Long Island Sound Dive Sites (2/3)

Long Island Sound

Long Island Sound averages 60 ft in depth, with the greatest depth of over 300 ft at the eastern end. Tidal effects are strongest at the narrow western end, where all the inrushing water flow piles up and makes tidal variations of up to 7 ft. Strong tidal currents are also prevalent, and visibility tends to be poorer than the open ocean, especially at depth.

Long Island Sound Dive Sites

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Shipwreck Larchmont
Type:
shipwreck, steamer, USA
Built:
1885, Bath ME USA
Specs:
( 252 x 37 ft ) 1605 tons, 351 passengers & crew
Sunk:
Monday February 11, 1907
collision with schooner Harry Knowlton - 334 casualties
Depth:
140 ft

huge paddlewheels; wooden hull draped with fishing nets; hazardous currents & poor viz.


Shipwreck Lexington
Type:
steamer, USA
Built:
1835, New York NY USA
Specs:
( 207 x 21 ft ) 488 gross tons, 165 passengers & crew
Sunk:
Monday January 13, 1840
fire - 4 survivors
Depth:
125 ft - 150 ft

Shipwreck Maine
Type:
shipwreck, steamer, USA
Built:
1891, USA
Specs:
( 310 x 44 ft ) 1505 gross tons
Sunk:
Wednesday February 4, 1920
pushed onto rocks by pack ice - no casualties
Depth:
15 ft

low debris field




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.


Type:
shipwreck, three-masted schooner, USA
Specs:
( 118 ft )
Sunk:
Monday August 12, 1907
collision with steamer Tennessee- 4 casualties
Depth:
60 ft

wooden ribs and timbers


Shipwreck Olinda
Type:
shipwreck, steamer, Portugal
Built:
1887, England
Specs:
( 250 x 36 ft ) 1479 gross tons
Sunk:
Tuesday June 11, 1895
ran aground on Fisher's Island - no casualties
Depth:
20 ft

Shipwreck Poling Brothers #2
Type:
shipwreck, tanker, USA
Built:
1863, USA
Specs:
( 116 x 23 ft ) 159 tons
Sunk:
Wednesday February 7, 1940
struck pack ice - no casualties
Depth:
65 ft

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.


Long Island Sound Dive Sites

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There are on the market today portable underwater direction-finding units that home in on each other by sound. These provide similar functionality to a strobe light, but with ( theoretically ) longer range, and are ( theoretically ) unaffected by water conditions and visibility. They are also very expensive, and prone to failure when a large object or wall gets between the two units. A number of times I have seen people get lost because they counted on one of these gadgets, and it didn't work.

Perhaps the most disturbing thing about these devices is that their users seem to be mostly beginners who place unfounded faith in them, probably because they paid so much for it at the dive shop. They seem to hit the water in "brain-off" mode, counting on their expensive gadgets to get them home, and making little or no effort at other forms of navigation. Unfortunately, these people are probably the least able to cope with the emergency situation that arises when they find out just how reliable their little sonar toy isn't. Learn to use a wreck reel instead.

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