My wife and I just got our cert cards in Islamorada and are hoping to be able to dive closer to home in NJ. We're lifelong boaters and have an 18' open bow which I know isn't the best boat for diving or going away from shore but it's what we have.
We typically spend time in the Cape May / Wildwood area and what I'm wondering is if the Wildwood reef is worth diving? The idea of diving around military tanks is intriguing and the reef is closer to shore than the wrecks in the area but if it's notorious for poor visibility or if there's a really good chance we'll get hooked by people fishing the reef, then we'll probably skip it and head south to dive.
Thanks in advance for any help.
Re: New divers in NJ
Posted by Sean on 8/5/2014, 2:34 am, in reply to "New divers in NJ"
Well Tom - did you ever get out. I dive that area often on my boat. The Wildwood reef tends to be muddier and harder to find good vis. The Cape may reefs South end and mid section have a nice sandy bottom and often good vis. We had 30+ ft on Sat even with nasty topside conditions. We stop at the Cape May reef all the time on our way back in. Some real nice dives there, believe it or not, for an artificial reef.
Send me an email for more info - Im diving out of Cape May. Atlantic Divers Shop, who posted earlier, is probably the best place for you to go as Gene is a wealth of local diving knowledge.
Remember the rules...
Posted by njdiver on 4/21/2014, 6:46 pm, in reply to "New divers in NJ"
TITLE 13. LAW AND PUBLIC SAFETY CHAPTER 82. BOATING REGULATIONS SUBCHAPTER 3. OPERATIONAL REGULATIONS § 13:82-3.17 Diving and swimming
(a) General provisions with respect to diving and swimming are as follows:
1. Underwater diving with or without an underwater apparatus is permitted in all navigable waters in New Jersey unless otherwise prohibited in this section.
2. Any person while diving shall mark his or her position with a buoyed flag:
i. Such flag shall be displayed so that it is visible all around the horizon from a buoy, float, boat or other floating object;
ii. Such flag shall be a minimum of 14 inches by 16 inches, shall be rigid to enhance visibility and shall be a red background with a white diagonal stripe running from one corner to the other.
3. No person shall operate a vessel within 50 feet of the buoyed flag.
4. No person shall display a flag at times other than when diving is in progress.
5. No person shall swim or dive in a narrow, confined or improved channel or in a marked fairway, under a bridge, or impede, obstruct or interfere with passage of watercraft therein.
6. No diver shall surface more than 25 feet from the buoyed flag except in an emergency.
I appreciate the response, and please don't take this the wrong way but there's nothing in there about the Wildwood reef or any of the areas where I intend to dive, unless I missed it?
Who told you viz was bad....shame on them, it can be a whole 20-30ft at times!! Who can see further than that anyway....After just spending 3 months in Cudjoe key and looking at all the pretty fish, I am dying to get back in water here... Call me crazy, but other than the warmth of fla water, there isn much to see. (except pretty fish).
I was however out fishing with friends there and found an unmarked obstruction...Didn't get a chance to go back, due to engine trouble, but am looking forward to checking it out for my fishing friends next winter.
Its fun here, but its not florida....When I first started diving a friend had a 20ft boat and we made many trips to reef, learned by trial and error how to set a boat up for diving and did great... Had a ball doing it.. (he was an experienced boater, but we were both new divers). (we went on lots of charters and got lots of good advise)...Enjoy.....
I guess I'm going by the fact that I cant see my feet in waist deep water up here... I did hear that it gets better once you get past 10-20 feet tho.
Our plan is to get as much diving done as we can around here but also trying to do one "road trip" a month to dive. We're already planning one for Wilmington, NC in May.
My last dive in the Shark River Inlet, I dragged that darn flag behind me for a whole hour and got hooked. Some fishermen act like it's a target.
Really good advice about going out on a dive boat for a trip or two. You'll have a great time, have a driver that knows what he's doing so when you have to do it you have an idea what it's supposed to look like, plus you'll get to see some wrecks you're probably not going to be running out to in your own boat.
That definitely makes sense and leads to another question... When diving from the boat and flying the flag from the boat, should we also tow a floating flag / buoy? I'm sure we'll get further than 50' from the boat when exploring the reef... Especially considering that at 60' depth we'd have over 400' of anchor line out.
You don't need four hundred feet of line out we don't sand anchor rode is not the issue. First and foremost have someone on the boat while you are under water, they need to hopefully be able to run the boat at the very least use the radio. Use a reel, watch the weather closely in a boat that small in the hour your underwater things can change quite a bit. Carry a surface marker in the event you get in trouble. Jersey is not south Florida. I'd suggest you try and go out on a local boat and get a handle on how it's done. Go out on a dive boat pick the brains of the mates and Captains. Then give some thought to using your boat. We used to dive inshore off my 20 ft. boat all the time and we had a ball, but I was already past the learning curve. Capt. Bill
That's true and I have some experience sand anchoring. But here in Jersey we mostly grapple with maybe a 2 to 1 scope. In our case and I guess most other dive boats we tie the hook into the wreck, again we're not in Florida. So all the anchor line is not required especially on a 20 ft. boat to say nothing of storing 400 ft of line on a small boat. We do run extra chain so the line doesn't chafe through. Go out on a dive boat or two and see how they do it then determine how to do it on your boat. Capt. Bill
No I was formally out of Little Egg and now I run out of Brille N.J. Again this isn't Florida, no mooring balls. I spend winters in Marathon and can tell you the cool stuff in the keys doesn't have mooring balls either. To find the Jersey reef wrecks all you need is a reef book, a GPS and a depth finder.The numbers in the reef books will get you on the artificial wrecks and provide some idea of what you're diving. We are allowed to touch and take on most wrecks whether it be lobsters or mussels some of the best mussels are on the artificial wrecks. My boats name is the Tunaseazure. Capt Bill
I have no info on the Wildwood reef (check this link: http://njscuba.net/reefs/chart_nj12_wildwood.html) but you might want to do a few dives off of one of the many fine vessels represented on this board first. You can learn a lot of stuff that way about local diving and be a lot safer.
New Jersey diving is certainly different from many other places, especially Florida and the Caribbean. Average visibility is about fifteen feet and that is plenty for most divers. If you are going to use your own boat, you need to understand how to grapple into a reef or wreck. Grapple hooks are not expensive and many wreck fisherman use them. I have been using my own boat for many, many years and I still cannot use a sand anchor to get me close enough to a reef or wreck to dive it. Next, you need to have someone on the boat while you are diving. I know quite a few people that don't do that but I think that if you don't, it is just stupid. I know how many times that my grapple has pulled away from the site while I was on the bottom. I am thankful for the people topside that came to get me. Conditions on the bottom change dramatically from day-to-day and from hour-to-hour. For the most part, you need to worry first about the ocean conditions if you are using your own boat. If it is too rough, go home. If it is not, give it a go. You will learn soon enough where the good places are to dive. Some reefs come up higher than others and those are the places where you will probably find good visibility. If you are going diving after a storm or when there is a swell, you want to go to places that stick up higher off the bottom for the best chance of good visibility. Artificial reefs are also easier (in most cases) to navigate than shipwrecks. Many shipwrecks have been wire dragged or depth charged and they don't resemble something that you would recognize and therefore you can easily get lost on them. Most artificial reefs are intact and you can find your way around them better than you can on shipwrecks. I truly believe that new divers to New Jersey will have an easier time getting acclimated to diving on artificial reefs than on shipwrecks. Finally, I also believe that going out on a commercial charter boat will help you understand New Jersey diving better before you start out doing it from your own boat. You might want to take a wreck diving course from a local dive shop which will introduce you to New Jersey diving. I hope that you do it and enjoy it as much as so many of us do. I also want to commend you for asking for advice here. There are a great number of New Jersey divers that are eager to help new divers enjoy our waters!!!!
Thank you for the information. I had actually never considered a grapple hook and just hooking to the reef / wreck... I kinda figured that it would destroy whatever is trying to grow. It's definitely easier than trying to anchor in the sand in 60' of water.
We're definitely going to check out a local dive shop and go out on a boat or two before trying it ourselves. I was really hoping that some research would turn up a spot within a mile or two from the beach to "get our feet wet" with diving from our boat before heading out to the reef, but there doesn't seem to be anything near the shore that would be interesting to look at.
Now for the next question... Is there a dive shop at the southern end of the shore? I haven't been able to find anything between Cape May and Atlantic City.
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on 4/21/2014, 3:01 pm
