Magnolia Dive report, and a question

[lord1234]

So, me and Class Action met up this morning to dive Magnolia and for him to go bug hunting(I don't have a license yet so i would NEVER dream of taking lobster without one or at least I made him walk them all out)

First dive was great...we took 7 bugs but once on shore kept only 4 of them. I had my first hour+(1:01) dive on a AL80. Mind you max depth was 29 ft(i think don't have log book in front of me but yea). Great dive, and I learned how to lobster since I had never done it before.

The second dive was a little different. First off it was colder....by like 8 degrees I figure. Not a single bug. 37 Minutes on my AL80 and the whole time was spent fighting the current. Right as I signaled to surface, i bit through my mouth piece causing the little tooth holding piece to fall into my mouth, and me having to promptly spit it out.
Then it turned out we were quite far from our flag, we had to ask a friendly kayaker if he would grab it for us, which he did(thanks kayak guy wherever you are). Then I got a chance to scream my head off at a boat that passed roughly 40 ft from us...."Hey *******, 300 feet is the limit" and other bad words which are not to be posted....
Then we finally made it to shore.

Now onto my question:

The guy who lives across the street from Magnolia beach claims to own the rocks. Somehow this sounds like a fishy story to me. Does anyone have PROOF wether or not he has an easement on the rocks(seeing as they ARE across a public street)?

--L1234

 

[jchaplain]

Now onto my question:

The guy who lives across the street from Magnolia beach claims to own the rocks. Somehow this sounds like a fishy story to me. Does anyone have PROOF wether or not he has an easement on the rocks(seeing as they ARE across a public street)?

--L1234

It's quite possible that he does in fact own the rocks. Much of the shore in Massachusetts is privately owned. People in Massachusetts on the shore own property to the low water mark. There is a whole lot of info out there on this. In that situation few owners push their rights to have people ejected for trespassing and the law states something about the rights of passersby and people using it for 'fowling or fishing' or something to that effect.

John C.

 

[lord1234]

see the issue is that there is a street between his property and the "rocks/beach"...i know that MA/ME are the last states to allow this "low water mark common law". However it is rare to see someone "own" the street, even though there could be an easement...

 

[scubafisch]

common law". However it is rare to see someone "own" the street, even though there could be an easement...[/QUOTE]

I don't know the law but on back beach in gloucester (bass rocks), a public road runs the entire length of the waterfront, but the land on both sides of the road (ie, the stretch between the road and the water) is plastered with 'private property' signs. Some of it is clearly marked as the property of the hotels on the other side of the road, ie, the road appears on an easement.

fischman

 

[mello-yellow]

The guy who lives across the street from Magnolia beach claims to own the rocks. Somehow this sounds like a fishy story to me. Does anyone have PROOF wether or not he has an easement on the rocks(seeing as they ARE across a public street)?

He is full of bovine excrement.

First, ALL shoreline in Massachusetts is public property:

http://www.mass.gov/legis/laws/mgl/91-10d.htm

No person shall be denied access during daylight hours to commonwealth tidelands across any land available to the public for swimming or recreation which is owned or controlled by the commonwealth or any of its political subdivisions for the purpose of scuba diving or skin diving which activities are hereby declared to be water dependent uses; provided, however, that if such tidelands are at any time closed to access by the general public, such access by such scuba diver or skin diver shall not be permitted.

Second, as me and Chebby were suiting up Friday morning right by two very new "Private Property" signs, some local walked up to us and explained that some joker has been putting up these signs for years. They have no legal force, and that same local has been ignoring them "drinking on those rocks" all along. That owner across the street is a known local annoyance you can safely ignore, as does everyone who dives and fishes from Magnolia Rocks.

 

[ClassAction]

He is full of bovine excrement.

First, ALL shoreline in Massachusetts is public property:

http://www.mass.gov/legis/laws/mgl/91-10d.htm


Second, as me and Chebby were suiting up Friday morning right by two very new "Private Property" signs, some local walked up to us and explained that some joker has been putting up these signs for years. They have no legal force, and that same local has been ignoring them "drinking on those rocks" all along. That owner across the street is a known local annoyance you can safely ignore, as does everyone who dives and fishes from Magnolia Rocks.

This statute doesn't say anything about whether the mass shoreline is public or private. It only addresses access rights. Also, I'm not entirely sure that this statute grants a diver access rights over e.g. the rocks at Magnolia. The statute reads:

No person shall be denied access during daylight hours to commonwealth tidelands across any land available to the public for swimming or recreation which is owned or controlled by the commonwealth or any of its political subdivisions for the purpose of scuba diving or skin diving which activities are hereby declared to be water dependent uses; provided, however, that if such tidelands are at any time closed to access by the general public, such access by such scuba diver or skin diver shall not be permitted.

It all depends on how this statute is interpreted (which I'm going to look into). I'm not sure that e.g. Magnolia is technically "available to the public for swimming..." or even whether Magnolia is "owned by the commonwealth..." (as opposed to being privately owned). My guess is that this statute applies to e.g. a public beach. But I'll try to get some answers and get back to everyone...

 

[ScubaNorth]

He is full of bovine excrement.

First, ALL shoreline in Massachusetts is public property:

http://www.mass.gov/legis/laws/mgl/91-10d.htm


Second, as me and Chebby were suiting up Friday morning right by two very new "Private Property" signs, some local walked up to us and explained that some joker has been putting up these signs for years. They have no legal force, and that same local has been ignoring them "drinking on those rocks" all along. That owner across the street is a known local annoyance you can safely ignore, as does everyone who dives and fishes from Magnolia Rocks.

It is possible he owns the land on each side of the street. There is a route into Magnolia across public land. Your best bet is to Be nice to the neighbor he is known and seems to be harmless if you are polite and respectful I hear he is always the same. This is of course just my opinion.

 

[mello-yellow]

I am always polite to people I do not know, as a matter of course.

 

[ScubaSarus]

A visit to the town hall will answer this question and settle this matter for sure.

 

[mer]

The law you posted does not specifically apply to private property. And I always thought common law was that property lines went to the mean HIGH water mark, ie at low tide you had a lot of real estate you can access as public.

As for the dude in Magnolia, a few tips:
- If there early, be very quiet, especially with purging regs or openning tank valves (ie minimize that)
- Park up on the side street, without blocking peoples driveways and giving the residents their space.
- Stay on the side of the rocks away from this dude