Business Trip to Chicago 3rd week Oct. &would like to shore dive - recommendations?

jbarbara11 · Oct 16, 2012

I have been diving in Boston with water temps 55F at depth (30 to 60 feet depending on the site). I will be traveling to Chicago and cannot really afford a boat dive, so I was thinking maybe I could fly my gear with me (my 7/8mm hooded semi-dry) and rent a couple tanks and weights. I don't want to travel too far outside the city but I am guessing a taxi ride would be a bit pricey to get to somewhere with decent shore dives. If I had the money, I would do a boat dive. Recommendations?

fjpatrum · Oct 17, 2012

Skip diving if it's that much of a stretch economically. Chicago has a lot to offer, and some of it might even be decent diving, but skip it this time and go out to dinner instead.

Earl Grey · Oct 17, 2012

If you are in the downtown area, one can get in the water at Ohio Street Beach, as this is where hard core swimmers and triathletes have set up swim lanes. I am not sure if they allow diving in this area or not, but the water never looked very appealing, and I am not sure there is much to see even if the viz was good. Additionally I would have concerns over boat traffic if you venture very far from the shore.

If you really need to get wet while in Chicago, splurge for a boat dive or drive down to Kankakee and hit up Haigh Quarry.

gurnie · Oct 17, 2012

There is not much in way of shore diving in the Chicago area, there are a couple of wrecks in south Chicago and north near Skokie, but nothing worth hauling gear for. If you want the best of Lake Michigan you need to get on a charter.. Try WindyCityDiving.net, Jim can look you up with shop to rent gear from soup to nuts. Otherwise, check out the local quarries, Pearl is just closing up and Haigh (a midwest jewel) is open thru October. Honestly for the price of a cab to the sites you could pay for a charter..

jbarbara11 · Oct 18, 2012

Thanks for the advice. This is exactly the input I was looking for. I knew the cab/transport bit would be the main cost factor to getting to a decent beach to shore dive, unless I could get someone from the office I am doing business with to drive me to a site..its a long project I am on in Chi-town... I do like quarry diving...I have had a lot of fun quarry dives. Bottom line: sounds like I should save my money and spend it on a boat dive. Thanks!

gurnie · Oct 18, 2012

Also check out Lake County SCUBA (Chicago, IL) - Meetup or The Chicago Scuba Meetup Group (Chicago, IL) - Meetup
They are good local groups to hook up with a dive buddy...

Business Trip to Chicago 3rd week Oct. &would like to shore dive - recommendations?

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