What a bunch of hosers....I hope you all have fun. Hoist a few pints at the driftwood in my honor, and I'll hoist a few at indy in yours...hell, I might as well make it 2 a piece, that makes it an even 12 fer y'all
Mackinac Straits trip
- Thread starter jbd
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Tractor Tom
Contributor
...keep a hand on Diver_Paula as she gets on and off the boat! She has a bad habit of falling down and either hurting herself or others!!!! 
We wouldn't want her to get all banged up again and not be able to dive for a while....
We wouldn't want her to get all banged up again and not be able to dive for a while....
diver_paula
Contributor
frankenmuth_tom:...keep a hand on Diver_Paula as she gets on and off the boat! She has a bad habit of falling down and either hurting herself or others!!!!
We wouldn't want her to get all banged up again and not be able to dive for a while....
Hey now! For the record I fell with no gear on and while the boat was still in the harbor with water like glass! I traversed the ladder and boat like a gazelle once the 6 footers hit!
Paula
OP
Due to circumstances we have an opening for one or two divers for this trip. If you want or need to get wet in the Great Lakes let me know asap so I can make arrangements.
I just got back (with an additional shore dive that the others didn't get to do ) so I thought that I would get the trip report started.
In spite of some choppy water on the second and third dives that sort of spoiled our intended dive profile, we had some great diving and better times.
After nearly having a female roommate, I had dinner with Diving Gal and waited for the Kentucky contingent to show up. When Ckharlan, jbd, and Kystork showed up, we had a meeting in the Driftwood Inn to get our dive profiles set.
We wanted to dive the Cedarville (bow), the William Barnum, and then come in for lunch/tank change and then slip over to the Sandusky and Maitland.
We left with great weather and it did stay sunny all day. We dove in the following order:
1. Cedarville Bow: Water temps in the mid 40's. Dive time: 45 mins with a max depth of 91 ft. Ckharlan got a little deeper than me, but proved to be a great dive buddy. We poked lights inside the pilot house and around the ladders to the ships "brain" before it turned over. Seeing someone (I raise my hand) got paranoid and forgot to turn on his can light, we both had back-up lights but it was sufficient for our purposes. The current was moderate so we decided to stay in tight to the wreck.
2. William H. Barnum: One diver chose not to dive and then there were four. Ckharlan and I navigated the chop (Yes the wind was kicking up over the Straits, so there was a reason for the abstaining diver) and descended onto this wreck at which point I promptly went to get a photo of the screw which is buried in the collapsed stern. Meanwhile DG and jbd went into the chain locker in the bow. I chose not to go inside due to a couple of factors. One of the chief factors was a thermocline at roughly 55 ft. that was bad enough to be visible. It was quite cold below it and that chain locker was below that level. Ckharlan and I then played around the boiler chased many crayfish (one of which was "nice" enough to pose for a photo). We ascended to a ladder that wanted throw us off and chop that slowed our arrival into port for lunch.
We had lunch at the Subway near the docks and then (continued):
) so I thought that I would get the trip report started.In spite of some choppy water on the second and third dives that sort of spoiled our intended dive profile, we had some great diving and better times.
After nearly having a female roommate, I had dinner with Diving Gal and waited for the Kentucky contingent to show up. When Ckharlan, jbd, and Kystork showed up, we had a meeting in the Driftwood Inn to get our dive profiles set.
We wanted to dive the Cedarville (bow), the William Barnum, and then come in for lunch/tank change and then slip over to the Sandusky and Maitland.
We left with great weather and it did stay sunny all day. We dove in the following order:
1. Cedarville Bow: Water temps in the mid 40's. Dive time: 45 mins with a max depth of 91 ft. Ckharlan got a little deeper than me, but proved to be a great dive buddy. We poked lights inside the pilot house and around the ladders to the ships "brain" before it turned over. Seeing someone (I raise my hand) got paranoid and forgot to turn on his can light, we both had back-up lights but it was sufficient for our purposes. The current was moderate so we decided to stay in tight to the wreck.
2. William H. Barnum: One diver chose not to dive and then there were four. Ckharlan and I navigated the chop (Yes the wind was kicking up over the Straits, so there was a reason for the abstaining diver) and descended onto this wreck at which point I promptly went to get a photo of the screw which is buried in the collapsed stern. Meanwhile DG and jbd went into the chain locker in the bow. I chose not to go inside due to a couple of factors. One of the chief factors was a thermocline at roughly 55 ft. that was bad enough to be visible. It was quite cold below it and that chain locker was below that level. Ckharlan and I then played around the boiler chased many crayfish (one of which was "nice" enough to pose for a photo). We ascended to a ladder that wanted throw us off and chop that slowed our arrival into port for lunch.
We had lunch at the Subway near the docks and then (continued):
Our intrepid band was informed that we would be unable to do the Sandusky/Maitland as the chop was slowing the boat down quite a bit and they are on the Lake Michigan side of the bridge.
3. We chose to dive the Young. After tying off to the even more intrepid boat that already had divers on the William Young (I think the waves were higher than that boat's stern), Diving Gal and jbd chose to test the current first. Ckharlan got his doubles on before me and jumped in. Due to some problems he had to come back just as I jumped into the water. I went down, joined DG and jbd and had a nice 35 min dive to 106 ft. with heavy currents. The ship's wheel was still pretty as ever as was the capstan. Due to current, I didn't feel it too wise to swim to the bow which is less intact at any rate. The water temp was in the mid 40's yet again.
4. We did a search and recovery dive (except we couldn't find it) for the wide angle lens that was sacrificed to the dive gods on the William Barnum earlier in the day by one of our divers. At this point Ckharlan and myself went to the chain locker and went over it with a fine tooth comb. I have to admit that it was an interesting way to force ourselves to look for details on a wooden wreck in 70 ft. of water. The dive lasted roughly 20 mins. of bottom time and about 40 mins. run time. The waves had calmed considerably by this point.
After treating Capt. Dan to a well derserved dinner at the Mackinaw Grille, we debriefed and went to our rooms. Believe me when I say that much of this was more entertaining than it sounds. We had a gentlemen in a wheelchair that Kystork and jbd helped load on and off a fishing boat. The onloading happened before dinner (although someone who shall remain nameless takes forever to get ready :irazz: and the off-loading happened after dinner.
After breakfast this morning, we all said our good-byes and departed St. Ignace waiting for another time to dive together.
3. We chose to dive the Young. After tying off to the even more intrepid boat that already had divers on the William Young (I think the waves were higher than that boat's stern), Diving Gal and jbd chose to test the current first. Ckharlan got his doubles on before me and jumped in. Due to some problems he had to come back just as I jumped into the water. I went down, joined DG and jbd and had a nice 35 min dive to 106 ft. with heavy currents. The ship's wheel was still pretty as ever as was the capstan. Due to current, I didn't feel it too wise to swim to the bow which is less intact at any rate. The water temp was in the mid 40's yet again.
4. We did a search and recovery dive (except we couldn't find it) for the wide angle lens that was sacrificed to the dive gods on the William Barnum earlier in the day by one of our divers. At this point Ckharlan and myself went to the chain locker and went over it with a fine tooth comb. I have to admit that it was an interesting way to force ourselves to look for details on a wooden wreck in 70 ft. of water. The dive lasted roughly 20 mins. of bottom time and about 40 mins. run time. The waves had calmed considerably by this point.
After treating Capt. Dan to a well derserved dinner at the Mackinaw Grille, we debriefed and went to our rooms. Believe me when I say that much of this was more entertaining than it sounds. We had a gentlemen in a wheelchair that Kystork and jbd helped load on and off a fishing boat. The onloading happened before dinner (although someone who shall remain nameless takes forever to get ready :irazz: and the off-loading happened after dinner.
After breakfast this morning, we all said our good-byes and departed St. Ignace waiting for another time to dive together.
OP
diverbrian,
Thanks for posting the report. Hope you will consider joining us for next years trip. Thanks for the CD!!
jbd
Thanks for posting the report. Hope you will consider joining us for next years trip. Thanks for the CD!!
jbd
If you have room, count me as there! It's always fun up there.jbd:
OP
diverbrian:
I have sent an e-mail to Dan about next year and talked with him about next years trip plan. Will post the plan in a new thread. I think next years trip will be be to your liking.
What can I say... I had a blast (but then I knew I would). No JBD, the books did not scream at me as I crossed the border saying they wanted to stay... they're quite happy back in the library.
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