Avid scuba diving fan and participant Tom Forlander loves to find new places to go scuba diving. Since he lives in Florida, he knows he is in one of the best spots to view the abundant wildlife on the coast. The coast often features shipwrecks, caves, mammals and diverse sea life of all kinds. Forlander has three suggestions for places to go scuba diving if you are looking for new scenery: USS Oriskany, John Pennekamp Coal Reef State Park, and Crystal River Manatee Diving.

USS Oriskany

The USS Oriskany is an aircraft carrier from the 1950s. The carrier was purposely sunk about 20 miles off the coast of Pensacola, Florida to build an artificial reef. It is the largest ship every sunk for that purpose. Despite being 212 feet down on the seafloor, the height of the vessel can be reached at about a 70-foot depth, which is doable for most amateur divers. Those with deep-water experience can more than likely reach the flight deck that is 130 feet below. The USS Oriskany has been featured in the Scuba Diving magazine as one of the "uncontested centerpieces of Northwest Florida wrecks."

John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park

This state park is noted to be America's first underwater park. A piece of the Florida Keys Reef Tract is sectioned off and labeled as John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park. This is one of the oldest protected areas in the Florida Keys; the state park is named after the newspaper editor who began the effort to protect the area. Some of the sea life in the state park is parrotfish, barracudas, lobsters and wonderfully colored coral.

Crystal River Manatee Diving

The Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge is a different type of scuba diving. Here, divers can swim in a sea of manatees. A typical manatee can be about 10 feet long and weigh around 1000 pounds. Divers can spend up to an hour in the water with the manatees as they go about their daily underwater business. The best time to see the manatees is from late October to early April, during the time when they are migrating in large numbers.

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