Hello from Chicagoland

[LightBrownPillow]

Hi all, I'm 3 years into diving with 35 dives, most of them in cold freshwater in IL/OH/MI. Just got home from my first Caribbean trip (got to dive the RMS Rhone, amazing) and finally had to join these forums to scratch my diving itch when I'm stuck on dry land!

I also am a very active underwater hockey player, keep a 33 gallon freshwater aquarium at home, and have grown up sailboating on both warm & cold, fresh & salt water bodies.

In short, water is awesome and I wish I spent more time in it!

 

[drrich2]

Welcome. Yeah, once you've done some good coral reef diving, the call of the ocean lingers.

Richard.

 

[quietlife4me]

Howdy…there are a couple of us Chicagoland folks on the forum. Welcome.

 

[LightBrownPillow]

Howdy…there are a couple of us Chicagoland folks on the forum. Welcome.

I use DJ's dive shop and yeah they've done a great job connecting me to local opportunities. I almost got to do a Lake Michigan dive last summer, but I went diving the weekend before to prep and got a sinus infection

 

[Marie13]

I’m in the NW burbs. Lots of good diving behind the Cheddar Curtain. I’m up there often.

 

[LightBrownPillow]

I’m in the NW burbs. Lots of good diving behind the Cheddar Curtain. I’m up there often.

Haven't made it up to any WI locations yet, but I've seen your comments about good diving spots up there so will probably look into those over the next few years

 

[Marie13]

Haven't made it up to any WI locations yet, but I've seen your comments about good diving spots up there so will probably look into those over the next few years

Wazee is great. Good for a weekend trip.

 

[SpeedyJ]

Depending on what you're looking to get out of your diving, there are some pretty active communities in the area that open a lot of doors for you by introducing you to other active divers and providing further opportunities for training you wont find at most of the area dive shops.

What do you hope to get out of your diving in the area? Just get in the water more? Are you looking for travel buddies? Are you looking to do more wreck diving? Are you interested in underwater archaeology? Are you interested in technical or cave diving?

 

[LightBrownPillow]

Depending on what you're looking to get out of your diving, there are some pretty active communities in the area that open a lot of doors for you by introducing you to other active divers and providing further opportunities for training you wont find at most of the area dive shops.

What do you hope to get out of your diving in the area? Just get in the water more? Are you looking for travel buddies? Are you looking to do more wreck diving? Are you interested in underwater archaeology? Are you interested in technical or cave diving?

It's started as just a love for being in the water and seeing what's down there, so generally maximizing water time would be my current goal.

I am curious about conservation/archaeology opportunities. I know the Great Lakes ecosystem is massively changed in the last 60 years but haven't heard much about SCUBA efforts to track/improve conditions. I did want to participate in a harbor cleanup near Chicago last year but if I recall right it was canceled. Volunteering at the Shed always sounds cool but I've heard it's very hard to get in there.

Wreck diving is always cool, though I'm more interested in the critters living around the wrecks than the history/artifacts of the wreck itself.

No real interest in tech/cave diving right now. Still want to explore the full range of what my AOW + dry suit + nitrox certs will let me do first.

 

[SpeedyJ]

A few ideas for you:
Double Action Dive Charters - you can insta-buddy on the boat pretty easy
Shipwreck Explorers - Ditto to insta-buddy
Chicago Scuba Meetup is a good group if you're just looking for opportunities to dive.
The UASC - Underwater Archeological Society of Chicago has project dive opportunities.
Midwest Underwater Explorers - Regional GUE community with year round diving events