This is a nice little site that always has something special for me. Looking at the place you might say ,"why bother". The entry is located on Ocean Avenue in Kennebunkport right across from the Colony hotel, hence the name. The beach is at the mouth of the Kennebunk river with a jetty at one end. The left hand side runs out along the shore of Parson's way out to the open-air chapel at St. Ann's church. Parsons Way and Parsons Beach are in different places all together by the way. I like to back into a parking space along the shoreline. This lets me be on the cobble stone beach head to avoid sandy gear while enjoying the view as I set up and break down. You can dive this site at any tide but it's best enjoyed mid tide or above. Being at the mouth of the river it is susceptible to silting after heavy rains so beware. If you get to see the beach at a lower tide you will see an outcropping of ledge that sits in the tidal region toward the middle of the beach, see photo on right. Make your entry and exit between the midpoint and the sea wall to avoid these rocks. If the tide is high enough the outcropping is worth checking out on the return leg while you use up any remaining air. The easy entry and bounty of natural navigation featues make this a nice site for night dives. I am finding this site to be more and more popular with folks fishing from boats. You will want to consider pulling a dive flag. The basic dive here is pretty simple, you find the ledges on the left hand side and explore them as you work your way to the mouth of the cove and even beyond. You can expect a long dive with 20 feet only being exceeded at high tide far from the beach. Be sure to spend some time down on the sandy bottom where depending on the season you can see flounder, skate, lobster, moon snails and even juvenile sea ravens to name a few. It was in the rocks here that I saw for the first time a golden brown Sea Raven. On the return, especially on a rising tide be sure to stick with the street (outbound left) side of the cove. The current into the river is swift and you can find yourself sharing the river channel with some pretty big boats if you are not careful. It is not uncommon to have fishermen casting from the jetty on the river side of the cove so give them a wide berth. The dive will take you into active lobstering space so pay attention during working hours. There is also considerable fishing and tour boat operations coming in and out of the river. When out at the far reaches of this dive you want to shoot a buoy before surfacing, it is best to simply stay down. If the wind is not blowing into this site it is also a very enjoyable skn-dive location. There are no toilet facilities at this site. Parking is free but the place will fill up in prime time. Diving may be prohibited at this site if there is a presidential visit at the Bush compound on Walker's point.

This Dive Site at a Glance: SCUBA: Yes SKIN-DIVE: Yes PARKING: Free TOILETS: None TIDE: Best near high SEASONS: Any EXPOSURE: S-SW (W secondary) ENTRY/EXIT: Easy FOOD: None GPS: 43.346743,-70.473917 Google Maps accepts GPS points. The river and Jetty can be seen on the right hand side of this picture. The good dive is down the rocky shoreline. After setting up on the clean cobble beachhead you can enter to the left or right of the ledges shown at the waterline. This picture as taken at near low tide.