Our annual Top 100 Readers Choice Awards are based on your real-world dives, and they let us take that journey right along with you.

Since 1994, we’ve been presenting our ­readers’ picks for the best scuba diving in the world in our annual Top 100 Readers Choice Awards. It’s a feature that we love to put together, because we consider the results of our annual Top 100 survey a way for magazine readers, fans and online followers to share their most ­remarkable moments ­underwater. Below you'll find the winning destinations for the Best Advanced Diving in North America, and offer you a magical glimpse at your next scuba diving vacation.

How the Winners are Chosen:

Thousands of Scuba ­Diving subscribers and online users rated their experiences at dive destinations in a ­variety of categories on a scale from 1 to 5. Final scores are an average of the numerical scores awarded. A minimum number of ­responses was required for a destination to be included in these ratings.

1. British Columbia

Best Advanced Diving In North America

Deep, dark and cold. These kinds of opportunities are easy to find for advanced scuba divers to find in British Columbia. The reward for those divers that face the challenging conditions of these waters are rewarded with a unique experience. Along the vertical walls divers you'll find gorgonian sea fans, cloud sponges and other eerie structures that seem altogether alien in origin.

Dive Conditions

• Visibility: 50-150 feet
• Water Temperature: Below depths of 30 feet, 45 degrees Fahrenheit is the norm
• When To Go: Fall and Winter tend to have the greatest visibility. Plankton blooms are common in the spring and summer which can impact visibility. Topside conditions can range from cool and rainy to warm and sunny
• What To Wear: Drysuits are a must, especially for multi-day diving trips or long bottoms times.

2. North Carolina

Best Advanced Diving In North America

Scuba divers flock to North Carolina to dive with the sand tiger sharks that inhabit the waters off the coat. Another draw for advanced divers are the numerous wrecks in the region — such as U-352, a German submarine — that give it the nickname the "Graveyard of the Atlantic."

Dive Conditions

• Visibility: Can range anywhere from 30-100 feet
• Water Temperature: High 70s in the summer and mid-50s in the winter (Fahrenheit)
• When To Go: Conditions can vary wildly from day to day but overall you can expect warmer air and water temperatures and better visibility from May to October
• What To Wear: You might be able to get away with a 7mm or semidry in the summer, but a drysuit is highly recommended.

3. Great Lakes

Best Advanced Diving In North America

Cold water, deep quarry and the sort of tempestuous weather that landed over 5,000 wrecks to the bottom are the very reasons that scuba diving the Great Lakes is such a great challenge. While there are certainly well-preserved wooden schooners within recreational limits — take the Sweepstakes in Tobermory, Ontario for example or the E.B. Allen in Thunder Bay, Michigan — there are increasingly epic treasures the deeper you go.

Dive Conditions

• Visibility: Typically between 20 and 80 feet
• Water Temperature: It can fluctuate between 35 to 65 degrees Fahrenheit depending on season and depth
• When To Go: Dive season in the Great Lakes begins in late May and lasts through early October
• What To Wear: Due to cold waters, a drysuit is highly recommended

4. California

Best Advanced Diving In North America

With over 1,264 miles of coastline, California has almost endless opportunities for scuba divers — from mighty kelp forests, picutresque shore dives, pinnacles, submarine canyons, oil rigs and a whole mess of wrecks. Not to mention the encounters with seals and sea lions and the legendary Humboldt Squid.

Dive Conditions

• Visibility: Can range widely between 10 to 100 feet
• Water Temperature: Ranges from high 40s to mid 70s depending on the season, with the central and northern coast seeing temps between 45 and 58 degrees Fahrenheit
• When To Go: California is relatively warm and sunny year-round with air temperatures generally between the 60s and 80s in Southern California, though in the winter Northern California drops into the lower 40s
• What To Wear: 7mm with hood and vest or a Drysuit

5. Florida

Best Advanced Diving In North America

The Sunshine State holds something for every diver and is only a road trip away. If wrecks are your thing, look no further. Take your pick from a plethora of wrecks that stretch from the Vandenberg at the tip of the Florida Keys to the Oriskany all the way in Pensacola. Reefs and wrecks are always in style, but travel inland to scuba dive in Florida's natural freshwater springs for some of the best cavern and cave diving around.

Dive Conditions

• Visibility: 40 to 100 feet depending on what area you are in and the weather
• Water Temperature: Temperatures vary across the state but you can just about guarantee warm waters in the summertime, unless you are diving one of the many freshwater springs of Florida — which generally hold a consistent temperature of 72 degrees Fahrenheit
• When To Go: While water temps tend to drop in the winter, Florida offers amazing diving year round
• What To Wear: Anything from a simple dive skin to a 5mm depending on where and when you dive. In the winter a 5mm, 7mm or drysuit may also be appropriate