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 scuba diving with big animals in North America.

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. North Carolina

During the summer months, expect to find sand tiger sharks amongst the wreck dives off the North Carolina coast— including the Papoose, Atlas and Caribsea. These sharks may look ferocious but are known to be docile and often come within a few feet of divers. Occasionally mantas are spotted near these wrecks as well.

2. Florida

Believe it or not, the Sunshine State has some pretty diverse diving experiences and big animals can be found in both freshwater and saltwater. Goliath Grouper are known to frequent South Florida and manatees are often spotted during the winter months in the freshwater springs of Central Florida.

3. California

California’s underwater forests of kelp are so rife with the big stuff that it’s hard to believe encounters like these can be had without jetting to a far-off locale. Leopard sharks, blue sharks, horn sharks and bat rays are common sightings. And in spring, leagues of sevengill sharks — a slow-moving beast that has changed little since the Jurassic Period — ply the waters. Perhaps most fun of all is a bit of tug of war with the harbor seals and California sea lions, some of the only marine life just as captivated by encounters with us as we are with them.

4. Washington

A dive in the Pugent Sound is like no other dive you've experienced before. This is a great place to come face-to-face with the Giant Pacific Octopus.

5. Texas

The Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary, located in the Gulf of Mexico attracts larger animals like manta rays, loggerhead turtles and silky sharks. You may even spot a mobula ray or a hawksbill turtle cruising around and during the late-winter months and in early spring, spotted eagle rays pass through the region. If you’re visiting during the summer months, you may witness a sporadic Whale-shark sighting.

• 5 Best Places to Scuba Dive with Big Animals in the Pacific and Indian Oceans
• 5 Best Places to Scuba Dive with Big Animals in the Caribbean and Atlantic Oceans