I decided to get up early on Sunday and do a little morning dive on some ledges around 75 yards from shore on a little beach near my house. The McAllister book calls the site the Greene Street Ledges.
Vis was mediocre near shore but got better at the reef, maxing at around 20 ft. Entered the water at 0715, due east of the parking lot boardwalk. Submerged immediately when I got to chest-deep water and hit the first sections of reef after 5 minutes of easy swimming. The highest relief area that I found was due east of the brown house that's about 20 yards south of the beach access. Bottom depth of the reef there is around 14 fsw.
I had a great time swimming with schools of blue tang and surgeonfish, a couple of scrawled cowfish (They change color as you approach them!), a big (18 or so) flounder, three yellow stingrays, and a few lobster. The best thing about the dive is that I went in just a pair of swim trunks and my steel tank. I had decided to use a weight belt, rather than my integrated weights, because I have to teach the weight belt drills as part of my DM training. The neat thing is that I found that I could stay down without any weight at all! Theres just something really cool about swimming around the reef, completely neutral, under a clear, warm, sunny sea. I ended up tying my dive flag to my weight belt and leaving them on the sand while I explored the reef. It was an amazing feeling of freedom. I ended up staying down for 107 minutes, not bad for an early morning dive.
We'll have to do this together some time. I had originally planned to go off of North Beach Park, but it didn't open till 0800, and I didn't want to wait. If you're interested in the site, take I-95 to Sheridan, then proceed East to A1A. North Beach Park is directly in front of you. Turn North and go for 4-5 blocks until you see Greene St. on your right. Park at the meters and take the boardwalk under the trees to the beach. There's a shower at the end of the boardwalk.
My best to all,
Grier
Vis was mediocre near shore but got better at the reef, maxing at around 20 ft. Entered the water at 0715, due east of the parking lot boardwalk. Submerged immediately when I got to chest-deep water and hit the first sections of reef after 5 minutes of easy swimming. The highest relief area that I found was due east of the brown house that's about 20 yards south of the beach access. Bottom depth of the reef there is around 14 fsw.
I had a great time swimming with schools of blue tang and surgeonfish, a couple of scrawled cowfish (They change color as you approach them!), a big (18 or so) flounder, three yellow stingrays, and a few lobster. The best thing about the dive is that I went in just a pair of swim trunks and my steel tank. I had decided to use a weight belt, rather than my integrated weights, because I have to teach the weight belt drills as part of my DM training. The neat thing is that I found that I could stay down without any weight at all! Theres just something really cool about swimming around the reef, completely neutral, under a clear, warm, sunny sea. I ended up tying my dive flag to my weight belt and leaving them on the sand while I explored the reef. It was an amazing feeling of freedom. I ended up staying down for 107 minutes, not bad for an early morning dive.
We'll have to do this together some time. I had originally planned to go off of North Beach Park, but it didn't open till 0800, and I didn't want to wait. If you're interested in the site, take I-95 to Sheridan, then proceed East to A1A. North Beach Park is directly in front of you. Turn North and go for 4-5 blocks until you see Greene St. on your right. Park at the meters and take the boardwalk under the trees to the beach. There's a shower at the end of the boardwalk.
My best to all,
Grier
