RI Dive Sites

[nusspli]

Can anyone recommend some excellent dive sites in RI?


(I'm sure this questions has been asked before, but I haven't had luck with searching for it.)

Thanks!

Jessica

www.jessicavasale.com

 

[MSilvia]

Can anyone recommend some excellent dive sites in RI?

Fort Wetherill state park can be fantastic when the conditions are good. There's even a chance of seeing tropical fish that were caught in the gulf stream there in late summer.

There's also a lot of good wreck diving off Block Island.

 

[Steve.C]

Can anyone recommend some excellent dive sites in RI?


(I'm sure this questions has been asked before, but I haven't had luck with searching for it.)

Thanks!

Jessica

www.jessicavasale.com

Kings Beach off of Ocean Drive

 

[mstudley]

I'm not sure if I'd call it excellent but I love to dive at Fort Adams in Newport. It has a super easy entry and I always find something different when I go there.

It also gets deep pretty quickly (180 ft) however there isn't much to see past 50ft. I like to go here for refresher dives, testing new equipment or just to relax

If you are looking for more sites I would pick up "RI Adventure Diving" volumes I and II. They are great books and can usually be found at your LDS (in RI and MA anyway).

 

[whitelief]

I'm not sure if I'd call it excellent but I love to dive at Fort Adams in Newport. It has a super easy entry and I always find something different when I go there.

Where do you park for that? And could you give a little background on where you like to enter, and which way you head?

The charts sure show quite a drop off!

-David

 

[mstudley]

Where do you park for that? And could you give a little background on where you like to enter, and which way you head?

The charts sure show quite a drop off!

-David

And those charts are correct!

What I do is enter the park at the main entrance and you take the first left (right before the little guardhouse). Stay left and you'll find a road that swings around (headed towards the channel) and will lead you to the Eisenhower House (I think that's what it's called... it's big and yellow so you can't miss it).

Follow that road all the way down and you should see a stone wall at street level on the left with a small beach below. I usually park on the street or in a little area next to the beach (4 or 5 cars can fit).

The surf usually isn't bad and I do a walk in entry. From there it's really up to you (and the current sometimes) where you go. If you head straight out you are headed for deep water and silt (it's a shipping channel; you can see Ft. Wetherill on the other side). I usually go out to the right and hang out at about 40ft. I still haven't explored over to the left yet.

A lot of people fish off of the rocks there so you have to watch out for lines sometimes but it really isn't that bad.

If you ever want to go let me know Maybe some other locals that hang out here would want to plan to go some weeked?

 

[whitelief]

A little bit south of Ft Adams I see the Castle Hill area. Have you done any diving in that area? Also very deep, though to the south a bit it looks like a lot that is around 60 feet deep.

-David

 

[RIDIVER501]

I can verify that info to be correct.
I work for the Newport Diving Center and use that beach periodically for my OW classes.

Check the tides there. If you time the tide wrong you can have a pretty good current blowing through there. Unless of course you are into beach to beach drift diving, which we can do there ...get a good 30-40 minute drift dive at 40ft or so and come out about .25 miles up/down the road (depending on entry point and the direction of the tide.)

John

 

[RIDIVER501]

There are lots of dive sites already mentioned, but i'll list the ones I use even if they are repeats.

King's Beach,
Land's End,
Purgatory Chasm
Van Zant Pier.
Fort Adams (bayside) 2 sites
Fort Adams (by the Old rescue Boat Launch system)
Castle Hill Light,
Kings Park (only for rescue diver classes) very shallow
Brenton Cove
Brenton Reef
Fort Wetherhill right and left cove
Bull Point...Great deep dive site.
Outside the break wall at the Navy Pier
The Salt Pond in Portsmouth

Happy to provide amplifying info on a site by site basis

John

 

[mstudley]

There are lots of dive sites already mentioned, but i'll list the ones I use even if they are repeats.

King's Beach,
Land's End,
Purgatory Chasm

Where is Purgatory Chasm? The only one that I know of is the rock quarry off of Rt. 146 in MA.