Southerners coming to Boston in July, should we dive?

[macado]

Have done a few dives near Vancouver. Really liked the invertebrates like all the stars and big anemones. Do you have that on your shore dives? Which ones are better if you do. Seals sounds cool also. Went to your Boston Scuba web site. What sort of depths are your charters or does it vary? Did not see a list of sites.

We tend to stick around the Boston Harbor Islands. Most of our dive sites are about ~45 minute boat ride from the marina. We tend to cater to open water divers in the summer and a lot of the dives we do are shallow (less than 60ft). Most people are lobstering and scalloping and a lot of these dive sites are 30ft-60ft where people do well.

We try to hit some of the wrecks around Boston Harbor when we have enough interested people.

One of the more popular boat dives that we do is Graves Light; it is one of the outer most harbor islands in Boston Harbor. There is a decent sized seal population year round out there; Some of them are pretty inquisitive and will nibble on your fins. It's a rocky ledge that goes down to 60ft-70ft in some areas. You can find northern red anemones, frilled anemones. It is great for lobstering and you occasionally get large schools of fish. It is a nice dive when the conditions and visibility are good.

Dive Sites | Boston SCUBA

A few other good sites are 3 1/2 Fathoms Ledge (another rocky ledge that drops down to 80'), Martin's Ledge, Nahant (East Point, Egg Rock). Wrecks like the Romance (80') and Herbert (100'), Kiowa (50') are also very pretty when visibility is good.

Cape Ann (45 minutes or so from Boston) also has some really good dive sites. I'd say they have slightly more variety and a chance for a little bit better visibility than some of the sites we dive in Boston Harbor. A lot of the sites in Cape Ann frequented by Cape Ann Charters and Cape Ann Divers are great for sea stars and anemones (Saturday Night Ledge, Halfway Rock, Burnham Rock. Same thing with a lot of the deeper wrecks).

There are some shore diving sites that are great for invertebrates too but in my opinion you tend to have better luck on boat diving.

For the variety of invertebrates like Vancouver, Eastport, ME is the way to go. Some of the best and most unique diving in New England but it's a LONG ride and out in the middle of no where.

If you're looking to do more wrecks or deeper dive sites in the technical range, Cape Ann Charters (Daybreaker) and North Atlantic Dive Expeditions (Gauntlet) run great operations.

 

[gcarter]

gcarter: It looks like all the dives below 50 were boat dives. Do you know it that pattern is typical? There is a noticable difference between 53 and 48, at least for me.

That pattern is typical. A lot of New England shore dives tend to be shallow, less than 40-50ft depth so there is usually less of thermocline. You can get water temperatures in low 60fs in late summer but on deep dives it is common to still find temps in 40fs.

In the late summer, a lot of the deep dive sites will have water temps in mid to high 40s.

^^^ He knows better that me ^^^

He was also on the boat when we dove the Poling

 

[AfterDark]

That's really helpful. I may need to be in Boston for a few days next summer. 50s is certainly doable in a 7 mil. Hadn't planned on diving there but now I may.

If you happen to come up this way Steve feel free to contact me. Cape Ann is a long drive for me but it is nice diving and I never pass up a chance for some nice diving with a new acquaintance.

OP you got all the advice I would have given you already. Also IMO it is a wonderful thing your son is interested in history, there is plenty of it around these parts.

 

[Salt]

PLEASE BE AWARE:
The original post is from March 1, 2015.
Cape Anne Divers has gone out of business.

Per the announcements on their website:

November 12, 2017
Gloucester, Massachusetts

Cape Ann Divers, Ltd. is permanently closing their brick and mortar store, and discontinuing their SCUBA dive boat charter services due to decreases in sales.

Open since September of 1988 and closing December 16, 2017 just shy of their 30th year in business. A liquidation sale will be held from November 16th through December 16th, 2017 at their location in the Cape Ann Marketplace 127 Eastern Ave. Gloucester MA.

March 28, 2018
Gloucester, Massachusetts

We have permanently closed our store and charter boat operation, our former boat captain Stephen Smith has purchased his own charter for hire in the 2018 season. You can visit his website here: http://charterboat1.com