My Favorite Dive Location
Contributors' Picks from Around the WorldPublished in X-Ray Magazine
Issue 106, July 2021
Text and Photos by Michael Rothschild
I have been to Truk Lagoon, Bonaire, and a number of other exotic dive locations, but my favorite dive location is just an hour’s drive from my home in New York City—the New Jersey Shore.
One of the reasons why I love the dives here is that I can go every weekend. There is no need for time off from work, air travel or hotels, and no camera and dive gear luggage problems. But it is not just that. There is world-class cold water diving here, much of it accessible to recreational divers.
Folks here live on the edge of a vibrant marine ecosystem. I have seen a spectacular range of sea life, from tiny, beautiful nudibranchs to a humpback whale, which swam past me last season while I was on the deco line. In addition to critters, the seafloor off the coast has hundreds of diveable shipwrecks. This is because New York has been a major shipping hub for 500 years, and because the relatively shallow continental shelf extends far out to sea, into the New York Bight.
While some wreck dives at dive destinations are artificial reefs, most of those off the New Jersey Shore are “real” wrecks, each with a fascinating and often tragic history. For example, during WWII, U-boats prowled these shores, sending scores of ships to the bottom. You can dive these historic sites today, as well as several of the submarines that sank them.
One of the reasons why I love the dives here is that I can go every weekend. There is no need for time off from work, air travel or hotels, and no camera and dive gear luggage problems. But it is not just that. There is world-class cold water diving here, much of it accessible to recreational divers.
Folks here live on the edge of a vibrant marine ecosystem. I have seen a spectacular range of sea life, from tiny, beautiful nudibranchs to a humpback whale, which swam past me last season while I was on the deco line. In addition to critters, the seafloor off the coast has hundreds of diveable shipwrecks. This is because New York has been a major shipping hub for 500 years, and because the relatively shallow continental shelf extends far out to sea, into the New York Bight.
While some wreck dives at dive destinations are artificial reefs, most of those off the New Jersey Shore are “real” wrecks, each with a fascinating and often tragic history. For example, during WWII, U-boats prowled these shores, sending scores of ships to the bottom. You can dive these historic sites today, as well as several of the submarines that sank them.
