Dive Sites in New Hampshire, United States

A clear 240-acre glacial lake at about 1,480 feet elevation beneath Mount Monadnock, popular with regional divers and training classes. Shore access points along the northeastern shore off Route 101 lead to a bottom that slopes steeply to about 60 feet past glacial boulder fields before flattening into silt that reaches 90-110 feet. Visibility averages over 30 feet, unusually good for a New England lake; altitude diving procedures apply.

A muck-and-critter dive beneath and beside the UNH 325-foot marine research pier at Fort Point, New Castle, next to the historic Fort Constitution. Strong Piscataqua River currents make this strictly a slack-tide dive; the silty bottom hides invertebrate life and old artifacts such as antique ceramic pipes. Best done at high slack after an incoming tide with someone who knows the site.

The best-known shore dive on Lake Winnipesaukee, entered from the small town McKinney Park at the end of Clark Road in Wolfeboro. A shallow rocky training area gives way to huge boulder formations around 30 feet, and at about 45 feet a freshwater wall drops to 90 feet with a maximum depth around 105 feet and a small cavern at its base. Coarse sand keeps visibility up to about 25 feet on good days.

A 125-foot wooden sidewheel steamer built in 1848-49 that sank in 1895 while under tow to be scuttled, settling upright in about 30 feet of water in Smith Cove (Glendale Cove), Gilford, in front of the NH Marine Patrol headquarters. The hull remains largely intact and is the most popular wreck dive in Lake Winnipesaukee, typically reached by a short boat run or kayak; small dive boats can tie directly to the wreck.

A historic coastal defense site on the southeast corner of New Castle Island at the mouth of the Piscataqua River, now a state historic site with a sheltered cobble beach entry. The bottom is small boulders with kelp and rockweed giving way to eelgrass in 15-25 feet of water, with little current, making it one of the friendliest novice ocean dives on New Hampshire's short coast.

A cluster of rocky islands about six miles off the NH/ME coast, straddling the state line, that is the premier boat-diving destination for New Hampshire charters. Sites around Star, White, Lunging and Smuttynose Islands offer kelp-covered ledges, boulder fields and walls with abundant lobster, fish life and frequent harbor seal encounters, in some of the clearest water in the region.