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Onondaga
 RI
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Max Depth: 41-50ft/12-15m
Average Viz: 16-20ft/5-6m
Entry Type: Boat
Bottom Composition: Sand/Rock
Aquatic Life: Might See Something
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Spring: Under 50°F/10°C
Winter: Under 50°F/10°C
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41-17-40 N / 71-53-00 W
Onondaga wreck located just north of Watch Hill Reef in Rhode Island, Strong current area; dive at slack tide only!
From Scuba Diving magazine 5/2006; After a short ride out from New London, we anchor offshore from Watch Hill, on the western edge of the RI coast. Although we are in RI waters, the area is visited much more frequently by Connecticut (and LI) dive boats.
It turns out there are quite a few sites here. Numerous rock reefs rise up from the bottom more than 100 feet down, reaching almost to the surface and offering some of the best underwater topography around. There’s also the remains of the Metis, a 200 foot passenger vessel sunk in 130 feet of water. The Lake Crystal, a 250 foot coal barge, also rest here 130 feet below the surface. And a little farther to the NE lie the broken remains of the Heroine, a large fishing vessel in 80 feet of water.
Today, though, we are diving the Onondaga, a 275 foot freighter that went down in 1918 after running aground on one of the nearby reefs. We time slack water and are able to quickly make our way down the anchor lineto the bottom some 40 feet below. Most of the wreck has been dynamited so it won’t be a hazard to navigation, but sections of it’s hull and internal supports still rise up from the sand, covered by frilled anemones, numerous soft corals and countless other invertebrates.
Beyond the wreckage the bottom is a beautiful series of rolling ledges in shallow water, teeming with small fish. Oversized striped bass are our constant companions throughout the dive, and just as we surface, a large school of bluefish begins slashing its way through an even larger school of baitfish right behind us.
YouTube;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZdLPu9bGbIMore info;
http://www.shipwreckexpo.com/neshipwreckonondaga.htm