soltari675
Contributor
This weekend I am doing my wreck diving certification. 
Just thought I'd share. I'm really excited.
Just thought I'd share. I'm really excited.
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ajduplessis
Contributor
Diving is fun and there is always something new to learn. Enjoy your course.
OP
soltari675
Contributor
I had a really great time this weekend. I still have one more dive to finish my certification, but we are going to do it locally in better conditions.
On Saturday we went out on Lake Michigan from Milwaukee. The first dive was on Prins Willem V. It was a great wreck. Still mostly in tact though beginning to sink into the lake floor. This dive was just to swim around the outside of the wreck, and identify hazards to avoid and places that would be good to penetrate the wreck if we were going to. We also practiced the rule of thirds. We used a third to go down and follow the hull of the ship, a third to come back and explore around the mooring line, and a third to come back up. I was back on the boat with 800 psi so I felt confident. It was a great dive.
Our third dive was on the Dredge. This one started out shallow at 40ft and worked down. Another good dive. LOTS of large schools of silverfish. It was pretty. This ship was easy to explore in its entirety. (front to back and along the sides) It's not that big. Again we looked for hazards. This ship is laying completely inverted, so you can go to the bottom and see completely through from one side to the other. We did not swim through, but noted it. This dive we practiced navigation with compass and following the natural line of the ship. There was a stronger current this time which created a challenge also. We also practices other kicks with our fins. (frog, helicopter turns, backing up which is not as easy as it looks at first) But it was a really fun dive.
We took about a 3-4 hour surface interval. Went and had lunch and such and came back. We went out to the Milwaukee. It had rained pretty good during the interval so the water was a bit rougher. Probably 2-3 ft waves. This time we peeked just inside the entrance of the ship. Looking for hazards again, etc. The Milwaukee is deep though. It was 90 feet just to touch the ship. I think the bottom of it is around 125 feet or so. Since it was so deep and we were already a bit tired from previous dives, we did not penetrate the wreck. We just looked. Which was fine. My buddy and I honestly did not go below the 90 feet. We hovered above the ship and just looked this time. We did find the placard that listed the people who died on the wreck. We stayed fairly close to the mooring line. The operator didn't fill our tanks as full as I would have liked, so I was at 2200 when we reached the wreck. The visibility was around 30 feet, so we just maintained sight on the line as we explored. The ship is big enough to see a lot in that radius anyway. We did practice some mapping on our slates on this one though. And we had all of our equipment as though we were going to penetrate the wreck, to get comfortable with multitasking. We switched our lights one handed with gloves, played with a reel, etc. We had a great time. When we surfaced though, waves were reaching 5 feet or more and we decided to not do anymore dives. We were tired anyway.
Overall we had a really good time and learned a lot. We have to do another dive, probably at Mermet where there are "safe" wrecks that are cleaned up for divers. We will actually use the reel and practice running a line when going into wrecks. The conditions at the lake were just not favorable for a diver brand new to wrecks to do it there. After that, I will be wreck certified
Yay!
On Saturday we went out on Lake Michigan from Milwaukee. The first dive was on Prins Willem V. It was a great wreck. Still mostly in tact though beginning to sink into the lake floor. This dive was just to swim around the outside of the wreck, and identify hazards to avoid and places that would be good to penetrate the wreck if we were going to. We also practiced the rule of thirds. We used a third to go down and follow the hull of the ship, a third to come back and explore around the mooring line, and a third to come back up. I was back on the boat with 800 psi so I felt confident. It was a great dive.
Our third dive was on the Dredge. This one started out shallow at 40ft and worked down. Another good dive. LOTS of large schools of silverfish. It was pretty. This ship was easy to explore in its entirety. (front to back and along the sides) It's not that big. Again we looked for hazards. This ship is laying completely inverted, so you can go to the bottom and see completely through from one side to the other. We did not swim through, but noted it. This dive we practiced navigation with compass and following the natural line of the ship. There was a stronger current this time which created a challenge also. We also practices other kicks with our fins. (frog, helicopter turns, backing up which is not as easy as it looks at first) But it was a really fun dive.
We took about a 3-4 hour surface interval. Went and had lunch and such and came back. We went out to the Milwaukee. It had rained pretty good during the interval so the water was a bit rougher. Probably 2-3 ft waves. This time we peeked just inside the entrance of the ship. Looking for hazards again, etc. The Milwaukee is deep though. It was 90 feet just to touch the ship. I think the bottom of it is around 125 feet or so. Since it was so deep and we were already a bit tired from previous dives, we did not penetrate the wreck. We just looked. Which was fine. My buddy and I honestly did not go below the 90 feet. We hovered above the ship and just looked this time. We did find the placard that listed the people who died on the wreck. We stayed fairly close to the mooring line. The operator didn't fill our tanks as full as I would have liked, so I was at 2200 when we reached the wreck. The visibility was around 30 feet, so we just maintained sight on the line as we explored. The ship is big enough to see a lot in that radius anyway. We did practice some mapping on our slates on this one though. And we had all of our equipment as though we were going to penetrate the wreck, to get comfortable with multitasking. We switched our lights one handed with gloves, played with a reel, etc. We had a great time. When we surfaced though, waves were reaching 5 feet or more and we decided to not do anymore dives. We were tired anyway.
Overall we had a really good time and learned a lot. We have to do another dive, probably at Mermet where there are "safe" wrecks that are cleaned up for divers. We will actually use the reel and practice running a line when going into wrecks. The conditions at the lake were just not favorable for a diver brand new to wrecks to do it there. After that, I will be wreck certified
Yay!
Narced Out
Contributor
Sounds like you had a blast, i went wreck diving yesterday while my instructor was teaching a wreck class. My buddy and I slowly entered the wreck as we waved good bye to the students. Have your instructor make you lay a line, then give you a blacked out mask and make you follow it back. Then you will realize what blacked out situation feels like. Anyways have fun and be safe.
OP
soltari675
Contributor
So I decided to sign up for the rescue diver course now too. It just seems like a really good course.
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