Lursxt
Guest
Well guys, my buddy Sean and I did manage to get a nice dive in this past weekend despite forecasted conditions (10-12ft seas of cape ann, 7-9ft seas off Cape Elizabeth). We chose Kettle Cove on Cape Elizabeth, Maine based in part on Spectrum's recommendations. This was my first dive in Maine and I must say it was very enjoyable. I'm originally from Maine, so it was nice to get back home and dive!
I began by checking the conditions at nearby two lights state park. There were huge rollers (6-8ft) coming into the cove, so I thumbed that location. There were however, four divers getting ready to head in to complete some technical training. I hope their dive went well!
We headed over to Kettle Cove and were greeted with favorable conditions:
No chop, and an occasional swell. That was it, thanks to the southernly exposure. We also observed a class of about 10 divers completing their open water cert. Fortunately they were staying in the middle of the cove and were not going to be in the area we were looking to dive.
Parking and entry was as easy as its gets: About a 20ft walk to the beach. Here's the entry:
We began our dive on the right side of the cove per Spectrum's recommendations and made our way to the left side of the cove. We ended up heading out a little too far out towards the middle of the cove. This site is shallow. Our max depth was 28fsw, but we averaged 18fsw. We surfaced, got our bearings and headed back to the point to explore.
We saw three good sized sculpin in the grass:
I was pleasantly surprised to see a lot of star fish in may different colors. I have not seen any this big off cape ann.
At the bottom of the center of the cove, we came across a pile of bones from some type of fish:
Here's the skull:
Does anyone know what this was? We have no idea.
Our total dive was approx 80 minutes. Water temp was 52deg and viz was about 20 feet and very clear. Overall I liked this site with its ease of entry and the pleasant surroundings. The shallow depths make for a nice easy dive with a lot of light. I would recommend this site when conditions are like what they were yesterday (strong NE winds) when others are not favorable. However, I felt like we had seen everything after one dive there and therefore did not do another on the same day.
Thanks to spectrum for his recommendation!
I began by checking the conditions at nearby two lights state park. There were huge rollers (6-8ft) coming into the cove, so I thumbed that location. There were however, four divers getting ready to head in to complete some technical training. I hope their dive went well!
We headed over to Kettle Cove and were greeted with favorable conditions:
No chop, and an occasional swell. That was it, thanks to the southernly exposure. We also observed a class of about 10 divers completing their open water cert. Fortunately they were staying in the middle of the cove and were not going to be in the area we were looking to dive.
Parking and entry was as easy as its gets: About a 20ft walk to the beach. Here's the entry:
We began our dive on the right side of the cove per Spectrum's recommendations and made our way to the left side of the cove. We ended up heading out a little too far out towards the middle of the cove. This site is shallow. Our max depth was 28fsw, but we averaged 18fsw. We surfaced, got our bearings and headed back to the point to explore.
We saw three good sized sculpin in the grass:
I was pleasantly surprised to see a lot of star fish in may different colors. I have not seen any this big off cape ann.
At the bottom of the center of the cove, we came across a pile of bones from some type of fish:
Here's the skull:
Does anyone know what this was? We have no idea.
Our total dive was approx 80 minutes. Water temp was 52deg and viz was about 20 feet and very clear. Overall I liked this site with its ease of entry and the pleasant surroundings. The shallow depths make for a nice easy dive with a lot of light. I would recommend this site when conditions are like what they were yesterday (strong NE winds) when others are not favorable. However, I felt like we had seen everything after one dive there and therefore did not do another on the same day.
Thanks to spectrum for his recommendation!