Let's Go Diving!!

Local Conditions

DIVE SPOT WEB CAM Nubble Light House	Tide Chart	Shorediving.com Great site for local shore dives Discover Diving is not responsible for the content of this site
	Portsmouth Habour
	Water Temperature

Ocean Observation Data

 

Some links to help your diving

• NOAA buoy off Portsmouth(includes water temp.)
• NOAA buoy off Boston(includes water temp.)
• NOAA Lighthouse at the Isle of Shoals
• Tide Chart

• Weather.com
  Here are some of our favorites dive sites and links.

  • Fun Beach Dives are leaving from the shop every weekend on the even numbered day. Typical leave time is 8:00 AM*. The cost is $10 and that gets you professionally supervised dives, a light snack, the chance to meet new dive buddies and see new dive sites and above all....FUN, FUN, FUN!!

  Give us your feedback on the Fun Beach Dives by sending us an e-mail.

  *Occasional night dives or other leave times may be planned. Please call for specific time.

  By Boat		By Beach
  SITE	Description	SITE	Description
  So. MAINE/NEW HAMPSHIRE
  Isle of Shoals	Variety of sites, from seal dives to wall dives, very pretty.	Nubble Light	Very pretty shore dive in York, ME. Depths up to 60 feet.
  Boone Island, ME	Seal Dive	Fort Foster	Old submarine lookout fort in Kittery, ME. Fee to get in and closes at dusk.
  		Great Island Common	Lots of fish and eel grass. Great place for a picnic too. Very shallow at low tide.
  		US Cost Guard Station/Hart's Cove, New Castle, NH	Go on 1B and follow the signs for the Coast Guard Station. Dive on the left side of the town pier.
  		Fort Stark	Good dive in New Castle
  		McKiney Park, Winnepasaukee	Nice fresh water dive in Wolfboro
  		Pulpit Rocks	Nice dive in Rye across from the submarine lookout tower.
  		Seal Rocks	Next to Pulpit
  CAPE ANN
  Chester Polling	75 -100 ft. Stern ½ of tanker, upright, & lovely.	Back Beach	Easy entry and exit with lots to see. Metered parking and bathrooms.
  Nina T	80 - 100 ft. Wooden fishing trawler intact upright	Old Garden Beach	Horseshoe reef with sand in the middle. Good lobsters.
  Haight	45 ft. Great wreck, over 100’ of ship’s bow.	Folly Cove	Very pretty dive with tough parking.
  Chelsea	50-70 ft. Bow ½ of tanker, somewhat intact	Magnolia Rocks	Very pretty dive with an entry that can be difficult in rougher seas..
  Halfway Rock	0 - 100 ft. Wall dive, lots of invertebrates	Cathedral Rocks	Deep dive from shore with a long, rocky incline to the water.
  Paddock Rock	0 - 80 ft. Pinnacle, dramatic drop offs, trenches	Pebble Beach	Southeasterly exposure, is a easy rocky or sandy entry. Depth 15 to 35+ feet. A reef is located to the right when facing the ocean.

Diving Directions

Here are directions to our favorites dive sites.

DIRECTION TO NUBBLE LIGHT HOUSE

• Take 495 North to 95 North.
• On 95, after the Piscataqua River Bridge (border between NH and ME), go 6 miles and take Exit 4 and go to the right.
• Take a right onto Route 1 South (welcome center will in front of you with three flag poles)
• Take a Left at the lights (after the Mobil station).
• Follow until you get to York Village and bear Left (by the Fleet bank before Cumberland Farms).
• After the strip mall on your right, bear Right (Long Sand Road).
• Follow until the end and take a left so that the ocean will be on your right
• After the beach ends, take a Right onto Nubble Road (after the Cutty Sark Hotel)
• Follow until you take a right onto Sohier Park Road, you will be able to see the Lighthouse

DIRECTION TO FORT FOSTER

• Take ME exit #2
• At rotary take Rte 236 S
• Becomes Rte 103 Follow 3.4 miles
• Take R on Chauncy Creek
• Follow across bridge and take a Right (the road goes that way).
• Fort Foster will be up on the left

   

DIRECTION TO STAGE FORT PARK

• Follow 128
• Take 133 West
• Go onto 127 West
• Stage Fort will be on your left

DIRECTION TO US COAST GUARD STATION

• Take 95 North to the Portsmouth Traffic Circle
• Go a 1/4 way a round, 1 South
• Follow until the set of lights after Yokums restaurant
• Take a left
• Follow until the end and take a right
• Take a right at an old Mobil station (signs will read "Wentworth by the Sea")
• There will be signs for the Portsmouth Coast Guard Station and Fort Constitution

DIRECTION TO BACK BEACH

• 128 North.
• Drive all the way to Cape Ann on 128, passing through two rotaries.
• At the first traffic light, turn left onto route 127. There will be a sign indicating that Rockport is to the left.
• Eventually you will reach a weird five way intersection. The road ahead will have "do not enter" signs. There will be two roads to the right and one to the left. There will be a sign indicating that Pigeon Cove is to the left. Take that left.
• Watch the side streets on the right carefully. Eventually you will see Beach Street end on the road you are on. It joins the road you are on at an oblique angle so watch carefully.
• Take a right onto Beach St.
• Back Beach will be that stretch of sand and rocks on your left. (Back Beach is where they hold the bonfire on the fourth of July, so watch for nails in the grassy area near the road.)
  

DIRECTION TO OLD GARDEN BEACH

• Follow Route 128 to its very end and turn left onto Route 127 to Rockport center.
• In Rockport, turn right onto Route 127A (back towards Gloucester). About a half mile down Route 127A, turn left onto Norwood Avenue.
• Follow Norwood Avenue for several blocks to where the road will turn right for one block.
• The dive site will be on your left.
• Drop your equipment off at this area and park where the signs allow, usually four or five blocks away.

 

Some other links that will help you find some good dive spots.

• Dive New England
• Scuba New England
• New Hampshire Dive Sites
• MIT Dive Club's guide to sites