by Daniel Senie

Located one mile out from Rockport, and quite visible from Back Beach and Front Beach is the Sandy Bay Breakwater. Above water, a boomerang-shaped structure of carefully-crafted blocks is visible. Underwater, the scene is entirely different. A jumble of huge granite blocks are present. These blocks are covered with huge anenomes and there are often sea ravens, and schools of other fishes.

A typical dive on the breakwater is as follows: the dive boat anchors a short distance from the breakwater, on either the ocean side or the bay side. Divers drop off the boat and descend to the bottom at 53 feet, give or take tidal variation. From there, proceed toward the wall, and swim left or right for a distance, then work your way up a bit, swim the other way, and so forth. When you're getting low on air, be at 15 feet or so, poke around slowly for your safety stop, then return to the boat.

It is well worth bringing a light with you on this dive, as there are many significant cracks and crevaces to peer into. Also don't forget to occasionaly look around to see if anything large might be swimming by. Some lucky divers got a close up view of a whale here a few years ago, though some of the divers were so busy lobstering, they missed it!

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