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You can certainly get in over your head with the wide variety of scuba diving options available on Long Island. Long Island's bays, inlets, and the Atlantic Ocean provide wonderful locations for beginner and expert divers, and Long Island's shipwreck diving is reputed to be among the best in the country. In fact, some of the mysteries associated with Long Island's shipwrecks are so intriguing, that the History Channel brought a crew to the region hoping to get to the bottom of Long Island's sunken wreckage enigma, the U.S.S. San Diego - speculations surfaced about the reason for the tragedy (the armored cruiser was sunk by what the Navy claimed was a German U-boat on July 19th 1918), but few conclusions were drawn.
Scuba diving training centers, chartered diving boats, and scuba diving excursion companies are easy to find throughout Long Island, as are equipment rentals.
Diving Sites around Long Island, New York
Here are some of the popular (and even secret) diving sites that the local scuba gurus recommend:
- The Montauk Jetties are located at the entrance to Lake Montauk. The dive is about 30-feet deep and late in the summer you will see schools of snapper blues, striped bass, and bonita fish. The east jetty generally has fewer people.
- Ponquogue Bridge, located in Hampton Bays, is one of Long Island's best, most accessible sites with very good visibility and beautiful marine life.
- Beach Eight, located near the Atlantic Beach Bridge, is one of western Long Island's better dive sites. Diving is possible throughout the year and visibility ranges from three feet to 30 feet, depending on the season. At about 50 feet near the center of the Reynolds Channel, divers see sand flats, mussel beds, and a rocky reef.
Wreck Diving Sites around Long Island, New York
Dozens of wreck diving sites are scattered throughout Long Island's coastal waters. Here are a few favorites:
- One of the most popular wreck dives is that of the Oregon, a 518-feet long steamship, sunk in 1886. The wreck lies about 20 miles south east of Fire Island Inlet. Below the sea at nearly 130 feet, divers peer into three salvaged portholes along with some of their original treasures.
- An unsolved maritime mystery, no one is certain why the U.S.S San Diego sank. Located about 14 miles southeast of Fire Island, the WW I Armored Cruiser stands upside-down in about 110 feet of water. Divers with wreck training can enter the vessel's stern for an up-close look at the small arms storage. Divers can expect to see anemones, blackfish, lobster, and crabs.
- Popular among less experienced divers, the Lizzie D. is an inshore dive located eight miles southeast of the Atlantic Beach Inlet. The ship sank in the 1920s while allegedly transporting illegal cargo: booze. The vessel's frame, boiler, and propeller are still intact and because the wreck contains glass shards, divers should wear gloves.
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