Diving in the ocean is always unpredictable – you never know what you’ll see, even in local waters. A couple years ago, at Shark River Inlet in New Jersey, I literally bumped into a large bull shark in murky water. Others have seen octopuses, squid, sea turtles, seals, even whales.
Yes, you can go diving in New Jersey. You can even do it solo without a boat. It’s not for beginners: you deal with strong tidal currents, unpredictable visibility, boat traffic, and sometimes rough surf. But it can be rewarding for those who are interested in wildlife and crave adventure.
Even as a zoologist, I wasn’t aware diving here was possible until a few years after moving to West Orange, when I stumbled upon a couple websites about it. The first two dives were mostly disappointing due to poor visibility – caused by river runoff, silt, and plankton. Last fall, I gave it another try. Out of eleven dives, four had such poor visibility that there wasn’t much point getting in the water. Six were a bit better. But one dive at Shark River Inlet was excellent.
Despite the inlet’s name, sharks are rare. Most of the ocean bottom here is just sand littered with trash and discarded fishing gear. You might see flounders, horseshoe crabs, and smaller critters in the sand. Skates are common and diverse – they can be remarkably tame and even playful.
Some divers prefer summer and early fall when visibility is the poorest, but the water is the warmest and you can see tropical fishes such as butterflyfish and even frogfish: their larvae get carried here by the Gulf Stream, but they can’t survive the winter.
It’s better to dive among solid structures, such as artificial reefs, piers, jetties, even century-old shipwrecks. Wrecks close to shore have largely been destroyed by storms and are interesting mostly to history buffs. Those farther out are accessible only by boat, so unless you own one, you have to go with a dive operator – there are many. But if you do it, you risk paying a lot of money only to see nothing, as visibility around here is unpredictable. Artificial reefs are also too far to reach without a boat.
I prefer diving from shore. I rent a tank and gear, check the tide tables, and drive to the site. I have two kids, ages four and 10, so usually I can dive only late at night or early in the morning – which is better anyway because I don’t have to navigate road traffic, parking, and crowds of anglers. It is also safer: less boat traffic, and your flashlight makes you more visible to boaters and fishermen.
I also prefer diving solo. I firmly believe that it’s safer than diving with people you don’t know well, and I have no local friends who are sufficiently experienced and motivated. My wife, a mathematician, is an experienced diver (and a much better underwater photographer then I am), but local conditions are a bit too much for her, and we can’t leave the kids alone on the surface. It would be very difficult to stay in contact in poor visibility anyway.
I find solo diving at night very relaxing, even meditative. Except for bull sharks, which are now very rare, local marine wildlife is not particularly dangerous: great white sharks are extremely unlikely in inshore waters, local rays are mostly harmless skates rather than stingrays, and your wetsuit almost completely protects you from stinging jellyfish and sea anemones.
Just don’t touch anything, particularly bottom-dwelling fish. Some have poisonous barbs in their fins. And leave lobsters alone — there are too many people chasing them, and they are already in enough trouble in our waters due to the warming climate.
PLACES TO GO DIVING
Diving in local water can be dangerous. Don’t try it until you have experience diving in easier places such as the Caribbean and feel reasonably confident underwater.
There are four good sites for shore diving in New Jersey, plus two on Long Island. All have to be dived on slack high tide. You are legally required to have a diving flag. Bring also a flashlight, a compass, and a knife in case you get ensnared in fishing gear or need to rescue someone or something entangled. I prefer to be a bit overweighted: staying very close to the bottom protects you from currents and boats, and any silt you kick up is quickly carried away. Always check the weather forecast: strong wind or rain are bad for visibility. Avoid highest tides around new and full moon, and keep in mind that tide tables might be off by as much as half an hour.
Shark River Back Bay is the easiest of local dive sites, shallow and somewhat protected from currents. It has remarkable diversity of small animals, and on summer nights you can sometimes see thousands of spider crabs in mating frenzy.
Shark River Inlet, just a few minutes away, is my favorite site. If you enter the water about twenty minutes before high tide, you can slowly drift upstream, and then back as the tide changes. If you want a longer dive, allow the current to carry you out into the ocean, exit at the beach and walk back. This site has lots of fish including cool-looking species such as oyster toadfish, tons of sea stars, lobsters, and many sedentary animals.
Railroad Bridge at Manasquan River and Barnegat Inlet are similar to Shark River Inlet but more difficult (divers have died there). The bridge is considered the best for smaller fauna.
The two best shore dive sites on Long Island are Beach 8 Street not far from JFK Airport and Ponquogue Bridge (both described in detail here). These two sites are particularly good for various crabs, eels, sea robins, sea horses, skates, and sedentary animals such as star coral and sponges. They also must be dived at slack high tide, and visibility is even more of a problem – particularly an issue with the bridge because it takes at least two hours to drive there from New Jersey. You can try to ask for updates in Diving Long Island Facebook group (the one for New Jersey is NJ Dive).
There are also a few freshwater diving sites: a sunken train in Delaware River, Northampton Street Bridge famous for large catfish, and Dutch Springs (recently renamed Lake Hydra) in Pennsylvania where you can only dive for certification. I haven’t tried them yet, but I’m planning to.
Vladimir Dinets
Dinets is a zoologist based in West Orange, NJ. He is the author of science books, including "Dragon Songs" and "Wildlife Spectacles."
