L Street - Night Dive 8/11/14

[crazyboy]

Where are the diver stairs? Do you mean the step at the corner of the "beach?"


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Along the bulkhead in the park. Straight across the field from the parking spaces, not pictured above. You can't miss it, has flags on it.

 

[agilis]

Along the bulkhead in the park. Straight across the field from the parking spaces, not pictured above. You can't miss it, has flags on it.

Watch out for the jet skiers who use those stairs.

 

[IrnBear]

Is this in NJ or NY..
I'm a West Coast person, yet my gal is from NY.
Next time we are in the area I would love to check this out.
SeaHorse, I would love to see a SeaHorse

Thanks,

IrnBear

 

[agilis]

Is this in NJ or NY..
I'm a West Coast person, yet my gal is from NY.
Next time we are in the area I would love to check this out.
SeaHorse, I would love to see a SeaHorse

Thanks,

IrnBear

This one, sometimes called "L street" is in Maclearie Park, right on Rt.35, Belmar, NJ, the heart of the famous NJ Shore area. Very easy access, and easy to find, with a dive flag, refuse containers, simple storage lockers, etc. A dedicated dive area, but others use it because it's so convenient, including jetskis, so you have to be careful. The stairs are brand new, a welcome addition.

You can drive and park only a few feet from this and a few other sites, like the Point Pleasant RR bridge, Shark River Inlet, and other places described in on line sites. A computer search "NJ Beach Dives" will bring up lots of information. There are other sites that give detailed tide tables and other vital information. Local dive shops are also excellent sources of information. Seahorses are fairly common here in late summer, but you have to look carefully. They are masters of disguise.

 

[whitefang21]

how far out can you go and where is the boat channel?

 

[Basking Ridge Diver]

how far out can you go and where is the boat channel?

The best I can do is say go to Google Maps - "L Street Belmar NJ" use the satellite version and the channel will be very apparent. I tried to save a screenshot but it does not show as nicely as if you pull it up. 100 ft or 200 ft works for me and you can see the natural flow of the channel - as it goes by the marina.
The channel does not have heavy traffic but it is there - and boats do use it. It wraps right around the marina and goes right past the boat ramp and diving area. Most boats are coming to and from the boat ramp - some continue through just like the sailboats in the upper left section.
Note if you are looking at the original map it goes left to right or right to left - straight out from the pylons/dive area you will go through the channel and hit a shallow area - you will see that too - but small boats at high tide can still navigate over that piece as needed but it is not the channel and is not advisable. Low tide you can see the shallows in some spots - boats tend to stay in the channel due to the shallow depths.

 

[lowviz]

Along the bulkhead in the park. Straight across the field from the parking spaces, not pictured above. You can't miss it, has flags on it.

Only problem for me is that the park is closed from 10PM-10AM. Looked everywhere for the stairs just a few hours ago. I thought the 'park' was the fenced in area next to the beach. Walked the planks twice... Saw a cop looking for speeders, walked up and yelled Hello through the fence. Nice guy, most all of them are around Belmar. (realize that this is 3AM and pitch black outside) He told me where the stairs are, but the parking lot is closed. I said that the new signs say that there is no swimming or skin diving from the boat dock so now I'm out of luck. Yes, true. He said that this doesn't mean you can't park at the boat dock (~ K Street) in any of the designated locations. Just enter the water at the beach. -Sweet.

Today at the bay was perfect. Here is the current weather ON THE OCEAN:

...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT THROUGH LATE TONIGHT...

• Rest Of Today S winds around 20 kt with gusts up to 30 kt... Becoming SW with gusts up to 25 kt early this afternoon...then becoming W 10 to 15 kt with gusts up to 20 kt late. Seas 4 to 7 ft. Mainly in E swell with a dominant period of 11 seconds. a slight chance of tstms late this morning. Showers late this morning and early afternoon...then a chance of showers late. Vsby 1 to 3 nm.

I try things here that I can't get away with anywhere else. Today was seeing if I could compass nav in the dark while holding a can light, running a reel, and dragging a (damn) diver's flag. Nope, can't.

Lots of the usual sea life, much to see. Great place for OW and AOW divers to actually see and do something interesting. I stay away from this place during the day.

Above is the weather on the ocean, here is the bay at the boat ramp:



Weather was completely overcast and a light continuous rain was falling.

OK, doesn't get any better than last night. Look for piss poor weather and dive the high tide L Street! Visibility was an easy 8-10'.

how far out can you go and where is the boat channel?

I just go with where it starts to drop off quickly.

...//... The channel does not have heavy traffic but it is there - and boats do use it. It wraps right around the marina and goes right past the boat ramp and diving area. ...//...

Not a single motor was heard all night. That is why I love inclement weather here.

Oh yeah, tonight's lesson learned. Don't try a swim-through dragging your dive flag under the sailboat dock. Turned into an overhead exercise in de-entanglement...

And lastly, nobody cares if you dive solo here.

 

[njdiver1]

From another NJ dive forum:

NJ Scuba Divers Message Board: Diver Access @ Shark River

 

[lowviz]

Then that must be past the boardwalk along the seawall. I'll check it out next time I'm there during the day, maybe after a boat trip.

Nice! I'm glad to see growing interest for local NJ diving, both on site and here on SB!

How do the lockers work, bring your own padlock?