Vintage Double Hose

Maine lighthouses dive series

During the last few days I had some out of state guests (Allan, Rob, and Barb) who wanted to go diving and do some sightseeing in Maine. So I decided to make it a series of dives with a theme: dive sites near light houses.

On Wednesday we did Two Lights dive site in Cape Elizabeth.

The dive was at high tide (we have 10 foot tides here) which makes for a much easier entry and it was a decent dive, but the visibility was less than average (about 10 ft max). We normally don’t have great visibility, but this was worse than average.

Here is a description of the site:
http://home.gwi.net/~spectrum/scubasite_2lights.html

Two Lights




On Thursday we did Ships Cove at Fort Williams, Cape Elizabeth. Portland Head Light is in the Fort Williams Park.

I always enjoy this dive, but again the visibility this day was very poor.

Here is a description of the site:
http://home.gwi.net/~spectrum/scubasite_shipscove.html

Portland Head Light




On Friday we went up to Rachel Carson Salt Pond, Bristol. This is one of the best dives in Maine.

In this dive you can swim a short distance to go down to 90 ft deep (or more) and see at least three very different zones of marine life. There is some kelp on the shallow, rocky ledges with fish, crabs, lobsters, and lots of sea stars. On the deep section there are normally some great looking anemones.

The entry is through a cove that becomes a pond at low tide. To be able to swim out (and back in) you have to enter around high tide. If you don’t time the tides right it becomes a messy walk back over seaweeds.

This was a great dive, but only three of us were able to go down to check out the anemones. One of the divers had problems equalizing his ears due to a cold. The visibility was variable, but it was not too bad.

The dive site is very close to the Pemaquid Point lighthouse. This is the light house on the Maine state quarter.

Pemaquid Point lighthouse is a beautiful sight with a nice restaurant next to it where we had a great lunch.




Pemaquid Point lighthouse




Our friends were not able to stay for the dive we had planned for Saturday.

The Saturday dive was at Nubble light, which is a great dive. We get many divers that come up from New Hampshire and Massachusetts to dive at Nubble. I even know a dive master in Cozumel that came up to Nubble light to dive. He has dove it several times. I was surprised. It is a great dive, but it is still cold water.

This was the best dive of the week. The visibility was good and there was plentiful marine life.

We had three other divers join Christine and me: my neighbor (Paul), Chrissie and Dave.

The lighthouse is actually on an island right in front of the park.



Here is a description of the site:
http://home.gwi.net/~spectrum/scubasite_nubble.html

Nubble light



The lighthouse pictures above are from the web, but I hope to see some more pictures.

Hi Everyone: Yes, Rob and I headed up to Rochester, piled our gear into Allan’s Tundra and headed up to Maine. Allan has a great set up in his truck and travelling in it is really very nice. On the way we stopped to pay our respects to the family of Anthony (Arnie) Petiglio whom many of you on VDH know and respected.
Here are Rob and I sharing a really nice lobster dinner in Well’s Harbor, Maine. URL=http://s194.photobucket.com/user/bheil5 ... 4.jpg.html][/URL]
I did the 2 Lights Dive and even though the water was cold, my “personal summers” kept me warm. It was the only dive I did, opting to enjoy the great scenery for the rest of the time.

Here are my favorite vintage divers at Ships Cove

Here’s my shot of Portland Head Light


And the beautiful view from Pemaquid


Many thanx to Luis and Christine, they ordered up some extra specially nice weather for our visit, and we shared some great seafood and very much enjoyed each others company.
I know Allan probably got some better pictures, and once we get back I may discover some more nice ones to share.
Thanx again Luis and Christine!

Wow, what a great sounding trip!

Thanks for the report.

Thanks

I live fairly close to the dive sites mentioned. There are also many more shore dive sites in southern Maine. This website has a partial list.
http://home.gwi.net/~spectrum/scubasites.html

It was put together by one of my dive buddies (he also has a page about his Phoenix RAM).
http://home.gwi.net/~spectrum/scuba.html

This is not the Caribbean, but at least it is ocean diving. The water temperature and visibility are not ideal, but they are still very good dives.

We also have 9 to 10 foot tides, which makes some of the shore entry interesting if you don’t plan the dive times. Some sites like the Rachel Carson Salt Pond only have ocean access at high tide. Other places can be dived at any tide level, but the best footing/ access can either be at high tide or in a few places at low tide.

It is great how having visitors in town reminds me of the great sites we have access to. It is easy to forget and take them for granted.

In addition to the good diving, many of these sites also have some outstanding views of the ocean and the coast line. The coast line of Maine is truly beautiful and interesting.

Allan was also fascinated by the rock formations on the shore line (look at the aerial picture of Pemaquid Light). He taught geology in school and it was neat to listen to him talk about the formations that I have seen many times before.

It was a great time and Luis and Christine were great hosts. I look forward to doing it again soon.