GARVEYS
POINT MOORING AREA
Sunset at Garvies
Point. Courtesy Lou Schreiner.
DIRECTIONS:
(Glen Cove, Nassau County)
Take the Long
Island Expressway to Exit 39 North, Glen Cove Road. Take this
to the end where it changes names to
Pratt Boulevard. Make a left on Glen
Cove Avenue and the first right
onto Charles Street. Take this to the end and make a left onto The
Place Road, then make the second left onto McLoughlin
Street.
Drive to the end and park. Water access is obtained by walking
through
the wild life
preserve. I have not had any problems in the past, but as usual, I
recommend that divers go in small groups and use common courtesy.
Note:
The Publisher also offers a VHS video documentary
about bottle diving
at Garveys
Point.
CONDITIONS:
Walk
down the dirt path, then along the beach to the first small jetty.
Most diving is done to the west of this jetty due to the mud and
silt that is found to the east. After swimming out a short
distance, divers should find some large
rocks that lie parallel to the
beach. There are usually a few lobsters here, so be sure to
take a look. As you proceed out, the bottom will change from sand
to hard mud, and then finally
to soft mud. Just stay off the bottom and try not to murk up the
water. You will then be sure to find all types of bottles. Many of
these bottles date back
to the late 1800's.
There is also a
small wreck in the area. We named this small cabin boat,
Perko,
because all the
brass recovered from the wreck had the manufacturer's name,
Perko,
stamped on it. This site is also
used as a mooring area, so boat traffic
should be expected in
season. Each team of divers should tow a diver's flag.
This is the only way a boat
captain can be expected to know that you're in the
water. I usually try to dive
here off-season or at night when the traffic isn't as
heavy.
Back in the spring of
1984, 1 was diving here for bottles with Rick Schwarz,
Billy Campbell and Steve
Jonassen. We had tied our dive flag off and had been
swimming in search patterns
looking for bottles. On this day I was the last one in the
water. During the last ten minutes of the dive I heard a powerboat
overhead. I navigated back to
our dive flag and then swam into the beach. When I came ashore, I
learned that a police boat had been following my bubbles. I was
nowhere near our flag and the officer on board wanted to
give me a ticket for diving without a flag. His only problem was
that after following me for 15
minutes, when I exited the water I was holding a dive flag. His
next move was out of pure spite, as he proceeded to write me a
ticket for "Diving In A Mooring
Area." Since that day I have
never had another problem at the site, but please be
aware of the possibilities and
always stay close to your flag.
Below: Divers with
bottles recovered from Garvies Point. Photo courtesy Lou
Schreiner.
This
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Berg's original Shore Diver book, which over the years has
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text are car directions and complete dive site conditions to
over 60 sites. The text is heavily illustrated with 110
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