Joe,
Sorry to hear that. The local's weren't pleased at the amount of divers diving there participating in the Great Annual Fish Count on Saturday. You picked the wrong day to check out Lanes. The lower and upper lots were full of cars from divers. One of the divers that participated in GAFC at Lanes told me that one of lobster-men boats came close to shore dropping a bunch of F bombs at the divers on shore. Locals were making threats were going to call the police, etc,. I dove participated in GAFC Sat with my kids and chose to stay away from Lanes. Lanes is one of my favorite sites given easy parking, easy entry, interesting topography and even a small ramp to launch a Kayak. I've been fortunate to not ever have an incident with Car there. I purposely don't have a dive flag on my car advertising I'm a diver for that reason. Most of my dives are weekday, off Season and I try to keep a low profile. Don't go in w/ catch bag, to draw attention.
If I dive on a week end or when the locals are down there having a bender, I would recommend have a buddy keep an eye on car topside while you're under. There is a reason it's not posted on list of dive sites off Cape Ann Divers web-site or flyer hand out of theres. My advice, if you see a bunch of locals at the house on end partying when you drive by, (usually end of day, Friday afternoon..) would suggest avoiding.
It's a shame as it's such a cool spot. Great for lobstering as I have seen some HUGE bugs. Last thing you want to do there is show off the bugs you caught. You won't be popular.