Okay looking back at that skin-dive log here are some of the sites we hope to hit if we get up there around August 1 as planned.
1. Lamoine Beach: Not the state park, just pass the park and go to the end of the road. Here you will find a paved parking lot, state issue pit toilets (the nice ones) picnic tables to set up on and there is a boat ramp. This was obviously a former state land property that the state turned over to the town. Essentially it's the down-east version of Kettle Cove in Cape Elizabeth. All the amenities and a nice shore entry.
We liked this one so much we came back a second time. Heading straight out from the center of the lot we soon came upon fields of sea cucumbers, next were starfish, big ones in many colors. Not far from shore there are some ledges that are visible at low the area around them and further out than we went would be a great exploration. To the left of the parking lot the used to be a grand hotel that was lost in a fire. it is said that much of the rubble was sent to sea and that the bottom of the bay is littered with hardware, dishes and other artifacts. An ultimate novice site.
2. Pond Island: This site is up on the Schoodic Peninsula section of Acadia National Park. As you enter the park there si a nice restroom complex where you can change and do your best to take care of mother nature. The site is found shortly after you start down the one way loop. Watch for the road on your left that will take you to the top of the hill, mountain or whatever that high point was. Within eye shot of that you will see a section of broad shoulder overlooking a cove. To the left of the site you will see a tidal pool that forms a sluice way as it slowly drains into this cove on the falling tide. It's a fun place to take an after the dive walk.
For the dive it's an easy enough trek down the slope to a somewhat rocky bottom entry. Enter the water with your masks and regulator in place bracing each other in a 2 hand tango pose. It's quite sheltered, the challenge is more the slippery stones. With air in your BC the challenge zone is short. After that if you fall just bob.
I remember lots of neat seaweed, many fish and lobster and more starfish. We had a lot of bottom that was out of sight for skin-diving but my gut says it's an awesome scuba dive.
After a morning dive here head out to the point and park for lunch overlooking the open ocean. It’s a cool spot.
2a: If you want to make it a Schoodic day then head farther down the loop and watch for a turnout that has you across from Moose Island. The walls along the shore were great and a swim across to the island is very doable. You should find some sections where the bottoms are the bright white of crushed clam shells.
3: Bernard Beach: In Bernard off the Lopaus Point road. A gravel drive leads down to a rocky beach with sandy entry. This site was a favorite of a guy who used to have a down east scuba web page. There was a porta-pottie there for public use at the time.
We recall more starfish, BIG moon snails, oyster shells at the time. We also saw live sand dollars and you could actually see their track on the mud bottom. A solo scuba diver was coming out as we arrived and he said it was a nice dive. There is a ferry boat that runs way out in the bay so pay attention and don’t be alarmed by a distant rumble.
4: Little Hunter Beach on the Acadia Loop road is great. Some would consider it Maine’s answer to Bonaire’s “1000 Steps” dive site. When we were there the steps did not quite reach the beach level so a little bit of buddy help will be needed. Other than that it’s a nice staircase down. Just in the skin-diving range we were treated to awesome rock formations, Huge colorful starfish and more sea urchins than I have ever seen.
On some sites like that I like to set-up my rig and wear it down while I still have street shoes on. I then wear it sown to the beach with good support and footing. I then go back to suit up and don the rig on the beach.
The bottom line is that on those skin-dives down-east I saw more diverse, bigger and more colorful sea life than on almost any of my 200 scuba dives in the southern part of the state. I can’’t wait to see what scuba has to offer down east!
