Tractor Tom
Contributor
Hey guys, I just got back from my dive trip to Tobermory with the guys from The Dive Shop in Flint, MI. It was EXCELLENT. G&S is a first class operation, the diving was good overall, and I got to see lots of great wrecks.
Now for the details. Left Frankenmuth about 8:30 in the morning and took the long drive up the coast. Weather was grey and mostly foggy for the length of the trip, with just enough rain thrown in to dampen my spirits. Hope this mess clears out before the diving! Arrived Friday afternoon at the End of the Road Campground and made a quick trip into "town" for a look around, then into bed early to catch up on some sleep from the work week.
DAY ONE
Up at 6:30 on Saturday, and at G&S at 7:45, to wait for them to open. Loaded the boat (Lark)and got my tag for diving in the park ($15.00) from the office up the hill. A short safety brief from the boats captain, and we were off to the M. L. King, (a boat built in the town I work, East Saginaw in 1867) for first dive of the day. As I was early to rig, I was first in the water (about 44F at the surface) and snorkled around in my drysuit as three teams of divers went down the line for the wreck. Finally, my buddy Kurt arrived and down we went to get a look around. Weather was good, warm and sunny. Visability had to be 75-80 or perhaps more. We had a little trouble at the line down as my buddy was having a problem with BC, but I waited at 30 feet and he was quickly down to me. We made a lap of the wreck and poked around until I was at 1000 lbs. spending 22 minutes at a maximum of 68 feet (we didn't go clear down to the bottom end of the wreck, which is laying on an angle into deeper water) Back to 15 feet for the safety stop, and at the surface with 800. We are last to board, and then it's off the the next wreck. About this time, someone asked the captain something about the next wreck and he kind of shrugged his shoulders and admitted he had never seen it, was NOT a diver. OOPS!
Second dive as the W.L Wetmore. Kind of scattered around, but with a large boiler standing up on the bottom complete. The Wetmore is a shallow wreck and we maxed out at 22 feet for 27 minutes before the cold began to set in.
After a break for lunch and a surface interval of over an hour, we headed over to Big Tub to visit the Sweepstakes and City of Grand Rapids as the final dive. These very shallow wrecks had us at a maximum of 15 feet for about 20 minutes until we got board. It was on this dive that we had to time our dives around the arrival and departure of the glass bottom boats that tend to poke down there and let the nondiving public see the wrecks. On the way back to the Lark, across the bottom we saw 6 large carp looking fish, moving together, all over 2 feet long, and two over 3 feet in lenght.
Back to Little Tub and the pier about 3:30, dive day is over.
DAY TWO:
Over to the harbor at 8:30, with coffee in hand to load tanks on the boat. Find out that the motor threw an alternater belt the day before and a repair was underway. Not a long wait, about 30 minutes to fix and we were loading and underway by 9:30 or so.
Todays Captain was DAVE, a funny, clever fellow diver and instructor who knew all the dive sites and had lots of tips to pass along. Decision was made to dive the Niagara II first, so off we went, down the coast. Before leaving the dock, we had a very complete safety briefing, about life jackets and life rafts and that in the event of an accident the captain was NOT TO GET WET. (A very funny guy!) Another beautiful day on the water with bright sunny skys, and warm temps. Had another complete predive briefing from Captain Dave about the possiblity of a regulator freeze up and what to do (abort the dive) and a description of the wreck and what to expect. Then, it was into the water! Seemed the water was colder on Sunday. We did a good tour of the topsides, pilot house, and some of the cabins and really enjoyed poking around. 78 feet, 21 min, bottom temp at the deck was 34 F (Cold).
Next dive was the Caroline Rose. Did I mention that Captain Dave rigged and unrigged each diver as they went into and out of the water? This guy was amazing! Could rig and check two divers in a matter of about 4 minutes and have them in the water. Dives got a lot smoother with Dave around to help with your rig, gloves and fins both going in and coming out! Carolin Rose was a good dive too, not too much differend than some of the older wrecks. Lots of rope and cable still laying around this one as it has only been on the bottom since 1990. It was on the Caroline Rose that we saw the Ling Cod. A darn ugly fish, but the first one I have ever seen, laying between two planks, on the bottom just outside the hull of the wreck.
Final stop was the Grotto or Caves. This area is pretty much out in the open and the little tug boat, Lark, was rolling about 15 degrees each way some times as the waves are reflected off the cliffs and back to the boat, causing a confused sea. I expected someone to loose lunch, but we had a pretty good crowd and it didn't happen. This was a good dive, but kind of short and shallow. Dave gave good directions to where to find the opening, then we snorkled to near the entrance, went down, in and up to the pool where we met a couple other divers from our group. Out through the smaller entrance and down along the boulder strewn bottom to the boat. Because the boat was laying in deep water, we actually made about 45 feet on that dive, which was advertised at 20 feet, but the total dive time was only about 15 minutes in and out. By then, I was getting cold, and was happy to strip off my suit and sit in the sun. Ride back on the Lark was about 45 minutes, sitting up on the bow, watching the islands going by and getting kind of sun burnt. After the dive, everyone but my wife and I headed for the US. We stayed one more night, had breakfast at the Crows nest (great omlet for an excellent price) and then drove home.
I can't WAIT to go back to Tobermory! The dive shop was good, the people were excellent and the weather the best that I could hope for. Six good dives, six different wrecks and a short cave/grotto dive.
Only two minuses to the entire trip. G&S picked up all the tanks at the dock in their truck, hauled them in after the first day and charged our tanks for us. After my first dive of the second day, I went to my second tank to find out it only had 1400 lbs of air. It was the tank I had used the day before on the Grand Rapids and Sweepstakes dive and had gone to the shop with 1400 lbs in it. Never got filled. So the divemaster (who skipped a dive each day) gave me one of hers so I could make all the dives. I went over to G&S after the dive and told them what happened and after several questions, they were happy to give me the cost of the air back ($6 CDN) which I used a Craigies for a Whitefish Sandwich. Second issue was the first Captain, who didn't say too much, was just there to drive the boat. He didn't get a tip. Captain Dave the second day got a large ($50+) tip for the day.
Sorry for being so long winded, but I just had to share my experience. You folks are so lucky to have close access to Toby, without that annoying two hour wait to cross the Blue Water Bridge in Port Huron!
Now for the details. Left Frankenmuth about 8:30 in the morning and took the long drive up the coast. Weather was grey and mostly foggy for the length of the trip, with just enough rain thrown in to dampen my spirits. Hope this mess clears out before the diving! Arrived Friday afternoon at the End of the Road Campground and made a quick trip into "town" for a look around, then into bed early to catch up on some sleep from the work week.
DAY ONE
Up at 6:30 on Saturday, and at G&S at 7:45, to wait for them to open. Loaded the boat (Lark)and got my tag for diving in the park ($15.00) from the office up the hill. A short safety brief from the boats captain, and we were off to the M. L. King, (a boat built in the town I work, East Saginaw in 1867) for first dive of the day. As I was early to rig, I was first in the water (about 44F at the surface) and snorkled around in my drysuit as three teams of divers went down the line for the wreck. Finally, my buddy Kurt arrived and down we went to get a look around. Weather was good, warm and sunny. Visability had to be 75-80 or perhaps more. We had a little trouble at the line down as my buddy was having a problem with BC, but I waited at 30 feet and he was quickly down to me. We made a lap of the wreck and poked around until I was at 1000 lbs. spending 22 minutes at a maximum of 68 feet (we didn't go clear down to the bottom end of the wreck, which is laying on an angle into deeper water) Back to 15 feet for the safety stop, and at the surface with 800. We are last to board, and then it's off the the next wreck. About this time, someone asked the captain something about the next wreck and he kind of shrugged his shoulders and admitted he had never seen it, was NOT a diver. OOPS!
Second dive as the W.L Wetmore. Kind of scattered around, but with a large boiler standing up on the bottom complete. The Wetmore is a shallow wreck and we maxed out at 22 feet for 27 minutes before the cold began to set in.
After a break for lunch and a surface interval of over an hour, we headed over to Big Tub to visit the Sweepstakes and City of Grand Rapids as the final dive. These very shallow wrecks had us at a maximum of 15 feet for about 20 minutes until we got board. It was on this dive that we had to time our dives around the arrival and departure of the glass bottom boats that tend to poke down there and let the nondiving public see the wrecks. On the way back to the Lark, across the bottom we saw 6 large carp looking fish, moving together, all over 2 feet long, and two over 3 feet in lenght.
Back to Little Tub and the pier about 3:30, dive day is over.
DAY TWO:
Over to the harbor at 8:30, with coffee in hand to load tanks on the boat. Find out that the motor threw an alternater belt the day before and a repair was underway. Not a long wait, about 30 minutes to fix and we were loading and underway by 9:30 or so.
Todays Captain was DAVE, a funny, clever fellow diver and instructor who knew all the dive sites and had lots of tips to pass along. Decision was made to dive the Niagara II first, so off we went, down the coast. Before leaving the dock, we had a very complete safety briefing, about life jackets and life rafts and that in the event of an accident the captain was NOT TO GET WET. (A very funny guy!) Another beautiful day on the water with bright sunny skys, and warm temps. Had another complete predive briefing from Captain Dave about the possiblity of a regulator freeze up and what to do (abort the dive) and a description of the wreck and what to expect. Then, it was into the water! Seemed the water was colder on Sunday. We did a good tour of the topsides, pilot house, and some of the cabins and really enjoyed poking around. 78 feet, 21 min, bottom temp at the deck was 34 F (Cold).
Next dive was the Caroline Rose. Did I mention that Captain Dave rigged and unrigged each diver as they went into and out of the water? This guy was amazing! Could rig and check two divers in a matter of about 4 minutes and have them in the water. Dives got a lot smoother with Dave around to help with your rig, gloves and fins both going in and coming out! Carolin Rose was a good dive too, not too much differend than some of the older wrecks. Lots of rope and cable still laying around this one as it has only been on the bottom since 1990. It was on the Caroline Rose that we saw the Ling Cod. A darn ugly fish, but the first one I have ever seen, laying between two planks, on the bottom just outside the hull of the wreck.
Final stop was the Grotto or Caves. This area is pretty much out in the open and the little tug boat, Lark, was rolling about 15 degrees each way some times as the waves are reflected off the cliffs and back to the boat, causing a confused sea. I expected someone to loose lunch, but we had a pretty good crowd and it didn't happen. This was a good dive, but kind of short and shallow. Dave gave good directions to where to find the opening, then we snorkled to near the entrance, went down, in and up to the pool where we met a couple other divers from our group. Out through the smaller entrance and down along the boulder strewn bottom to the boat. Because the boat was laying in deep water, we actually made about 45 feet on that dive, which was advertised at 20 feet, but the total dive time was only about 15 minutes in and out. By then, I was getting cold, and was happy to strip off my suit and sit in the sun. Ride back on the Lark was about 45 minutes, sitting up on the bow, watching the islands going by and getting kind of sun burnt. After the dive, everyone but my wife and I headed for the US. We stayed one more night, had breakfast at the Crows nest (great omlet for an excellent price) and then drove home.
I can't WAIT to go back to Tobermory! The dive shop was good, the people were excellent and the weather the best that I could hope for. Six good dives, six different wrecks and a short cave/grotto dive.
Only two minuses to the entire trip. G&S picked up all the tanks at the dock in their truck, hauled them in after the first day and charged our tanks for us. After my first dive of the second day, I went to my second tank to find out it only had 1400 lbs of air. It was the tank I had used the day before on the Grand Rapids and Sweepstakes dive and had gone to the shop with 1400 lbs in it. Never got filled. So the divemaster (who skipped a dive each day) gave me one of hers so I could make all the dives. I went over to G&S after the dive and told them what happened and after several questions, they were happy to give me the cost of the air back ($6 CDN) which I used a Craigies for a Whitefish Sandwich. Second issue was the first Captain, who didn't say too much, was just there to drive the boat. He didn't get a tip. Captain Dave the second day got a large ($50+) tip for the day.
Sorry for being so long winded, but I just had to share my experience. You folks are so lucky to have close access to Toby, without that annoying two hour wait to cross the Blue Water Bridge in Port Huron!
