United States Dive Sites — Page 17

Continued from the United States dive sites guide, which covers regions, seasonality, and planning details.

Folly Cove

Massachusetts · 3–24.4 m

Folly Cove, straddling the Gloucester/Rockport line on Cape Ann's north shore, is widely regarded as the area's premier shore dive. A cobble beach between two long rocky points leads to a sheer west wall — the 'great wall' — carpeted with frilled anemones and dropping toward 70-80 ft at the left point, while the cove's sandy center holds skates and flounder. It is dived day and night year-round; the only real frictions are slippery low-tide rocks and resident-only parking at the landing.

IntermediateShore entry

Fort Adams State Park

Rhode Island · —

A shore dive inside Fort Adams State Park on the west side of Newport Harbor, entered from the shoreline off Lincoln Drive across the water from Fort Wetherill. The protected harbor-side bottom is sand, eelgrass and rock in modest depths, and the site is heavily used by training classes. Like most Narragansett Bay sites, it dives best timed to slack tide.

Shore entry

Fort Constitution / UNH Pier

New Hampshire · —

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.

AdvancedShore entry

Fort Foster (Scuba Beach)

Maine · 1.5–9.1 m

A town park on Gerrish Island in Kittery Point with a signed 'Scuba Beach' that is the standard beginner ocean dive in southern Maine. The easy pebble-beach entry leads to ledges and sandy bottom rarely deeper than about 30 feet, with two distinct dives (ledges to the left, an exposed ledge loop to the right). Diving is prohibited at the main pier beach on the river side.

Shore entry

Fort Pickens Jetties

Florida · 3–15.2 m

The Fort Pickens Jetties at the western tip of Santa Rosa Island are one of the most popular shore dives in the Florida Panhandle, located within Gulf Islands National Seashore beside the historic 1834 fort. From the seawall steps a gradual sandy slope leads along the rock jetty to about 50 feet, past concrete culverts and scattered artificial habitat that shelter a remarkable density of fish. The site sits in an aquatic preserve at the edge of Pensacola Pass, so slack-tide timing is essential.

Shore entry

Fort Stark

New Hampshire · 4.6–7.6 m

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.

Shore entry

Fort Wetherill State Park

Rhode Island · 3–27.4 m

Fort Wetherill State Park in Jamestown is Rhode Island's most popular shore dive and the traditional checkout-dive site for the region, with two sheltered rocky coves flanking a former coastal artillery fort on Narragansett Bay's East Passage. The Right Cove offers an easy boat-ramp entry to about 30 ft, the Left Cove reaches roughly 60 ft, and advanced divers can work out to the Bull Point wall approaching 100 ft. Rocky reef, kelp and abundant New England marine life make it a year-round training and night-dive favorite.

AdvancedShore entry

Forward shipwreck site

New York · 9–12.2 m

A NYS DEC Submerged Heritage Preserve off Diamond Island in the south basin of Lake George. The centerpiece is the Forward, a roughly 45-foot wooden launch and one of the earliest gasoline-powered boats on the lake, sitting in about 40 feet of water. Developed in 1997-98 as an interpretive 'underwater classroom' with a triangular trail of stations including a zebra-mussel monitoring point, fish observation zone, simulated archaeology site, a Secchi disk, navigation course and signage.

IntermediateBoat entry

Four Mile Island

Georgia · 0–0.9 m

Four Mile Island is a dive site in United States. Maximum depth is around 1 m. The site is reached by boat. Rated intermediate based on available data.

IntermediateBoat entry

France Park

Indiana · 3–10.7 m

France Park is a Cass County park west of Logansport built around a flooded late-1800s limestone quarry of about seven acres, and is one of the most popular dive sites in Indiana. The quarry reaches roughly 31-35 feet deep with sheer limestone walls and sunken attractions including a plane, a 1940s school bus, a pickup truck, boats, a snowmobile, a culvert and training platforms. Its best-known residents are large paddlefish (spoonbill), and Indy Dive Center operates a seasonal dive resort with air fills inside the park.

Shore entry

Francis E. Powell Wreck

Virginia · 21–27 m

The Francis E. Powell was a 7,140-ton American oil tanker built 1920-1922 and operated by the Atlantic Refining Company. She was torpedoed by U-130 on January 27, 1942, caught fire, broke in two and sank off Virginia's Eastern Shore. The wreck rests in multiple sections, with the stern off Parramore Island in about 90 ft of water, where the broken hull shelters lobster, flounder and sea bass and is visited by Virginia wreck-diving charters.

AdvancedBoat entry

Francisco Morazan Wreck (Manitou Passage Underwater Preserve)

Michigan · 0–4.6 m

The Francisco Morazan is a 246-ft steel package freighter that ran aground in a November 1960 snowstorm about 300 yards off the south shore of South Manitou Island, partly atop the older wreck of the Walter L. Frost. Part of the superstructure still breaks the surface, making it the most visible wreck in the Manitou Passage Underwater Preserve, snorkelable and divable in roughly 0-15 ft of water within Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Strong swimmers reach it from the island beach; most visitors come by kayak or boat, and the collapsing steel demands care.

Shore + boat

Frank O'Connor Wreck

Wisconsin · 13–19.8 m

The 301-ft wooden bulk carrier Frank O'Connor caught fire and sank on October 3, 1919, while carrying 3,000 tons of coal, settling in 65 ft of water about 2.6 miles north-northeast of Cana Island. Its museum-quality triple-expansion steam engine and boilers rise more than 20 ft off the bottom, making it one of Door County's signature wreck dives. Two WHS seasonal mooring buoys mark the bow and engine.

IntermediateBoat entry

Freeport Liberty Ship

Texas · Up to 31.1 m

Freeport Liberty Ship is a dive site located in United States. Depths run to roughly 31 m. The site is reached by boat. Rated advanced based on available data.

AdvancedBoat entry

Fremont Lake

Wyoming · 6–45 m

A 12-mile-long glacial lake just north of Pinedale in the Wind River Range, and one of the deepest lakes in the country at about 610 feet. It is one of Wyoming's most frequently dived sites, offering certifications and fun dives at 'Swim Beach' (officially Sandy Beach) near the marina, where surface water reaches about 70F before a thermocline at 25-30 feet drops to 40F. Notable areas include Moosehead Bay and Chambers Bay, with car-sized boulders in crystal-clear water; divers also report sunken boats, artifacts and lure-laden underwater trees.

IntermediateShore + boat

Fripp Island Reef

South Carolina · Up to 14.9 m

Artificial reef built from Approximate Center of Reef

Boat entry

Frolic Wreck

California · 3–18 m

The Frolic was a 97-foot Baltimore-built opium-trade brig that struck the reef north of Point Cabrillo on the night of July 25, 1850, while carrying Chinese silk, porcelain and other Gold Rush cargo to San Francisco; the wreck indirectly triggered the founding of the Mendocino lumber industry. Scattered remains (ballast, fittings, porcelain shards) lie among ridges, boulders and surge channels in Frolic Cove. A historically significant but demanding shore dive for calm days only; the site is protected and nothing may be removed.

AdvancedShore entry

Gales Lumps (NW Corner)

Maryland · Up to 6.1 m

Artificial reef built from Concrete pipe, rubble

Boat entry

Gales Lumps (SE Corner)

Maryland · Up to 7 m

Artificial reef built from Concrete pipe, rubble

Boat entry

Gallinipper Wreck

Wisconsin · 61–66 m

The 95-ft schooner Gallinipper (built 1833) capsized in a squall on July 7, 1851, and is the oldest shipwreck yet found in Wisconsin waters. It sits upright and remarkably intact in 215 ft of water (deck at ~200 ft) roughly 8-10 nautical miles off the coast between Manitowoc and Sheboygan, with carved bow, bowsprit and both wood-stock anchors in place. A cold, dark trimix dive for experienced technical divers only; listed on the National Register in 2010.

ExpertBoat entry

Garbage Beach

Massachusetts · 1.5–21.3 m

Garbage Beach - officially Woods Hole Waterfront Park - is a well-known local dive in Woods Hole Harbor, Falmouth: a small lawn and pocket beach next to the Marine Biological Laboratory piers. Divers enter from the beach stairs or giant-stride off the second MBL pier into an eelgrass meadow with depths from about 5 ft near shore to as much as 70 ft at high tide farther out. The site must be dived around high slack water because Woods Hole's tidal currents are powerful, and harbor boat traffic is heavy in season. Visibility is typically modest, but the eelgrass and pilings hold abundant invertebrate and fish life.

IntermediateShore entry

Garden State North - Barnegat Fishin' Hole Reef Dedicated to the Memory of Carol Evans, JCAA Redbird Reef

New Jersey · 19.8–25 m

Artificial reef built from Subway Car (Redbird) NJDEP deployment record: Subway car, material: Subway Car (Redbird), deployed 2003.

IntermediateBoat entry

Garden State North - John Killian Memorial Reef

New Jersey · 19.8–25 m

Artificial reef built from 97' Tugboat - "Vincent Paul Pessolano" (AKA "Wagner's Point") NJDEP deployment record: Military vehicle, material: M-113 Armored Personnel Carrier (APC), deployed 1999.

IntermediateBoat entry

Garden State South - Wittle Wet Wabbit Weef in Memory of William T. Gleason

New Jersey · 17.1–20.1 m

Artificial reef built from M-60 Patton Main Battle Tank (MBT) NJDEP deployment record: Military vehicle, material: M-60 Patton Main Battle Tank (MBT), deployed 1999.

IntermediateBoat entry