New Jersey Scuba Diving

Dive Sites

Dive Sites - pick your starting point

Here is a comprehensive listing of dive sites in the New Jersey / Long Island area, covering shipwrecks, artificial reefs, beach dives, and selected inland sites. The emphasis is on recreational ( less than 130 ft ) diving in northern New Jersey, since that's where I live and dive. The current total is over 400 references, although this includes a few shipwrecks that are of purely historical interest.

New Jersey is a superb place for wreck diving. Estimates of the number of wrecks off this coast are between 4000 and 7000. To get some idea of what a staggering figure this is, take a look at the charts here, and for every black cross denoting a shipwreck, imagine 15-20 more. As if this was not enough, every year many excellent new "shipwrecks" are added by active artificial reef programs in both New Jersey and New York. Wrecks vary in age from the 18th century to World Wars I & II to the present day.

A Note on the "Numbers" Here

Anyone can look at the html source of this page and see the numbers that I have kept hidden for many years. Understand though, these numbers are not GPS and are not good enough for navigation, although they may appear to be. Most of them are the old Loran conversions I started with many years ago, which are still perfectly good for putting a spot on a digital map. Any accurate numbers that were given to me in confidence have been fudged.

The two depth contours on the charts were traced off a digital map of doubtful accuracy. The inner one varies between 100 and 200 feet, check nearby wrecks for a better estimate. The outer contour is the edge of the continental shelf, beyond which the depth increases rapidly to thousands of feet.

New Jersey Dive Sites

New York Dive Sites

Shipwreck Lana Carol
Lana Carol

You can navigate this site by clicking on the colored chart labels to bring up information or more detailed charts ( there are ten interlinked main charts, and a number of smaller detail charts ) Alternatively, you can use the table of contents and scroll through the pages manually. The text table of contents also contains a number of interesting web links for this section.

Shark River Bridge
Shark River
Andrea Doria sinking
The Andrea Doria sinks
NOAA chart 12326
Chart 12326

GPS Numbers

Many people ask for Loran GPS numbers for the sites described in these pages. My policy is to not list numbers, as many of them were given to me in confidence, and I will not accidentally release someone's secret. However, after I added all the highly accurate and public-domain GPS numbers in the Artificial Reefs section of the website, I have reconsidered that position, somewhat.

What I have done is collect "GPS numbers" from four public lists, and compile them into a single spreadsheet. I culled the obvious errors, cleaned up the names, and sorted all the data. The numbers are in both common formats: degrees-minutes and degrees-decimal. You can download it here.

You'll notice that there are multiple entries for many wrecks, each listing the source. Often, these numbers turn out to be a quarter-mile apart or more. If two numbers agree, that is more likely an indication that one was copied from the other than that they are right. Some of these numbers might be accurate, but I couldn't tell you which, or which source is the best.

The GPS in my phone helps me find my way out of the woods when I get lost with the dog. The GPS in your car will show you which lane of the highway you are in. These 'GPS Numbers' often can't agree within a quarter of a mile of each other. What this shows is just how awful these public GPS lists really are - they are little more than bad Loran conversions from twenty years ago. If you don't believe me, plug a few of the numbers into the calculator and see for yourself.

Here is one incredible example: two sets of numbers given for the Delaware are over 2 miles apart !!! The Delaware is only 3 miles off the beach, and you can find it by land ranges with no instruments at all:

Shipwreck SS Delaware land ranges

Note the locations of the two sets of water and bridge towers.

This is indicative of the quality of the entire list - it is garbage. This particular error is probably a typo, but that's what happens when the same junk gets handed down for 20 years.

On the scale of my graphical charts, most of the errors might move a marker one pixel - so for my purposes it doesn't matter. But if you want to actually go out and find a wreck with these numbers, pack a lunch - you're going to be 'mowing the lawn' for a while! That is not to say there are not accurate sources for GPS numbers, but you will have to pay for them. See References.

I have added a few GPS numbers from government sources where the accuracy is high. I'm not going to all the trouble and public disservice of posting all the trash numbers.

I found this online Loran conversion tool from NOAA.

Garden State South Artificial Reef

Garden State South Artificial Reef

5.1 Nautical Miles off Spray Beach
Depth: 55-65 ft

More: Garden State South Artificial Reef ...

G.L. 78

Type:
shipwreck, barge
Specs:
( 50 ft )
Sunk:
Saturday September 11, 1937
GPS:
40°18.834' -73°53.094' (AWOIS 2008)
Depth:
65 ft

This wreck is often referred to as a trawler, but it is really a self-propelled wooden dump scow of the Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Company.

More: G.L. 78 ...

Anastasia

Shipwreck Anastasia
Sunk off Barnegat Light ( not plotted. )
Type:
shipwreck, barge / schooner barge
Specs:
1313 tons
Sunk:
Thursday January 26, 1933
four casualties
Depth:
75 ft

More: Anastasia ...

Thames

Type:
shipwreck, tugboat, USA
Built:
1885, USA
Specs:
( 55 ft )
Sunk:
autumn 1973; foundered - no casualties
Depth:
100 ft

More: Thames ...

u05 - AWOIS 7940

H10224/86-88 -- OPR-C121-WH-86-88; SIDE-SCAN SONAR AND DIVER INVESTIGATION OF CONTACT SHOWING DEFINITE WRECK CHARACTERISTICS; DIVERS FOUND A DETERIORATED WOODEN VESSEL WITH ROTTED WOODEN DECK PLANKING WHICH WAS MOSTLY SILTED OVER BY SAND; ONLY LARGE DECK TIMBERS REMAIN; NO MACHINERY FOUND; RIBS WERE OBSERVED RISING UP OFF THE BOTTOM ALONG THE EASTERN SIDE OF WRECK; DIVER GAUGE LEAST DEPTH TAKEN ON TOWING BITS AT THE NORTHERN END OF WRECK; LARGE DECK TIMBERS WERE SEEN ON WESTERN SIDE OF WRECK; 50 FT SW OF MAIN WRECKAGE, DIVERS FOUND WHAT APPEARS TO BE A PORTION OF THE SAME WRECK, RUNNING NW-SE, WOODEN RAIL-LIKE TIMBERS STICKING UP OFF THE BOTTOM 6-8 INCHES; ALSO APPEARS TO BE DETERIORATED; ON SECOND DIVE, A PILE WAS DISCOVERED ABOUT HALFWAY DOWN THE WRECK AND A PNEUMATIC DEPTH GAUGE LEAST DEPTH OF 46 FT WAS TAKEN ON IT; BEAM MEASURED 40 FT; LENGTH WAS 120 FT. (ENTERED MSD 4/91)

More: u05 - AWOIS 7940 ...

Charts, Dive Sites,

Think You've Got a Record-size Fish?

RULES AND REGULATIONS

  1. Fish must be caught in New Jersey waters.
  2. Saltwater species taken from a boat must have been caught from a boat which left from and returned to a New Jersey port during the same trip.
  3. Fish must have been caught on sporting tackle, hooked and landed by entrant.
  4. New Jersey state records are determined by weight alone. There are no line classes.
  5. Fish must be weighed on a certified scale.
  6. A clear photograph of the fish must be furnished for identification purposes. In the case of freshwater species, a yardstick must be placed next to fish to clearly show length.
  7. Fish should be refrigerated to permit inspection by a biologist in cases of uncertain identification.

Catch a fish that may not be of record size but is of sufficient size and weight to have tested your skill and/or be of "bragging" size? Then enter your catch in the Division of Fish and Wildlife's Skillful Angler Awards Program.

More: Think You've Got a Record-size Fish? ...

Disclaimer:

I make no claim as to the accuracy, validity, or appropriateness of any information found in this website. I will not be responsible for the consequences of any action that is based upon information found here. Scuba diving is an adventure sport, and as always, you alone are responsible for your own safety and well being.

Copyright © 1996-2024 Rich Galiano
unless otherwise noted

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