Dive Sites in New York (North America)

New York's best diving is on the many artificial reefs that are well maintained by the local community to develop fisheries habitat for anglers and divers.

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Dive Site Overview for New York

New York State is in the Northeast region of the USA and enters into the Atlantic Ocean as well as touching two of the Great Lakes offering a surprising number of diving opportunities.

Some of New York's best diving is on the many artificial reefs that are well maintained by the local community to develop fisheries habitat for anglers and divers. Common fish include lobsters, blackfish, sea bass, hake, cod, porgy and several crab species.

'Wreck Valley' is the local name for the area South of Long Island and East of New Jersey. Long Island has a diverse underwater conditions with rocky shores and large stone drops. The Gulf Stream travels past bringing with it more exotic marine life and the many shipwrecks littering the sandy bottom make for interesting diving including the USS San Diego, Oregon and the Andrea Doria wrecks.

For freshwater diving, head to Upstate NY and try the Dive the Seaway Trail -an underwater 'trail' where you can explore at least five top dive sites including volcanic rock formations and shipwrecks in the northern rivers and lakes. There are several quarries not far from NY City including Dutch Springs which has several small wrecks and is a great destination for training dives.

The Land Tortoise shipwreck in Lake George is the oldest intact military shipwreck in the United States and became listed as a National Historic Landmark in 1998.

The wreck itself, deliberately scuttled by the British in 1758, is 52 ft long with 7 cannon ports, was propelled by 26 oars and lies in 110 ft of water. The British planned to store the vessel under the ice of Lake George and recover it in spring but Land Tortoise sank into deeper water than it could be recovered from and remains preserved in fresh water for divers to explore.