Newport Questions

[tkaelin]

As of this summer no shop in Jamestown and I think the Newport one closed as well.

 

[CT-Rich]

Bring your tanks, no place to get refills that is anything near convenient. A good save a dive kit is recommended. Most divers will share to help a brother out, but you can also find 20 divers without a screwdriver among them

 

[Zef]

Yes slack tide at Fort Adams. Beavertail is a lot of work, it is a nice dive however. All along Ocean Drive there is access to the water. You'll see people from rocks fishing. Those same rocks can be an entry point for a dive. I dive those sites when I need more lead for casting bullets, tons of lead sinkers all over the place. The water is shallow but no boats and very little current. Ocean Drive is the road Kings Beach and Green Bridge are on. West's Cove at Ft. Wetherill is a steep hill and rocky entry. Bull point has a shorter but steeper hill with 1' dia. rocks to walk on. New England is a tough place to shore dive. It is a place where youth is required for most shore diving sites. Look at FTW it's mostly old geezers like me or student divers, because it's one of the few easy entry and exits sites in the area. One does not see the walking heart attacks diving sites like Beavertail or even old divers like me that are in fair shape for that matter, it's just too much. You might want to check Giant Strides charter schedule for diving the U853 Red has several charters per year to the sub. It is a unique diving experience and it is close enough to the Gulf Stream in the summer to attract unusual life for this area. Dolphins have been seen at the sub, as well as Mola-Molas.
The way things are going I'm expecting Great White sighting to start being reported at the sub soon. Evidently one was tracked at the seawalls off Pt. Judith this past summer, that's closer than the sub.

If you are ever looking for lead to cast bullets then head over to the Newport Rifle Club in Middletown...I used to be a member when I was studying at the War College; when I was there it was a very active club so there never seemed to be a shortage of lead available.

-Z

 

[AfterDark]

Thanks, but my brother is from VA. and he always drives to NJ for the night that same day as our dive. Just curious, is there a LDS in Jamestown now (I heard about what happened to "Ocean Divers" (I believe that was the name).

The nearest LDS to Newport is in Warwick, RI Giant Strides Dive Shop. There are a couple in northern RI. There Firex in Middletown they have an air station, they test, service, sell, fire extinguishes and hydro test. However it's Mon-Fri hours no evenings, weekends, they are not in business to service divers. My suggestion is bring full tanks.

For some reason dive shops don't do well in Jamestown, there has only been 3, Jamestown SCUBA, Ocean State SCUBA and for one year Dive-on-it.

 

[AfterDark]

Yeah, I was blown out at King's Beach in '06--may have not been that bad, but it was my 19th dive and I felt better just leaving the group and aborting. Green Bridge was OK, but heck of a surface swim out there. Then I cramped up, lost my buddy who had the flag and just went too fast, doffed my unit and used surf to eek out up onto the rocks (dive #20).
I've been to Ft. Wetherill twice since then. OK dives, but nothing great (ie. for me no decent shells). So we have that as a fall back if the surf looks dicey off Ocean Ave. Don't want 7-8 hrs. of driving that day for nothing.

IMO you should put Ft Adams 1st on your list. It's sheltered from south winds, usually better vis than FTW, 10' vis is not uncommon there it is rare at FTW. If you swim south instead of north there is a lot more to see and more structure in the form of rocks that attach fish and with 10' vis you can see them. I get the time tide dilemma but maybe you can work that out. Most diving around here is better at slack tide anyway.

IMO FTW is a nice site if you dive shallow, 10' max, after that ambient light starts to fade quickly and slit is suspended in the water. If you hit the tide right and go around the outer point sometimes below 60fsw the vis opens up and is pretty good, however to really appreciate it you need a light. A lot of the good shore sites I used to go to are closed to public access these days.

 

[TMHeimer]

IMO you should put Ft Adams 1st on your list. It's sheltered from south winds, usually better vis than FTW, 10' vis is not uncommon there it is rare at FTW. If you swim south instead of north there is a lot more to see and more structure in the form of rocks that attach fish and with 10' vis you can see them. I get the time tide dilemma but maybe you can work that out. Most diving around here is better at slack tide anyway.

IMO FTW is a nice site if you dive shallow, 10' max, after that ambient light starts to fade quickly and slit is suspended in the water. If you hit the tide right and go around the outer point sometimes below 60fsw the vis opens up and is pretty good, however to really appreciate it you need a light. A lot of the good shore sites I used to go to are closed to public access these days.

Yeah, I do plan on checking the tide once we figure the day we'll go. When you say a lot os sites are now closed to the public are you talking R.I., or N.E. in general?

 

[AfterDark]

Yeah, I do plan on checking the tide once we figure the day we'll go. When you say a lot os sites are now closed to the public are you talking R.I., or N.E. in general?

RI and Newport in particular. There was a time when a diver could enter at the USCG station at Castle Hill and dive one of the best sites on the coast of NE Castle Hill, the murderers in the dirty nightshirts ended that on 9-11-01. A diver could at one time walk down a grassy hill into the water and dive Butter Ball rock the site of a wreck from the 1700's. That hill is covered with loose stone now. The property that the castle at Green Bridge is on was open to the public, a diver could drive almost to the water and enter at the small finger cove facing the ocean, no need for a 200 yard swim. Lands End had parking spaces at the end of the road, no more tow zone now.

The day is coming to dive in RI a diver will need a boat and a compressor. I hope I'll have moved on to my reward by then.

 

[TMHeimer]

At least the RI state parks are free (or they were a few years ago). We always bring our full tanks and extensive save a dive kit. On this trip time is of the essence.