Beavertail State Park, RI

Beavertail State Park is located on Beavertail Road, off of Hamilton, which is off of the main road that leads to Fort Wetherill (Walcott Road), on the southernmost tip of Jamestown, Rhode Island. Diving here can be spectacular but also rough and dangerous. The best bet is to dive at slack high or low tide when the currents are less. Because the conditions are often too rough to dive, be sure to have a back-up dive plan. Many times this site has pounding surf even at slack tide and can have strong currents. If conditions are less than perfect, this dive should only be attempted by experienced divers due to surge, surface surf, and the difficulty finding your way back to your entrance site.

So, why would you want to dive here anyway? Because of the swim-throughs, fish, and underwater formations that are so much fun! Plus you can get a lifetime supply of fishing gear in only one dive! The majority of the diving is best in less than 30 feet of water, and less than 100 yards from shore. Rhode Island waters are known to be warmer and, unfortunately murkier than those farther north, but at this shallow, it doesn't matter.

So, how do I get there? As you enter Beavertail, the road becomes a one-way loop. A short way down on the right is Parking Lot #2; drive ½ way down the parking lot and park. You may need to search for the path that leads to a small stone-pebble beach that is very small at high tide. You will need to walk your gear over and down the rocks- be careful they can be slippery. We often put all our gear on and walk down holding fins only.

Entering through this sheltered cove gives you a quiet area to get-adjusted and establish buoyancy. The only difficulty is finding the cove on your way back! The entrance angles toward the lighthouse and can be hard to find, so place a spare dive flag or other marker that can be seen from the water's surface.

When exiting the cove, check the current, which usually is running toward the lighthouse, and start your dive into the current. The best diving is found by swimming out a short distance and turning right (north) and paralleling the shore. You will find a flat rocky path between two rock walls, a number of small, safe swim-throughs, and areas scoured into the shape of a huge bowl by the current (you can find lots of lead sinkers and fishing tackle here!) There are varying numbers of black fish and smaller cunnard and the usual assorted crabs, starfish and nudibranchs. If you are adventurous, as you exit the cove take a compass heading of 240 degrees. You will come upon a long narrow cut in the rocks that can be followed for a few hundred feet, then turn north.

Be careful to surface away from the rocks to avoid being thrown up on them. Check your position frequently by going to the surface so you do not get further away than you planned. Coming back, you will have the luxury of exiting onto a nice stone-pebble beach providing you marked the area so you can find it!

King’s Beach, RI

King's Beach is a shallow, usually calm dive site best noted for two reasons. First, if you are in Rhode Island and cannot get into other sites, this is usually diveable because it is a cove-type formation with a small island of rocks offshore to break up the wave action. Secondly, it is a great place to find tropicals in the late summer and early fall due to the closeness of the Gulf Stream at this time.

King's Beach is located on Ocean Drive in Newport about one mile east of Brenton Point State Park. There is a small sign pointing down a narrow road into a large parking lot. There is easy access to the water down a boat ramp, but be advised that it is a very popular site in the summer for new divers. It can be very crowded on the weekend. So go in the fall when everyone is leaf-peeping or in the early spring for a good check-out dive and very good vis. Water temps are typical for Rhode Island with 1/4 inch wet suits in late spring and early summer, and reaching the upper 60% in late summer / early fall - perfect for a 3 mm suit. And if you want to try out a dry suit in the winter, this is a good place to do it.

If you are looking for tropicals in the fall, take your time and look carefully. These are very small and very disorientated fish. They are hiding in the shallows under the rocks and in the kelp and will become friendlier as you patiently wait and observe them. If you are diving during the spring and summer, you will probably find tautog on the ocean side of the rock islands offshore. Otherwise, you will be looking at a sandy bottom with scattered rocks, eelgrass and kelp with assorted small fish and crabs. If you are adventurous this is a safe, calm place for a night dive especially if it is a full moon, maybe if you are lucky you will see squid.

Cathedral Rocks, MA

Cathedral Rocks is located behind Ralph Waldo Emerson Inn, off route 127, in Rockport, Mass. Either get there

early and park in the limited parking on the access road behind the Inn, or give yourself a treat and spend the night

at the Inn and have free parking. Which ever you chose, plan to dive at or before slack high tide. If you try to dive

at low tide you will have a devil of a time exiting the water. The hike down to the water is steep over large boulders.

There is a path of sorts; if you look carefully you will be able to pick out a fairly easy way down. There is a large

flat rectangular block of rock that affords easy entry and egress with many nearby boulders to set your gear on

while you are suiting up. This is a popular shore dive spot, if you cannot get a parking space then check back in 30

minutes or so and one will probably open up.

The area is a mass of huge jumbled rocks that tumble down into the sea to 70-80 feet. In March you can have

50’+ vis and see salps and a nice garden of marine growth with lots of anemones, yellow and pinky-purple

sponges, and lots and lots of starfish. In early summer there are lots of larger fish especially cunner, black fish, and

strippers. This site faces due east so if the wind is coming from the east, find another place to dive. This is an intermediate

dive site in calm seas only because of the hike down the rocks and back up. If the sea is rough, then it is a

site only for the foolhardy. It is too easy to be injured on the boulders in a rough or choppy sea. However, if it is

calm, it is a great dive! If it is warm and sunny bring your lunch and enjoy the view after your dive, and be sure to

check out downtown Rockport. There are a lot of neat shops and restaurants. Have a great dive!

Bar Harbor, Maine

Bar Harbor and the surrounding Mount Desert Island in Maine offer a multitude of dive sites from beginner to

experienced. Harbor Divers, a dive charter service, published a list of thirteen dive sites in the area. Unfortunately,

as of this moment, Harbor Divers is only doing commercial work; hopefully this will change. There are

a number of dive shops in the Ellsworth/Bar Harbor area for directions or advice or contact me for a copy of

Harbor Divers list of dive sites and map.

Our favorite site in this area is Little Hunters Beach. It is located on the Park Loop Road 1.6 miles beyond the

Otter Cove bridge (the Loop is a one-way road), about halfway between Northeast Harbor and Otter Cliffs.

There is a small dirt pull-off for parking on the right. The access is on the left down sturdy wooden stairs onto

a large pebble stone beach. Notice the high tide line and if the tide is incoming, set your gear above the high

water mark! While the water is cold, the diving here is beautiful. The ocean is covered with large boulders

covered with pink encrustations, multitudes of multicolored starfish, mussels from tiny to horse mussels, loads

of marine growth, crabs and the biggest lobster I have ever seen! His claws were the size of my hands- and remember

I am not a fisherman! Kevin will tell you they were the size of baseball mitts. There are lots of swimthroughs,

crevices, and nooks and crannies to explore. When you are done diving, there are a number of good

places to eat in Northeast Harbor as well as in trendy Bar Harbor. There is also at least one Brew Pub in the

area that brews there own beer.

Another geologically fascinating site that I wish to explore more is Somes Sound. It is the only true fiord in

America. It is located off Route 198 on Sargent Drive. There is another entrance off of Route 102 but it is at

least a half- mile or more of a trek on a rough dirt path though the woods. The fiord goes down a couple of hundred

feet and offers some neat wall diving. Currents can be strong depending upon where you enter, best to

dive at slack tide.

Being Bar Harbor, there are plenty of other things to do besides dive, I don’t know why you would want to do

something else, isn’t diving enough? But there are lots of shops, restaurants, boat cruises, whale watches, museums,

fishing charters etc. When you enter Mount Desert Island, stop at the Acadia Information Center. You

can pick up a map of the area with area attractions and the road map you will need to navigate the area. They

may also have a list of the dive sites there.

Hall's Quarry on Somes Sound.

The site is at the John Williams Boatyard. It's a steep wall that drops off quickly to 85 feet. We descended a ways down the wall then leveled off at 40 or so feet and followed the wall along the shore line. Huge boulders, the biggest starfish I've ever seen, some biggish lobsters, and nice vegetation. This is all a VERY short swim from shore, which is an additional bonus! Rockland Boat in Southwest Harbor is the only place for fills and equipment; this is also very near Hall's quarry.

For what its worth...... Thanks again, Bob Myers

 

 

New England Shore Dives By Kevin and Linsley Mordasky