Where to dive?

[CustomTech]

My wife and I are coming to Connecticut in a couple of months for her to see some old friends. I figured that if she is visiting I should be able to go diving. I'm not sure exactly where we are going to be yet but they are stationed at a Navy base. He is on a Sub.

Is there good diving in the winter out there? Im a Dive Master with aver 500 cold water dives. Oregon coast, Puget sound and Canada. What kind of divng is there? I do have a drysuit. Any information would be helpful. Thanks in advance---Allen

 

[RIOceanographer]

The sub base is in New London which is not too far from the CT-RI border. CT diving is pretty limited, but there is a lot of good shore diving in RI. There are plenty of boat dives too like the U-853 but you will have a hard time finding a charter in the winter.

For shore diving your best bet is to head out to Jamestown, RI which has a lot of nice rocky coastline. That is about an hour drive from New London. The most popular site is Ft. Wetherill, largely because it is easy and has a lot of variety. My favorite dive in Ft Wetherill is to go around the tip of the island between the two coves where there is a nice rock wall with lots of anemones. It drops to about 70 ft but it is far more interesting if you dive it to a max depth of 50ft in my opinion. Beavertail Point has several great shore dives with all sorts of cool rocky terrain and swim throughs. Parking lots 3 and 4 are the most interesting spots at Beavertail, but require a bit of rock climbing to get to the water and can get pretty tricky when the sea conditions are less than ideal. Bull Pt right next to Ft Wetherill is a great dive along a rock wall that drops as deep as 100 ft but can have a stiff current (2+ knots) depending on the tide. Ocean State Scuba in Jamestown would be a good place to call for more detailed info on any of these dive sites.

The dive conditions depend on how when you plan to come. The diving through November is pretty good as long as you can get decent weather and the water temps are still up in the 50s. After that the marine life starts to get a bit scarce.

 

[ScubaSarus]

You should check the LDS in Jamestown, RI (The OSS). They will provide very freindly guidance as to were to dive in Jamestown which is a small Island connected by 2 briges and its hard to get lost there.