Straits of Mackinac Preserve wrecks marked.

[dsc2679]

The Straits Preserve, with the help of Larry M. and the Rec Diver had a productive weekend. Initially, we were planning on going out Friday, but that got cancelled. Good thing, it was howling up there! Truck escorts across the bridge... Saturday was much better. We ventured over to L. MI and moored the Eber Ward (bow and stern), Sandusky, NW and Maitland. Sunday was even calmer and we moored the Young, Minneapolis, Stalker, Cedarville (bow and stern) and Barnum. We are hoping to moor the McBriar and Col. Ellsworth this coming weekend, weather permitting. Enjoy and be safe.

 

[alpenadiver]

Awesome job guys. Thanks for all your work up there.

 

[DOkie]

Thanks as always for everything that you guys do.

 

[dsc2679]

We got back out this past Saturday and got moorings on the McBriar and Col. Ellsworth. We also retrieved the mooring buoy off the Wm. Young. It appeared that a passing freighter got hungry and tore it off.

Then we ventured around Waugoshance Pt. and headed to the Cayuga. After some searching, someone noticed a line about 10' below the surface. We found another, longer, line on the Cayuga deck, just forward of the other one. It was covered with zebras, thus, had been there for a while. We raised it and put a couple floats on it. Very nice wreck, if your in the area.

We briefly and unsuccessfully tried to locate the Tiffany, then ventured over to the Milwaukee. After some searching, we got a couple nice hits on the sonar and were preparing a marker buoy, when once again, someone noticed a line on the surface. Fortunately, he noticed it before our prop did. We "refreshed" the surface floats, did a quick dive and made the long cruise home. The wind and waves cooperated, but it was very foggy. We were thankful for the radar, as there was some shipping traffic.

Once again, thanks to Larry M. and the Rec Diver for donating the time and fuel. Another thanks to Ross R. for helping out. Enjoy and be safe.

 

[dsc2679]

A line and buoy are back in the Young. Enjoy and be safe.

 

[StanS]

Thanks for all the great effort on the moorings. The moorings sure make it easy for everyone to enjoy the wrecks. I did notice one thing on the Eber Ward bow mooring. The thimble with the line is rubbing on the steel of the capstan cover. A longer piece of chain would cure this. Thanks again for the great work.

 

[dsc2679]

...and we come full circle. We started removing some of the buoys in the Straits this past weekend. We removed the buoy off of the Eber Ward and the Maitland. The vis was horrible on Sunday, with all the recent rain and wind. It reminded me of diving up there before the proliferation of the zebra mussels. There was also a howling current on the Ward, which was unusual. The current was so strong this weekend that the buoys on the Wm. Young and Minneapolis were underwater. There is no buoy on the Stalker either. It came off a couple weeks ago. The rest of the buoys will be harvested in the next couple weeks. Hope you had a chance to get out and use them!

 

[BoneCrusher]

Unfortunately a trip did not materialize for this year up in the Straights. Really hoping next year I will make it up to the straights...

Thanks for the hard work!