Texas Swamper (bogrady) wants to dive Eastern CT

[bogrady]

I posted this over in DiveNY but no one was able to help so ...

Howdy from the land of endless low viz water -

I'm coming up to visit my son in Haddam CT the weekend of August 23rd, for the specific reason of getting some dive time in - we have not been in the water together in over 2 years! Yup - you read that right - I'm taking a dive trip to Connecticut.

We've got one day - Saturday the 24th to take advantage of whatever CT has to offer. Brownstone quarry is on the list, but not my preference.

We're looking for LI Sound shore dives , or even a one day 2 tank charter out of Rhode Island. Simple single tank diving - I'm leaving the tec kit in Texas.

Any suggestions?

Thanks
bogrady
Official Yankee in Texas​

 

[Mr.X]

I'm sure there are some sites - however, all I've ever seen is low viz water in the Sound when I used to take animal, or bottom samples. If you get out of the area of the Sound - say to the Atlantic side of Brooklyn NY, NJ or Rhode Island you might get better water???

That said - Conn. has some great places to visit like Mystic Seaport, or the Submarine Force Museum in Groton. That isn't exactly diving, but a lot of fun for most divers???

 

[AfterDark]

Canned air charters. The LI sound is dark and cold with ripping currents, enjoy.

 

[bogrady]

Dark, cold, low viz, nothing to see ...

That's a good weekend dive in Texas. Adding the current just might make it interesting.

I'm not looking for a blue water reef - just a nice shore entry with some reasonable things to see - fully expecting less than 10' of viz (which is a very good day in Lake Travis)

I've found a few spots around Newport Rhode Island that sound promising - Beavertail and Ft Wetherill parks. Anyone been there?

 

[AfterDark]

Dark, cold, low viz, nothing to see ...

That's a good weekend dive in Texas. Adding the current just might make it interesting.

I'm not looking for a blue water reef - just a nice shore entry with some reasonable things to see - fully expecting less than 10' of viz (which is a very good day in Lake Travis)

I've found a few spots around Newport Rhode Island that sound promising - Beavertail and Ft Wetherill parks. Anyone been there?

There's plenty to see in LI sound a lot of wrecks. Ft Wetherill rarely has good vis these days. Beavertail is a dive you'll want local guidence on it's tricky and rough ingress and egress. King's beach Newport is an easy dive with good access and sometimes really good vis. Ft Adams in Newport is a nice dive also. The west passage side (across the bay from Ft Wetherill ) is easy access and sports descend vis; also the cove where the boat ramp is located is a nice shallow dive and you might find a few bottles.

 

[tkaelin]

Contact New England Dive Shop in Wallingford, CT. They usualy have a boat go out on Saturdays for a two tank in the Sound. Ft Wetherill in Jamestown RI is a very popular shore diving location and vis ranges from low 2-3 ft to 15-20ft. It is probably about an hr from where you will be. Tropicals will be in at that time of the year. It is also very popular, especially on a Sat so if you go plan on going early for best vis.

 

[AfterDark]

Dove Kings Beach Newport Sunday AM:

#2006 6-23-13 Kings Beach Newport, RI. Start 0855 end 1000 bottom time 54 min. total 1hour 5 min. max depth 42FSW avg depth 20FSW. Surface temp 60F bottom temp 56F visibility a hazy 10ft.
My hope/plan was to take advantage of the early morning high tide and reported light winds to find some good vis for taking pictures. I planned a solo dive so it would be just me, the camera and the dive. I’m a real hack at pictures and need a lot of practice. Early Sunday AM found one fisherman and one yaker, no divers as planned / hoped. The wind was a more like the 15mph gusts reported not the 7mph sustained reported. Waves were 1-2 foot chop with whitecaps and an Easterly running current just before the slack. I used the scooter on the surface running south for about 300 yards; then clipped the scooter off to the dive flag float, took a bearing and submerged. There was no current on the 20’ bottom. I swam south with the waves tugging at my float and me. I didn’t find much going on, a few small fish, Char-keys we call them here; a small school of small very shy tautogs kept passing by but too fast for a picture. I turned around at the planned psi and headed north a strong westerly current moving me sideways. Hitting shallow water I surfaced and was not surprised to be west of the egress. The scooter got me the rest of the way to end the dive.

 

[bogrady]

Thanks all. We're going to start calling some of the local shops to see if we an get on an easy wreck dive charter out of RI. I'm really looking forward to getting back in the water with my son.