Great Lakes Shipwreck Festival Trip Report

[tiggrr]

Was a very exciting day on the Washtenaw Community College campus. Phil and I got there right at 9am and went right into our first lecture..."Raising of the Fitzgerald Anchor"
The presenter Mac McAdams did a great job and he used actual TV footage from that day. He had a surprise guest of Captain Donald Erickson from the SS William Clay Ford.
The SS William Clay Ford was one of the two ships searching for the Fitzgerald. It was very moving to hear Captain Erickson's recollection of that fateful night and an honor to have him there.

Captain Donald Erickson and Mac McAdams

The next presentation I saw was Rich Synowiec and River Diving. Rich is the owner of Divers Inc. of Ann Arbor and White Star Quarry. Rich never disappoints and like many of the presenters, is very passionate about what he does. He had to condense over 2 hours of material into an hour. It was a very in depth look at not only all of the aspects of River Diving but, a look into the class Rich teaches. He only offers the River Diving class to 6 students per year and has 5 opening left for this years. It made me take a good look at whether or not it is for me and to be honest, I'm still debating it.

And the last morning presentation I went to was Solomon Islands, South Pacific Paradise by Rudy Whitworth. Rudy's presentation was amazing and thorough. His pictures not only captured the interesting marine life but, the topside culture and the WWII history of the Solomon Islands. His photography was breath taking and you could hear his love for what he does thru the entire show. Was easily one of my favorites of the day.

 

[tiggrr]

Lunch was overpriced and not that great. Spent some time checking out the booths and reconnecting with some old dive friends and filling out raffle tickets. Oh, and getting some swag.

For the afternoon presentations, we first went to Great White Sharks by David Haas. It was pretty entertaining and the pictures were great.

Our next stop was the Scuba Regulator Basics by Tom Rhoad. It was very interesting and Tom is a good instructor. We also had a treat as Mike from Gilboa Quarry was there. He brought up some interesting points of view concerning cold water and service of regs. He also mentioned they are thinking of implementing a new rule for the deep side of Gilboa where you would have to prove your reg was serviced within the last year. Interesting stuff.

We spent the rest of the afternoon socializing and headed out by 5. It was great to see so many people there and wished we could have stayed for the Cayman Island Party and Lee Murdock's guitar playing.

Sharon & Lisa Representin Bruno's Dive Shop

Jimmy from Divers Inc.

James Mott from Sea the World and presenter for Unified Team Diving

 

[Queen]

Sounds like the lectures were really interesting.

 

[BoneCrusher]

Awesome report! Thanks for sharing. So bummed I couldn't make it! It will be really interesting if Mike at Gilboa decides to implement another rule for the deep side... Guess we will see!

Once again, thanks for sharing!

 

[DudleyNMU]

It was a great show this year!

 

[tiggrr]

It was a great show this year!

Phil told me you were there!! Sorry I missed ya!!

 

[Gamehunter]

I sure wish I could have gone, it sounds like it was a great time. Maybe next year !!