner
• Best Mar–Nov

  Feldberger Seenlandschaft

  Germany

  Clear glacial lakes where freshwater sponges grow on fallen trees

  4–20°C · 39–68°Fvis 20 m · 66 ftbeginner
• Best Jul–Aug

  Gdańsk Bay & Gdynia

  Poland

  Wartime warship wrecks and a ruined torpedo station in the Gulf of Gdańsk

  2–19°C · 36–66°Fintermediate
• Best Dec–Jun

  Gothenburg Archipelago

  Sweden

  More than 200 known wrecks, and wolffish at Trubaduren from December to midsummer

  3–19°C · 37–66°Fintermediate
• Year-round

  Gotland & Fårö

  Sweden

  Shore-dive the Digerhuvud drop-off on Fårö, ledges falling to about 55 m

  2–19°C · 36–66°Fintermediate
• 

  Best Jun–Jul

  Gulen & the Sognefjord

  Norway

  Over 30 well-preserved wrecks at the mouth of Norway's Sognefjord

  6–22°C · 43–72°Fvis 35 m · 115 ftintermediate
• 

  Best Jun–Aug

  Gulf of Finland

  Finland

  Brackish water means three-hundred-year-old ships still stand with masts up

  1–18°C · 34–64°Fvis 15 m · 50 ftadvanced
• 

  Best Aug

  Haida Gwaii

  Canada

  Bull and Northern Giant kelp forests and walls carpeted in plumose anemones

  6–12°C · 43–54°Fvis 9 m · 30 ftintermediate
• Best Aug–Sep

  Halifax & St Margaret's Bay

  Canada

  Year-round North Atlantic shore dives among lobsters and plumose anemones

  1–17°C · 34–63°Fintermediate
• Best Apr–Dec

  Hel Peninsula

  Poland

  Deep Baltic wrecks a short boat ride from Hel's fishing port

  2–19°C · 36–66°Fadvanced
• Best Nov–Feb

  Horseshoe Bay & Howe Sound

  Canada

  Anemone-draped fjord walls and a sunk destroyer, an hour from Vancouver

  7–11°C · 45–52°Fintermediate
• Year-round

  Isle of Skye

  United Kingdom

  Pinnacle walls at the Macleod Maidens and wrecks from Neist Point to Loch Alsh

  7–15°C · 45–59°Fintermediate
• 

  Best May–Sep

  Isles of Scilly

  United Kingdom

  Hundreds of wrecks, anemone-covered walls and grey seals in one week

  9–19°C · 48–66°Fintermediate
• Best May–Oct

  Isles of Shoals

  United States

  A year-round colony of harbor and grey seals at Duck Island

  4–18°C · 39–64°Fintermediate
• 

  Best Jun–Aug

  Juneau & Auke Bay

  United States

  Sheer walls and a steamship wreck close to Juneau

  4–10°C · 39–50°Fintermediate
• Best Jul–Aug

  Karlskrona & the Blekinge Archipelago

  Sweden

  Naval ships scuttled to guard Karlskrona, lying at about 12 m in Djupasund

  2–18°C · 36–64°Fintermediate
• Best Aug–Sep

  Kilkee & the Clare Coast

  Ireland

  Swim-throughs and small caverns a 5–10 minute boat spin from Kilkee pier

  10–16°C · 50–61°Fintermediate
• Best Mar–Nov

  Kinlochbervie & the North-West Highlands

  United Kingdom

  Gullies, swim-throughs and a blowhole cave on Scotland's far north-west coast

  7–13°C · 45–55°Fintermediate
• Best Mar–Aug

  Kinsale & Old Head

  Ireland

  Old Head reefs and the City of Chicago wreck, a short boat spin from Kinsale

  9–18°C · 48–64°Fintermediate
• Best Jul–Aug

  Klaipėda & Curonian Spit

  Lithuania

  Intact Baltic shipwrecks at technical depths off the Lithuanian coast

  1–20°C · 34–68°Fadvanced
• Best Jun–Aug

  Kola Peninsula & the Barents Sea

  Russia

  King crabs and walls with anemone colonies in Pechenga Bay

  2–11°C · 36–52°Fvis 20 m · 66 ftintermediate
• Best Jul–Mar

  Koster Islands & Kosterhavet

  Sweden

  Anemone-hung skerry walls in and around Sweden's first marine park

  3–19°C · 37–66°Fintermediate
• 

  Best Apr–May

  Kreidesee Hemmoor

  Germany

  A flooded chalk quarry with a hovering aircraft and a 55 m drop-off

  5–18°C · 41–64°Fvis 40 m · 130 ftintermediate
• Best Jun–Sep

  Kristiansund & the Atlantic Ocean Road

  Norway

  Ravines, kelp and drop-offs beside the Atlantic Ocean Road

  5–17°C · 41–63°Fintermediate
• Best Nov–Apr

  Lago Nahuel Huapi & Bariloche

  Argentina

  Clear Andean lake diving on sheer walls, drowned forest and a wreck

  2–14°C · 36–57°Fvis 20 m · 66 ftintermediate
• 

  Best Feb–Mar

  Lake Baikal — Listvyanka & Olkhon

  Russia

  Year-round freshwater diving on Baikal, with ice dives under the Olkhon floes

  1–16°C · 34–61°Fvis 30 m · 100 ftintermediate
• Best Jun–Oct

  Lake Bled & Lake Bohinj

  Slovenia

  Shore dives in two clear alpine lakes, one inside Triglav National Park

  2–19°C · 36–66°Fbeginner
• 

  Best Apr–Oct

  Lake Constance

  Germany

  The Jura paddle-steamer wreck and steep walls falling past 40 m

  4–22°C · 39–72°Fintermediate
• 

  Best Jul–Aug

  Lake Shikotsu

  Japan

  Shore dives in a clear caldera lake, with ice dives in midwinter

  1–20°C · 34–68°Fintermediate
• Best Mar–Oct

  Lake Vättern

  Sweden

  Sunken cargo boats off Hjo in cold, clear fresh water

  2–17°C · 36–63°Fintermediate
• 

  Best May–Sep

  Lillebælt & Middelfart

  Denmark

  A multi-level shore wall and bridge piers in a tidal Danish strait

  3–18°C · 37–64°Fintermediate
• Year-round

  Loch Fyne & Loch Long

  United Kingdom

  Shore diving on old pier wreckage and boulder reefs an hour from Glasgow

  7–15°C · 45–59°Fintermediate
• Best Jun–Aug

  Lofoten Islands

  Norway

  Well-preserved wrecks and anemone-carpeted walls above the Arctic Circle

  5–12°C · 41–54°Fintermediate
• 

  Best Jun–Sep

  Lundy Island

  United Kingdom

  England's first marine reserve, and its grey seals follow divers around

  8–17°C · 46–63°Fvis 20 m · 66 ftintermediate
• 

  Best Jun–Aug

  Malin Head

  Ireland

  Sherman tanks lie on the seabed beside the SS Empire Heritage

  8–15°C · 46–59°Fvis 30 m · 100 ftadvanced
• 

  Best Sep–Mar

  Nanaimo & Gabriola Island

  Canada

  Two sunk navy ships and wolf-eel reefs a short boat ride from town

  6–13°C · 43–55°Fintermediate
• 

  Best Jun–Aug

  Narvik

  Norway

  A German destroyer's bow rises to 10 m where she was run aground in 1940

  3–12°C · 37–54°Fvis 30 m · 100 ftadvanced
• Best May–Dec

  Öland & the Kalmar Strait

  Sweden

  Baltic wrecks from beginner shore dives to intact hulls in the strait

  0–21°C · 32–70°Fintermediate
• Best Mar–May

  Øresund & Isefjord

  Denmark

  An upright trawler wreck and the most visited wreck in the Øresund

  2–18°C · 36–64°Fintermediate
• 

  Best Sep–Mar

  Oslofjord — Nesodden & Fornebu

  Norway

  Five popular wrecks at Svestad Brygge, a ferry ride from Oslo

  3–18°C · 37–64°Fvis 25 m · 82 ftintermediate
• Year-round

  Pembrokeshire & Skomer

  United Kingdom

  Shore and boat dives in Wales's only Marine Conservation Zone

  8–17°C · 46–63°Fintermediate
• Best Jul–Sep

  Plymouth Sound & HMS Scylla

  United Kingdom

  A frigate sunk as Europe's first artificial diving reef, a training site

  8–19°C · 46–66°Fintermediate
• 

  Best Oct–Feb

  Puget Sound

  United States

  Cold-water walls, wrecks and wolf eels in Puget Sound and Hood Canal

  7–13°C · 45–55°Fintermediate
• Best Jul–Aug

  Reykjanes Peninsula — Garður & Flekkuvík

  Iceland

  Wolffish, grey seals and kelp forests on a lava coast within an hour of Reykjavík

  6–11°C · 43–52°Fintermediate
• Best Jul–Aug

  Sakhalin & Moneron Island

  Russia

  Steller sea lions and giant octopus in Russia's first marine park

  2–22°C · 36–72°Fintermediate
• 

  Best May–Sep

  Saltstraumen

  Norway

  Dive the slack-tide window of the world's strongest maelstrom

  4–14°C · 39–57°Fvis 15 m · 50 ftadvanced
• 

  Year-round

  San Juan Islands

  United States

  Current-fed walls of anemones and sponges, dived at slack water

  9–12°C · 48–54°Fvis 18 m · 60 ftadvanced
• 

  Best Sep–Oct

  Scapa Flow

  United Kingdom

  Scuttled German fleet wrecks in a sheltered Orkney anchorage

  7–13°C · 45–55°Fvis 20 m · 66 ftadvanced
• 

  Best Jun–Sep

  Seward & Resurrection Bay

  United States

  Cold-water walls, a Navy barge wreck and giant Pacific octopus

  2–13°C · 36–55°Fvis 24 m · 80 ftintermediate
• 

  Best Jul–Sep

  Shakotan Peninsula

  Japan

  Columnar rock and Shakotan Blue water in Hokkaido's only marine park

  4–22°C · 39–72°Fbeginner
• 

  Best Jun–Aug

  Shetland

  United Kingdom

  Intact steamship wrecks in the almost tideless water south of Lerwick

  7–15°C · 45–59°Fadvanced
• 

  Best Feb

  Shiretoko Drift Ice

  Japan

  Swim beneath drifting sea ice searching for tiny 'sea angel' clione

  -1–4°C · 30–39°Fvis 20 m · 66 ftintermediate
• Best May–Sep

  Silfra

  Iceland

  Visibility measured in tens of metres inside a rift between two tectonic plates

  2–4°C · 36–39°Fvis 80 m · 262 ftintermediate
• Best May–Sep

  Sinyavino Lake & Yantarny

  Russia

  A giant amber-quarry excavator bucket at 21 m in a flooded pit lake

  2–19°C · 36–66°Fbeginner
• Best Sep–Oct

  Skarnsundet & the Trondheim Fjord

  Norway

  Cold-water coral walls within nitrox range of the surface

  4–12°C · 39–54°Fvis 15 m · 50 ftadvanced
• 

  Best Nov–Jan

  Skjervøy — Orca Migration

  Norway

  Snorkel alongside orca pods hunting herring baitballs in Arctic fjords

  4–13°C · 39–55°Fvis 20 m · 66 ftintermediate
• Best Mar

  Sochi & Lazarevskoye

  Russia

  The tug Pervansh, a wreck at 19 m off Sochi

  7–29°C · 45–84°Fvis 10 m · 33 ftbeginner
• 

  Best Jun–Sep

  Sound of Mull

  United Kingdom

  The Rondo stands almost vertical, stern at 15 m and bow at 50

  7–14°C · 45–57°Fvis 20 m · 66 ftadvanced
• Best Apr–Nov

  South Funen Archipelago

  Denmark

  Denmark's last train ferry, scuttled as an overgrown artificial reef

  2–18°C · 36–64°Fintermediate
• 

  Best Jun–Sep

  St Abbs & Eyemouth

  United Kingdom

  Jewel anemones and grey seals on a Berwickshire volcanic coast

  6–15°C · 43–59°Fvis 20 m · 66 ftintermediate
• Best Sep–May

  Stockholm Archipelago & Dalarö

  Sweden

  Intact wrecks from the 1600s in Sweden's first maritime cultural reserve

  1–19°C · 34–66°Fintermediate
• 

  Best Oct–Jan

  Stoney Cove

  United Kingdom

  A flooded granite quarry with a sunken tug, a helicopter and a submarine replica

  4–18°C · 39–64°Fvis 20 m · 66 ftintermediate
• 

  Best Jun–Nov

  Strangford Lough

  United Kingdom

  Tide-scoured walls and wrecks in a County Down sea lough

  7–15°C · 45–59°Fintermediate
• Best May–Aug

  Strýtan

  Iceland

  A shallow hydrothermal vent cone rising to 15 m in a cold Arctic fjord

  3–10°C · 37–50°Fvis 20 m · 66 ftadvanced
• 

  Best Jun–Aug

  Svalbard

  Norway

  Ice diving and Arctic kelp walls from an expedition ship at 78° north

  -2–6°C · 28–43°Fvis 25 m · 82 ftadvanced
• 

  Best Jun–Nov

  Tollensesee & Neubrandenburg

  Germany

  Ruins of a wartime torpedo test facility standing in a glacial lake

  4–24°C · 39–75°Fintermediate
• Best Jun–Aug

  Ushuaia & the Beagle Channel

  Argentina

  Dry-suit dives through Beagle Channel kelp to channel walls and old wrecks

  2–10°C · 36–50°Fvis 20 m · 66 ftintermediate
• 

  Best Jun–Aug

  Väderöarna

  Sweden

  Sweden's westernmost skerries, with seal colonies and current-fed walls

  3–18°C · 37–64°Fintermediate
• 

  Best Jun–Aug

  Verzasca Valley

  Switzerland

  Snowmelt so clear you can see the trees from the riverbed

  6–14°C · 43–57°Fvis 50 m · 164 ftintermediate
• Best Aug–Sep

  Vladivostok & Peter the Great Bay

  Russia

  Wrecks, sheer island pinnacles and towering kelp in a Far East cold-water bay

  0–20°C · 32–68°Fvis 20 m · 66 ftintermediate
• 

  Best Jun–Sep

  Weymouth & Portland

  United Kingdom

  Submarine wrecks at 30 to 39 m, and a shore site for training

  7–18°C · 45–64°Fintermediate
• Best Feb–Apr

  White Sea — Chupa Bay & Nilmoguba

  Russia

  Marine ice diving over anemone walls beneath tide-broken hummocks

  -1–14°C · 30–57°Fintermediate
• Best Mar–May

  Whittier & Prince William Sound

  United States

  A 40 m wall beneath a kittiwake colony, a 5–10 minute boat ride from town

  2–13°C · 36–55°Fvis 24 m · 80 ftintermediate
• 

  Best Apr–Jun

  Zeeland — Oosterschelde & Grevelingen

  Netherlands

  Cuttlefish arrive by the hundred each spring to court in the shallows

  4–20°C · 39–68°Fvis 12 m · 40 ftintermediate