Diving at Public Beaches

Ok, so I know its probably not the best place to dive. However, this past weekend in order to make my wife happy (she doesn't dive and wanted to take the kids to the beach) and to also get some dive time in, I had my buddy meet me at Scarburough beach in Rhode Island. I was a little apprehensive to kitting up right on the beach so we suited up in the parking lot and walked out of bounds of the lifegaurd station. We then surface swam out to about 15 feet deep water and proceded to dive. We then turned into the swimming area and had a great dive of depths up to 20 feet deep. Nothing too exciting but saw a number of fish lobsters and other stuff, overall it was a pretty cool reef. So at about 1500 PSI we decide to turn around and swim towards shore where my wife was. We surfaced in about 4 feet of water with about 100 people looking at us. Everyone was laughing because they had no idea what we were, but overall everyone thought it was great and was asking us alot of questions about what we saw. I am pretty sure the lifegaurds saw us, if not they really suck at thier jobs. I am also sure if they had a problem with it they would have said something to us because people were tossing a football in the water an a LG immediatly ran over blowing his wistle and made them stop.

Like I said, its not the best place to dive around here, but it was fun, and it beats sitting on the beach. I am thinking of just kitting up right on the beach where our beach towels and stuff are setup from now on. Does anyone see any problems with this?

No, why? I am sure some locales do not allow diving in a swim area but usually, at least places I have been, scuba and free divers are not considered swimmers and the guards could care less. Certain areas may not allow scuba or gearing up, they usually have another access point in those cases. I am sure if you asked around you could find out the rules for the specific areas you are interested in.

Good luck.

N

I've dived off a number of public beaches in a variety of places. You do get some interesting looks from swimmers when you appear out of "nowhere", and if you really want to have some fun with them, shoot a bag from 20 feet or so . . .

Thanks,

There was a DEM officer in the parking lot, so I asked them about the rules of diving at public beaches. She was clueless. I am just diggin the ease of kitting up on the beach, doing a dive, playing in the sand with my kids for a bit for a SI and then doing another dive. Its also nice not having to care at all about boat traffic since we were inside the markers for the beach.

Diving at public beaches can be a lot of fun ... kids always want to know if you saw any sharks ... and the dogs are downright comical ... they can't decide whether you're a toy or a monster ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

I had a fun dive at St. Andrews State Park's jetties in Panama City Beach, Florida. (Lots of divers there when the tides are right.) I had finished my "real" dive and was just enjoying what I could see along the beach side of the jetties as the water got shallower and shallower. Eventually, it got too shallow to keep going, as my tank was in the air and my chest was on the sand, so I just popped up into a kneeling position... where I suddenly found myself face-to-face with the biggest, most awestruck eyes I'd ever seen in a very young kid.

He recovered enough to point to me, look at his mom, and say, "Diver!" I couldn't help but smile as I got up to walk in (as his mom was telling him, "That's what mommy does..." -- apparently, she was a diver, too). Spandex and misplaced underwear couldn't make me feel any more like a superhero than that look.

So yeah, where it's allowed, it's an absolute *blast* to dive at a beach.

Our public beach has a sign with an arrow pointing right, "Dive Area", at the southern end of the beach. They segregate the divers with their floats and lines from the rest of the beach goers in the marked off swim area.

Kids are always coming up and asking questions about sharks and sealife, adults get a thoughtful look when they see lobsters and ask questions about getting certified.

Venice Beach Florida is a great spot for beach diving. Most of the locals know what you are there for; Meg teeth.

I've always wondered what sort of loot you would find with a metal detector at public swim areas.

My wife and I love this kind of diving- most often in Hawaii, and of course Bonaire, where no one notices shore divers. The key to shore diving is having a "shore guy." Who will watch stuff like keys, water, dive bags, lunch, etc. while you are in the water. There is terrific shore diving on Maui, and some but with tougher entries on Kona. It's also cheap- the price for a tank of air there is the same as here in Denver. And the fact is at some locations you will be the only divers. Just know your site, be aware of conditions, tell someone where you are, and tell them when you come back. Our then teen-aged daughter was our shore guy several years ago in the Mala Pier area of Maui, and we came back at a different location than we entered, overstayed our stated time for return, and upset her greatly. We were able to catch her just before she went to report us missing to the Coast Guard. So now we are careful to stick to the plan. There is great freedom is just going diving, and sometimes it does make you the featured attraction. Use those opportunities to be an ambassador of our sport, and encourage others to try diving too!
DivemasterDennis

Interesting thread. In CT you are not allowed to dive from the public beach in most areas, and are, as mentioned, directed to "beyond the jetty or by the rocks" (usually the place you'd want to go anyway). I always wondered why these rules. Best reason I can think of is they don't want divers scaring the Hell out of swimmers. So, you pay big bucks to get in a park, which goes to paying lifeguards, then get sent away from them!