RI Divers - I am curious about 40 Steps

[Basking Ridge Diver]

All -

I am planning a dive off Green Bridge to Gooseberry (arches) - I am also looking at Surfers End into Purgatory Chasm if the weather / waves cooperates and up toward Easton Point. I have a DPV and should be ok...

Does anyone dive off of 40 Steps? I figured off season it may be worth a dive? I am coming up and will check it out but curious if it is worth a dive?

Thanks

 

[AfterDark]

Memories. The 40 steps is the end of the cliff walk or the beginning depending on your perspective. There is no parking. Maybe a side street or two may allow parking. It really is 40 stairs (steps) and it is a long climb. Another nice site near there is at the end of a dead end street named Lands End. No parking. These are some of the sites I used to dive as a tadpole when parking was allowed, I was young enough to run up the staris and a diver was a rare sight. These days Newport is more like Rockport MA, divers are unwelcomed and parking is not allowed at some of the best sites along the shore.

 

[CT-Rich]

I have looked at forty steps as a potentially critical good spot, There is actually plenty of parking, In the height of the summer, it gets very competitive for those spaces. This time of year is probably not bad. You do have a hike down with gear, but it is over a man-made stair. The bottom drops to around 10-15 feet and the slopes down to 30’ max. I think it would pretty good.

There are some down side considerations. This is a VERY popular spot. You will have a lot of gawking tourists watching you (nothing bugged more than having 80 Japanese tourists watch me com ashore at Lands End). You will have a giant stride entry and real climb to get out of the water. I would take a look at it during a low tide to make sure you have a cohesive strategy for getting out of the water, especially in full kit. I think free diving would be no problem, but with tanks, weights, fins a wet/dry suit it may be tough. I haven’t looked at it closely for diving in a couple of years.

Land’s End, at the other end of Cliff Walk is a really good spot. Parking is the tough part. If you have a Newport parking permit, you are good. Out of town, you will have to look to decide. Here is a video from Land’s End from a few years ago.

 

[AfterDark]

Plenty of parking? There are NO Parking signs everywhere one turns one's head in that area. Where? On the side streets? Cliff walk actually starts down at 1st beach and ends at 40 steps, it runs behind the mansions and SalvaRegina Collage. Diving Lands End, 40 steps, the cove at Butterball Rock, Castle Hill from shore just isn't a viable option due to the lack of parking anywhere nearby.

Diving the 40 steps would be like diving Folly Cove in Rockport. Drop off the gear, park the car somewhere else and walk back. Repeat after dive. They are all great diving sites but way too much work, IMO..

We used to sometimes enter at 40 steps and exit at Lands End a nice dive at high tide.

 

[CT-Rich]

Parking both sides of the street, no permit required. On a summer weekend you may have trouble getting a spot, but that is true for all of Newport.

 

[CT-Rich]

Diving the 40 steps would be like diving Folly Cove in Rockport. Drop off the gear, park the car somewhere else and walk back. Repeat after dive. They are all great diving sites but way too much work, IMO..

We used to sometimes enter at 40 steps and exit at Lands End a nice dive at high tide.

When I dive Land's End I park at a bird sanctuary about a mile away after dumping off my gear.

I like the idea of an point to point dive along cliff walk. the down side is that 40 Steps is more than two miles from Lands End. There are plenty of places you can haul out, but getting back up to the trail from most of them would be pretty hard and I doubt I would make two miles underwater with a single steel 120, even at a depth of 20 fsw.

Another point to point dive I could see in Newport would be from King's Beach to Green Bridge. That is a about a mile. and I have been most of the way swimming to Price's Neck and back from King's Beach. I took a kind of shallow route to get there....

 

[AfterDark]

Rich, 40 steps and Lands End are less than 1/2 mile from ingress to egress, I used to do quite a bit. Even by road it's only 500' from 40 steps to Ledge Rd then another 1500' or so down Ledge Rd. to the water. The cove at 40 steps has the point at Lands End as it's Eastern boundary. One can easily see the outer rocks at Lands Ends while entering the water at 40 steps. Look at Bailey Beach that's the bottom of 40 steps. I least that's what we all called 40 steps back in the 1970's. What you posted is somewhere along the cliff walk but not what I've known as 40 steps, that's at the end of the cliff walk just after Lands End. That corner where Bellevue Av. becomes Coggeshall Ave. right after Ledge Rd, that's what we used to call 40 steps.

 

[CT-Rich]

Rich, 40 steps and Lands End are less than 1/2 mile from ingress to egress, I used to do quite a bit. Even by road it's only 500' from 40 steps to Ledge Rd then another 1500' or so down Ledge Rd. to the water. The cove at 40 steps has the point at Lands End as it's Eastern boundary. One can easily see the outer rocks at Lands Ends while entering the water at 40 steps. Look at Bailey Beach that's the bottom of 40 steps. I least that's what we all called 40 steps back in the 1970's. What you posted is somewhere along the cliff walk but not what I've known as 40 steps, that's at the end of the cliff walk just after Lands End. That corner where Bellevue Av. becomes Coggeshall Ave. right after Ledge Rd, that's what we used to call 40 steps.

Sorry man, that is Rejects Beach. You are right, that looks like nice dive, except for the no parking, no toilets, and the 200 yards from the street to the water. Maybe they told you it was 40 Steps to protect your feelings.....

 

[AfterDark]

Sorry man, that is Rejects Beach. You are right, that looks like nice dive, except for the no parking, no toilets, and the 200 yards from the street to the water. Maybe they told you it was 40 Steps to protect your feelings.....

Protect my feelings, not the bunch I was diving with at the time. I guess they called it 40 steps incorrectly and quite probably still are if they are still around. I found the area you posted and it is labeled as forty steps but that is not where we dove, in fact I don't recall ever diving at that site. I guess there were just so many others at the time, that we just didn't go there. That is a very exposed area especially with a south, east or SE wind, also good size swells run thru there, big enough to surf at Easton (1st) beach.

 

[Basking Ridge Diver]

I guess they called it 40 steps incorrectly and quite probably still are if they are still around. I found the area you posted and it is labeled as forty steps but that is not where we dove, in fact I don't recall ever diving at that site.

I did check out what is called 40 Steps and 2 things jump out - it is parking 9am to 6pm only and Holy Cow - I saw fishermen on the rocks but I have no idea how you would get your gear and yourself down to the water in one piece. I scratched that entry point off my list.

On a side not I drove the 4 hours up to Green Bridge and dove - 26 mins later I was out - it was a mess from a viz perspective - 6 inches to maybe 1.5 foot. I also dove Fort Wetherill - although better viz it was still a mess - 2 to 3 foot maybe...

So I did some scouting and found the Surfers End could be a possible dive site. And I have no idea how to dive Beavertail - I could not find a "suitable" entry point there either all rock and cliffs... But there were lots of fishermen down on the rocks...