Tides

tides

Shore diving is very much dependant on the tide. Tidal inlets and rivers will flow with the tide, such that a river may even flow upstream for a time when the tide is incoming. Normal river currents are far too strong to swim against, and will simply sweep away a loaded diver. Many inlets have time restrictions for divers, so you will have to take the local laws and the tide tables into account to work out a good dive time.

However, there are two times when the currents drop to near zero. Those are dead high tide, and dead low tide. Of the two, dead high tide is usually better, simply because there is more water, and it is cleaner ocean water rather than silty river water. You will get about a half-hour window on either side of dead high tide during which you can either drift in the weak current or swim against it. After that, you'd better get out.

Tides are fairly irrelevant for boat diving, with a few exceptions: on the shallowest wrecks, high tide will have less surge from the surface waves than any other time. This also applies to beach dives. Also, anywhere near the entrance to New York harbor, the tide may generate a strong long-shore current, washing either into or out of the basin. This encompasses the area from Sandy Hook to Rockaway, sometimes further.

[tide]


An Aquarium For the Naturalist

By Ronald M. Clayton
Illustrations by author

Maintaining an aquarium filled with local fish and other aquatics can be an enjoyable, learning experience, and give you a good excuse to get out and stomp around in your local pond or stream. It's fun collecting new animals and plants to add to the aquarium, to replace ones that have died, or as food for your locally acquired fish, and learning about your wildlife is a fascinating part of the experience. In the shimmering shallows and mysterious depths of almost any nearby body of water thrives a whole world of living things, some very ugly and some very beautiful - the variety will amaze you. If you are interested in providing inexpensive recreation and education for yourself and perhaps your family, read on.

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