Free Ct Beaches?

[TMHeimer]

Other than Silver Sands and Peasure Beach (near New London), does anyone know of any beaches/areas where you can shore dive in CT with no beach sticker or parking fee?

 

[CT-Rich]

Do you want to see anything or is braille diving okay?

I have been off Merwin Point in Milford. 5' and nothing to see is pretty much the option. in the Sound. If you want more choices you can get a state parking permit that will get you into all the state parks. some of them might have decent diving (by CT standards). Hammonasett and Harkness State parks are likely to have some decent diving. There are little public access points in CT that may exist, but are hard to find and really rely on their obscurity to survive. You might try trolling some of the fishing and kayaking boards for where put-ins are located. They may be worth exploring.

 

[TMHeimer]

Thanks CT--I'll explore those options. I have dived Hammonasett a number of times--pretty good by CT standards.
CT is fabulous for shore diving compared to all the Mississippi Sound mudholes down here. But, gotta get wet at some point. Something to do before losing at the casinos. There's another CT comparison....

I googled Merwin Pt. Where can you park? Is it legal to just park on the side of the road (Beach Ave.)?

 

[CT-Rich]

I just unload my gear and park a block away and walk over to the point.

 

[tkaelin]

As to fees, check the town website of the beach you are interested in. My recollection is off season no permit or fees required. I grew up in Fairfield and can't think of any site in that area I would be interested diving from shore. We dove Penfield light and the 2A rockpile outside of Blackrock at night but you would need a boat.

 

[TMHeimer]

I've checked several town sites, but always a fee--more for non residents. It will be July, so I know it's like finding a needle in a haystack. Not trying to be cheap (which I am), but I hate paying $20 (or in some cases more, up to one place I found at $40!) to be there diving for maybe 3 hours.

 

[CT-Rich]

Their are couple of spots up the coast that might be worth getting wet in. First is a spot in Waterford which is across the cove from the Millstone Nuclear Power Plant. Nothing exciting, but I it has a boat ramp and parking. you can putter around in about 15 fsw. UConn, Avery Point (in Groton) also has shore diving. I went there once. Again, this is not going to be earth shatteringly awesome, but it can get your head in the water. I went in on the Western side of the campus where there were stairs to the water off a large parking lot. It was Eastern Point Beach. I think I paid five bucks to park. If you can park on campus there should be a few spots off directly off the campus.

 

[TMHeimer]

Is that Waterford spot Pleasure Beach (has ramp, parking)? Or somewhere very near there?

 

[CT-Rich]

It is at the North end of Pleasure Beach. It isn't deep. I think it would be a good spot for an easy night dive.

 

[TMHeimer]

If you mean the boat ramp I have dived there a couple of times with no hassles from police--lucky maybe, or just because it was weekdays.