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Fort Wetherill is a shore accessible salt water dive site, located at One Fort Wetherill Road, Jamestown, RI 02835. This dive site has an average rating of 3.74 out of 5 from 39 scuba divers. The maximum depth is 21-25ft/6-8m. The average visibility is 11-15ft/3-5m.

Two entries. A cliff-like rocky entry on one side. And an easy entry on a boat ramp on the other. Protected cove, small waves. Used by a lot of dive shops for training. It’s where I did my cert dives for OW. Low vis, especially when there’s trainees mucking it up, but a great place to get wet if you’ve been dry for too long. Pretty vegetation if you like mauve, pink, wine and brown. Some sea life, starfish and crabs mostly, but other fish as well. They are as surprised to see you as you are to see them. Some people spear fish there. I usually get out of the water when I see them go in.

There are actually four entries: right cove (easy boat ramp entry), left cove (more challengingif it’s choppy), Bull Point and the Goat Path. The latter two are more advanced dives. If you stay within the coves you’ll probably max out around 30’ but if you dive around the point you can hit 90’. I have never done this particular dive but some of my more advanced buddies enjoy it and there is an old submarine net and a sea anchor between 90-100’(maybe one of them will join this site and give more info). You should be very familiar with the dive site and with navigation if you dive around the point because the current can be strong and you don’t want to end up out in the bay. Bull Point has some really nice anemones at about 45’. There are wonderful inverts at any part of this park all year but sometimes squid and nudibranches can be found. There are also torpedo rays and this site is very popular for collecting lost juvenile tropical fish in the late summer and early fall. I have personally collected two spotfin butterfly fish from this site. Diving on the tide is recommended for the best visibility. This is also a good site to practice lobstering (RI residents with permits only) but the big bugs are usually picked over pretty fast. The spearfishers usually stay over near the Goat Path or go out around the point looking for skittish striped bass.

More info with pictures at; http://www.shorediving.com/Earth/USA_East/Rhode_Island/Fort_Wetherill/index.htm

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Comments

allockhart - 8/25/2024 2:34 PM
I went scuba diving here on 8/24/2024.
Peak Performance Buoyancy dive.
allockhart - 8/25/2024 2:33 PM
I went scuba diving here on 8/24/2024.
Fourth Open Water dive.
wgr21 - 7/08/2024 1:13 AM
I went scuba diving here on 7/7/2024. Average viz: Under 5ft/2m. Water temp: 61-65°F/16-18°C.
Resqdivemedic - 8/25/2020 3:17 PM
I went scuba diving here on 8/23/2020. Average viz: 5-10ft/2-3m. Water temp: 66-70°F/19-21°C.
Deep dive for advanced students
Resqdivemedic - 11/12/2019 2:16 PM
I went scuba diving here on 11/11/2019. Average viz: Under 5ft/2m. Water temp: 50-55°F/10-13°C.
Advanced Dive Class, Night Dive.
Resqdivemedic - 11/12/2019 2:14 PM
I went scuba diving here on 11/11/2019. Average viz: 5-10ft/2-3m. Water temp: 56-60°F/13-16°C.
Advanced Class, Deep Dive.
NickofNY - 8/24/2016 11:41 PM
Rating Added: 3
Made a couple of dives 08/23/2016 from the boat ramp entry. Viz was in the 6-8 foot range, a little better on the incoming tide (first dive). Saw quite a few fish and crabs, especially around rocks and in the shallows (grass). Also quite a few small jellies, but they caused me no problems. Wind kicked up for second dive which made towing the (required) dive flag a challenge and made it difficult to make much progress when swimming away from the direction which the flag was getting blown. If windy, try to use a dive flag which will catch less wind, not the big tire size float which I used.
Resqdivemedic - 8/09/2016 10:38 AM
I went scuba diving here on 8/8/2016. Average viz: 5-10ft/2-3m. Water temp: 66-70°F/19-21°C.
Recreational dive with Patrick.
archer1960 - 1/11/2016 12:29 PM
Did a New-Years day dive here. There were lots of people there since the weather was really nice: partly sunny, and air temps ~50F. Water was ~47-48F. Since I had messed up my back a couple of weeks earlier, I didn’t want to carry a scuba unit down the ramp. So I just snorkeled along the left (east) wall of the boat-ramp cove. Visibility was great (20-30’, maybe?) since I was away from all the kicked-up silt that the rest of the divers had left. And I was amazed at how much there was to see in the 3-10’ shallows right along the wall. Colorful shells, plants and anemones all over the place. Terrific "dive"!
archer1960 - 7/28/2015 5:53 PM
Rating Added: 4
Very easy entry, but vis isn’t great. Interesting stuff on the walls on the east side of the cove.
archer1960 - 7/28/2015 5:39 PM
I have Lobster and Crab in the cove with the boat ramp (it’s called West Cove because it’s named after a person, but it’s actually the eastern one).
NewD1v3r - 5/14/2015 3:06 PM
Rating Added: 4
Good dive site
amerry - 11/02/2014 8:18 PM
Rating Added: 3
Trip to Fort Wetherill, RI on October 25th 2014. 3 dives throughout the day, conditions were really nice at times. Temp was great: 58F at 40 ft. Viz was anywhere from 5 ft to 15 ft throughout the day. Marine life was decent but definitely not the best I’ve seen there... It was sunny and very windy. Much more of a current than normal. Overall a good trip with 3 very fun dives.
MarkS - 10/15/2014 2:22 PM
I went scuba diving here on 10/12/2014. Average viz: 5-10ft/2-3m. Water temp: 61-65°F/16-18°C.
FaithC - 7/28/2013 3:45 PM
Rating Added: 3
10-15 vis on 7/29/13
Crab, Flounder, other fish.
Went as deep as 41ft. Temp was 65 at the bottom.
Nice easy dive in the right cove.
diverdan704 - 6/12/2013 1:04 PM
Rating Added: 5

Very good dive site. Not much diving activity during early spring. Visibility easily reaches 8 feet on an average day, and can extend to up to 14 feet. Temperatures can drop below 50 in winter, but routinely reach into the low-to-mid 70’s in the summer & fall.
dc3isme - 4/14/2013 4:22 PM
Rating Added: 3
Easy to get in the water from the ramp.....not so much on the other side! Lots of divers, the area is used for training. Good Times.