Long Island Coast Dive Sites (3/3)

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Mount Sinai Harbor / Jetties

Once you get there, suit up at your car and walk down the small stretch of beach till you get near the jetty. Enter the water at your leisure. Once in the water, you can swim north along the jetty to the tip. You may see fish, lobster, crabs and the sort. There are large openings in the rocks that form the jetty. Large enough in fact that you can almost swim into one. I don't advise doing this because getting stuck might be a frightening experience.


Ponquogue Bridge
Shinnecock inlet in the background.

There are two actual Ponquoque bridges, the new one and the old one. You crossed the new bridge to get to the former Foster Road. The old bridge is where you will probably dive, although nothing is stopping you from diving the new bridge. Don't get caught in the channel between the two bridges, however, because it is considered a channel and it is illegal to dive in a channel in the town of Southampton. With that in mind, there is usually good parking at the bridge, but you will have to do some walking in order to get into the water.



Shipwreck Princess Anne
Type:
shipwreck, liner, USA
Built:
1897, Chester PA USA
Specs:
( 350 x 42 ft ) 3629 gross tons
Sunk:
February 6, 1920; ran aground in storm - no casualties
Depth:
20 ft

Type:
shipwreck, schooner, USA
Built:
1886, Rockland ME USA
Specs:
( 225 x 37 ft ) 1556 tons
Sunk:
February 8, 1899; unknown
Depth:
23 ft

aka "Derrick Barge"



Shipwreck Roda
Type:
shipwreck, freighter, England
Built:
1897, England
Specs:
( 315 x 44 ft ) 2516 gross tons
Sunk:
Thursday February 3, 1908
ran aground in heavy fog - no casualties
Depth:
20 ft

debris field, bow, stern, boiler


Shinnecock Inlet

The Shinnecock Inlet is located in the Hampton Bays on Long Island. The inlet is one of the only major inlets on the south shore and sees a great deal of boat traffic during the summer months. With that in mind, this inlet also sees a great deal of diver traffic as well.


Shoreham Nuclear Power Plant
Satellite image, showing the jetties and the never-used nuclear power plant.

Now, most people would look at the heading on the page and think that I was crazy for diving near a nuclear power plant. Just to calm your fears, this power plant was never brought online, so there is no chance of getting radiated at this location (barring a nuclear war while you're diving). With that said, Shoreham can be a very interesting dive. Located on the north shore of Long Island (I don't know the name of the town, look on a map), it is a shallow dive with an average depth of around 16 ft. Visibility tends to be anywhere from 3 to 10 ft.


Shipwreck U.S.S. Ohio
Type:
shipwreck, 74 gun ship-of-the-line, U.S. Navy
Name:
that place next to Indiana
Built:
1820, Brooklyn NY USA
Specs:
( 208 x 54 ft ) 2757 gross tons
Sunk:
April 1884
set adrift and grounded by storm while being dismantled, later deliberately burned
Depth:
20 ft

Long Island Coast Dive Sites

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2016 Update

Well, computers, you can bet that everything has changed here.


software

There are a number of computer software packages available that allow you to simulate different dive profiles and create custom decompression tables without actually going in the water. Most of them have graphical interfaces, and allow you to vary not only the dive profile, but gas mixes, decompression mixes, decompression stops, algorithm, conservatism, and many other factors. Software like this is a staple in the technical diving field but is also useful to the recreational diver. Here are a couple, with links:

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