The new steps are just off the top edge of the photo, past the tennis courts.
Type:
inland tidal bay
Depth:
20 ft max, 15 ft in most places
This dive site, formerly known as 'L Street' has changed completely, and for the better. The town of Belmar has done something really nice for us divers and installed wide wooden steps down the bulkhead in Maclearie Park. This more than makes up for the loss of the boat ramp area, which is off-limits to all swimmers since it was rebuilt. I suppose the little cove by the ramp is still accessible from the beach, but the new site is much better, and far from all the dangerous boat traffic around the ramp and marina.
Low tide, winter. Beach replenishment has all but filled in the "L".
Type:
smallish tidal river inlet with stone jetties or bulkheads on both sides
Depth:
15 ft
This inlet has an L-shaped jetty on the north side and a longer straight jetty on the south side. Both jetties are made of loose stones - hardly any concrete - and the bottom is sandy and usually clean. You can walk over the bridge from one side of the inlet to the other in about five minutes.
The "Southwest Mohawk" or "Coffee Wreck" is nothing like its namesake. Artifacts found on the wreck indicated that it was a late eighteenth-century sailing ship and not a barge.
The Alex Gibson shipwreck is the remains of a wooden barge. The barge was built in 1877 was 180 ft long and displaced 2154 tons. She was sunk in the 1930s and now sits in 40 ft of water on a clean sand bottom.
