Hudson River

[dutchfin]

Was coming back from Conn. today and crossed the Hudson up @ West Point. Does anyone dive that river? I was thinking about all the history surrounding it and was thinking it might be an interesting dive????

[jetblast00]

Last year there was a NY Times article about how a state dept. sponsored program to chart *all* of the wrecks in the Hudson had just finished. But... the results are being kept private then. they had said that the results, maps, etc would be made public at some point. Anyone have any more recent info?

It did say that most of the couple hundred wrecks that were charted had been dragged, dredged, and leveled although there were still some intact in places...

check this out too:
http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/imsmaps/benthic/viewer.htm
it only covers parts of the hudson, but it's pretty interesting.

[jonnythan]

I dive the Hudson a few hours north in Corinth (about 45 minutes from Albany). There's an excellent dive site up there. I wouldn't touch the water anywhere south of here to tell you the truth. Ew.

[dutchfin]

Interesting Site!! That should keep me occupied for a few hours. I take it from the other comments that this is a pretty "nasty" river?

[VTernovski]

dutchfin once bubbled...
Interesting Site!! That should keep me occupied for a few hours. I take it from the other comments that this is a pretty "nasty" river?

I had an interesting conversation with Capt. Mike (Capt. Mikes dive shop in City Island, Bronx) He is an ex- police, and dove the Hudson (NYC area) in and out. From it sounds, it's pretty nasty. Many police divers were using neoprene dry suits at their early stages, and were getting intestinal parasites, etc... They than had to switch to those environmental Poseidon suits for contaminated water with full face AGA masks...

Basically, I am with jonny on this one, would not touch the river any south of Albany region.

[dutchfin]

ewwwww!!! Don't need to dive it that bad! Thought with all it's history and all, there might be some interesting diving, but I'm sure there is nothing down there worth getting sick for! You'd think after so many tears of no-dumping, it would tend to clean itself up ???

[SpyderTek]

Hrmmm, Im not so sure about the Hudson being so nasty as it used to be.

I fish alot off the Alpine Boat basin (directly across from Yonkers for you New Yorkers) and not a day has gone by while I am out there that I dont see people wave riding and/or kayacking and other wet suit activities.

So, either there are alot of stupid people out there taking huge risks (not an unlikely possibility) or the Hudson just has a bad rep.

Now I do KNOW that there is a huge PCB issue with fish and shellfish - Especially bottom feeders. However even on this point a yearly notice on the conditions are handed out when you go park at the boat basin and according to it the levels have dropped in fish sampled to a "safe" level. With shelfish a monthly recomendation of only 8oz or something like that (dont have the pamphlet in front of me.)

Hrmmmm

Spydertek

[ScottyK]

The difference in experience could be that the police divers were mucking around the bottom while looking for things. The Hudson river is cleaner now, but there's 100 years worth of heavy metals, PCB's and other contaminants still locked in the sediments.

I remember reading about a study being done. It was on the feasability of dredging out the contaminated layers and dumping them out to sea. It concluded that it would stir up so much pollution as to cause an environmental catastrophe.

[dutchfin]

With all that said, have you dove the Hudson Spidertech? Do you know of any good areas to dive? I'm thinking with everyone afraid to dive it, there must be a ton of bottles to be had. ( one of my pasttimes )

[SpyderTek]

ScottyK once bubbled...
The difference in experience could be that the police divers were mucking around the bottom while looking for things. The Hudson river is cleaner now, but there's 100 years worth of heavy metals, PCB's and other contaminants still locked in the sediments.

I remember reading about a study being done. It was on the feasability of dredging out the contaminated layers and dumping them out to sea. It concluded that it would stir up so much pollution as to cause an environmental catastrophe.

Well I dont know about that study but I DO know that GE was (is?) under a court order to dredge a significant portion of the Hudson to the tune of at least 1 billion dollars. Ill try to find the article on that and post a link or something. I also believe they have till the end of 2004 to start the process.

Dutch, As far as my having dove it (the Hudson) No, I havent. However, I did meet at least one diver at the Annual NJ Scuba Flee market last year that had a display table about diving the Hudson. He said everything on the table was found in the Hudson and recomended the Mouth of The Hudson some point just below Staten Island for great treasure hunting. He said it was a dumping sight for barges of garbage in the late 1800's to 1920's and there were lots of bottles and porceline dolls and stuff to find.

Spydertek

[ScottyK]

I went out on a dive boat out of The Rockaways a few times in or around 1998. I did a wreck called the Pipe Barge. It's not in The Hudson. It was however, close enough that it should have been affected if the river was that nasty.

Not only were the water conditions beautiful and full of life, you got a great Manhattan skyline view floating on the surface at night.

[XJae]

SpyderTek once bubbled...
Dutch, As far as my having dove it (the Hudson) No, I havent. However, I did meet at least one diver at the Annual NJ Scuba Flee market last year that had a display table about diving the Hudson. He said everything on the table was found in the Hudson and recomended the Mouth of The Hudson some point just below Staten Island for great treasure hunting. He said it was a dumping sight for barges of garbage in the late 1800's to 1920's and there were lots of bottles and porceline dolls and stuff to find.
That sounds interesting, as I am a bottle hound myself.
Are you sure he didn't mean north of Staten Island?
I'm pretty sure the Hudson dumps into the Harbor, by the Statue of Liberty.

The waters between SI and NJ are the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull, and lead out to the Atlantic.
I'm sure they are loaded with treasure, but I think they are highly polluted and really wouldn't consider diving there.
The barges did travel these waterways on their way to the Fresh Kills dump, midway on the western side of SI.
Probably not as early as the 1800 though. They are also scheduled to be dredged to 40-45 feet by 2006.
I suppose some treasure made it's way down past the southern tip to the ocean.

I would consider diving one of the southern beaches of SI at the breaking point or on the Atlantic side.
I'd probably even consider diving off parts of the north shore if we had better coordinates.

[nycdug]

I am a bottle collector and am looking for suggestions on spots that might have been used for dumping between 1800 and 1870. i usually dig 14 ft. deep holes in the ground to find the goods but have been thinking about the 1000's of bottles that were dumped in the river and am thinking about getting recertified to do some hunting.
anyone know where the mud gets dumped when they dredge in the river or have any experience treasure hunting in that kind of spot? i would think that would be the best bet as the mid 1800's stuff is probably under a few feet of silt in the river.
finally, can anyone suggest a good guide around nyc who might be interested in taking a few guys out to a good spot or two?

thanks much for any information!

nycdug

[ScottNY]

Was coming back from Conn. today and crossed the Hudson up @ West Point. Does anyone dive that river? I was thinking about all the history surrounding it and was thinking it might be an interesting dive????

I used to keep a boat on the Hudson and used to be around that area a lot.

* There is potentially a PCB problem of unknown levels. There are unquestionably buried contaminents upriver. Whether dredging to clean them would make things better or worse has been a long running argument. Nevertheless, the river is a lot cleaner than it's been in years past. (Witnessed by the return of a lot of fish populations that had been trashed for awhile.)

* Diving the Hudson in a lot of areas could be fairly dangerous. A lot of the pleasure boaters are typically courteous. But there's another class out there that not only aren't quite US Power Squadron safety course goer's, but a) might not know what a dive flag is or b) might have a few beers in them and think it's fun to mess with divers.

* Diving anywhere near West Point or the nearby Indian Point nuclear facility might be a poor idea for obvious reasons. You might not get arrested, but I'd think it likely you'll spend some time talking to some patrol boat types.

All that being said, if you're going to do it, pick a safe place. Get charts and make absolutely sure you get tide charts. The Hudson as far north as Poughkeepsie almost isn't a river. Technically, I think they call it a "tidal esturary." Which means it's affected by both current and tides. If you end up going at an inappropriate time, you could be facing 3 - 4 knot currents.

Scott

[ScottNY]

Update: Heard on radio today that GE has been ordered to dredge down 12" in affected PCB areas. (Though who knows what appeals will happen.)

If this is going to happen, then you'd better dive the Hudson soon. Personally, I haven't thought swimming, etc. in Hudson to be an issue past few years. But if they kick up all that gunk that's buried... I don't care what reclamation technology they use, I'd probably want to avoid anything other than pleasure boating until a few years after their project end date. At least.

Scott

[mcm007]

I have a boat docked on the hudson North of Poughkeepsie. I have always wanted to dive the river , however, the visibility is very poor. Like I cant see my toes while bobbing on the surface.

I have dove the delware river and that has better vis..

I will testify to the currents being very strong. I was fishing the other day on my boat and went for a quick swim to cool off.. Boy it was pretty strong. O guess i caught it at the tide shift..

As far as healthy water, I have never caught as many fish. I am avereraging about 12 a day.. White bass, smallmouth bass and other nice catfish..

I have also seen a number in increase of carp.. I saw a nice pinkish/orange one the other day.. I certainly hope they DONT dredge the HUdson and stir all the contaminents nack into the water, i think that would certainly do more harm..




Update: Heard on radio today that GE has been ordered to dredge down 12" in affected PCB areas. (Though who knows what appeals will happen.)

If this is going to happen, then you'd better dive the Hudson soon. Personally, I haven't thought swimming, etc. in Hudson to be an issue past few years. But if they kick up all that gunk that's buried... I don't care what reclamation technology they use, I'd probably want to avoid anything other than pleasure boating until a few years after their project end date. At least.

Scott