New Jersey Scuba Diving

Yet another place to dive the Shark River is on the south side, near the intersection of 1st Avenue and A Street, behind the apartments. There is limited but very convenient free parking. A small cement stairway leads down to a concrete ledge above the water. Climb down between the big rock and the bulkhead, where you will find more steps underwater. ( Whoever B.M and M.M. are - thank you! )

The bottom here is much like the rest of the river - sand and mussels. The rocks in this sunny spot are covered with orange sponges, red and green seaweeds, and anemones - very pretty. Depths are in the 10-15 foot range, although you may want to stay higher where the light and colors are better. The rocks are large and not closely packed, so you can swim in and around them. Tropical fish seem to favor this spot.

The bulkhead is not very interesting, which is ok because you are not supposed to go that way anyway. The topside ledge at the water's edge goes almost all the way to the bridge and is quite walkable and not too bad a climb out of the water so that you could ride the tide downstream and then climb out and hike back.

As of 2006, mussels have completely overgrown the bottom at this site, and only small patches of sand can be found between the rocks.