Considering Moving to Maine

[DudleyNMU]

Hello All,

What can you all tell me about Maine Diving. Im a great lakes diver and love wrecks!...What does maine have to offer for divers. I am considering the Bath Area. If you could give me some charter boat operators and dive shops that would be awesome. I googled Maine Scuba diving but didnt really find what i was looking for. Any help would be greatly apreciated!

Regards,

DudleyNMU

 

[Steve SDI/TDI HQ]

Well: our offices are in Topsham, Maine, about a ten minute drive from Bath! Great critter diving. I'll ask around the office for some other suggestions. Stay tuned

 

[MConnelly2]

Got a good drysuit?

 

[Dockmaster]

Bath is a great little town and good central location for southern and mid-coast diving. Most of the shore sites that I dive are within an hour's drive north or south of Bath. Check out the Maine-iac Dive club's website at Maine-iac Divers a Costal Maine Scuba Diving Club for more information. They meet at Maine Divers Scuba Center in Portland. I'm not a member, but they sound like an active club. Spectrum should be along anytime now to give you more insight.

For shops in Portland, check out Maine Divers Scuba Center, Aqua Diving Academy, or Johnson's Sporting Goods (also in Brunswick and Rockland). There are a few other shops around Maine, but those are the closest to Bath. I know that Maine Divers runs a boat out of Portland, but I'm not sure about the others.

The only Maine charter I've used was Sea Ventures Charters out of Port Clyde (1.5 - 2 hours north) Diving in Maine, Scuba diving charters, sportfishing cruises, custom boat charters maine.. Dave is a great instructor and a class act. I took my OW class with him and we did our checkout dives from his boat.

I hope this helps; PM me if you have any other questions.

 

[DudleyNMU]

Thanks guys! and oh yes...I dive dry...Also a tech diver so i have alot of experience with cold deep dark water. 40 degrees is our bottom temp in the great lakes year around on the deep wrecks. How is the Wreck diving?

 

[spectrum]

DudleyNMU

The Maine coast you you know is a very long coastline and it offers lots of chances to dive. The is a good amount of public access though some of it is hard to learn about. I have tried to share some neat spots that I enjoy here in my site guide. Living near Kennebunk as I do the bulk of my information centers in my local area. You will see references to a few of the other sites up the coast towards Bath and beyond. Thee are also 2 published guide books on the region. Jerry Shines' book on New England and Steve Audet's booklet on Maine. There are a lot of opportunities if you are willing to think out of the box and have the soul of an explorer. Maine diving does is what you make of it. I am especially fond of the Acadia national Park region.

My passion is shore diving and there are a good many sites still on my list of places to try. There are some dive boats operating. they are in the BYO format and range from boats outfitted for diving to simple transport with a rudimentary ladder.

For all of our coastline and with the highest percentage of fresh water coverage in the country there are precious few dive shops. Here are those I am aware of. If anyone knows information of others please e-mail or PM me so I can add them.

There is wreck diving but again the market to run boats and divers to fill them is scant so it's largely a DIY thing. One exception is the Jessica Ann that Maine Diver Scuba Center has been rigging as a destination for some of their dive trips. More info is on their site.

There is another boat operator of note operating from Port Clyde, Sea Ventures that offers a number of dives. mentioned above.

If you happen to be in the area and would like to dive let me know and we can see how schedules mesh. I also invite you to drop in for a meeting of the Maine-iac Divers. We have some members from the mid coast region that are active boater/divers and it would be a good chance to network.

Pete

 

[DudleyNMU]

Pete,

Thanks for the great info...I am considering a lot of things. I am a big DIY wreck diver! And an Exploroer at heart. I would dive a mudd puddle so new unexplored less dived aeras the better. I will look you up if somthing works out and i make the move. Thanks again.

John

 

[mark_the_singer]

There's some interesting fresh water diving too, in Moosehead and some other places. Nothing compared to the Great Lakes or St. Lawrence. Eastport can't be beat, worth the drive.

 

[paulthenurse]

I was up on Chamberlain Lake in the Allagash Waterway Wilderness again this summer. I took my 80 year old father up there, we stayed at Nugents Camps. Just north of Nugents is a small island, about 1/2 mile offshore, I think it's called Gull Island. It's pretty small, when my wife and I paddled past it last summer it was foggy and we never even saw it. The keeper at Nugents says that area of the lake is 80-100 feet deep. I'm thinking that if we go back again next summer I'm taking a tank along with me just to look around.

And I agree, Eastport is the bomb.

 

[DudleyNMU]

Hey all...Just wanted to say this Great Lakes Diver is now in the North East and i am itching to dive. If anyone needs a buddy please let me know. I am really looking foward to learning the new area.