Dean810
Contributor
I felt fortunate to have been able to have gone out on Lake Michigan today. I was taking a charter that left out of Burnham Harbor in Chicago. The weather was "iffy", with seas up to about 3 feet. I guess that would be the equivalent of 6' if you were out on the ocean. Everyone was cool about going out. The one concession was that instead of the Straits of Mackinac, we did the dive that is favored by charters in Burnham Harbor in such situations. We dove the Tacoma, and the double treat of the Holly Barge and the Illinois Dredge. They are close to harbor and provide good exploration.
These are shallow dives, none more than 35'. The Tacoma is a wooden tug, built in 1894 and sank with no lost lives in 1929. The Illinois Dredge sank in the same era. The Holly Barge was scuttled near the Illinois in 2000.
Viz was very good for both dives, at least 40' if it was an inch. This was such an improvement over the last time I dove this same dive earlier this year. So much easier to see and explore. One thing puzzled me a little, although there were plenty of gobies and a few crawfish hanging around, there was a lack of any other kind of fish. Not even a single bluegill, and they usually love me!
My biggest problem this time was my dive buddy. Never met him before I dove with him on this trip. He told me topside that he liked taking things easy when he dove, and I told him that suited me fine.
The dive on the Tacoma was ok. Everyone pretty much stayed in the same area. The Holly Barge and Illinois was a different story. After we got down to depth, we started along the side of the boat. I stopped to look inside a hatch, and my buddy took off. When I noticed him leaving, I decided to see what he was up too, figuring "what are buddies for?" Before I knew it, he was heading out away from the boat and into the muck. I was wondering what the hell he was doing, but thought I should follow along, since he was now alone, and maybe out in nowhere. When I looked down, I realized we were following a line. I lost sight of him, but kept on the line knowing it was heading to the Illinois. Got there, found him briefly, but then he took off again, this time back to the Holly. Caught up with him again there and wrote on my slate why he was going so fast. He indicated he was cold, so I wrote on my slate that we should find the mooring line. I went off in the direction I thought it was, and he followed for a short distance, but then he took off the other way. I decided to follow him again and he was right, that was the way to the mooring line. By that time, I was in no mood to go up, since I had plenty of air left and really didn't see that much, but he was ready.
Apparently, he was actually following a team that was ahead of us. I believe they got in the water first and he was trying to keep up. I, on the other hand, had no idea what he was doing at the time. He communicated nothing to me.
I have been in situations before where I have lost a buddy for a short time, but then we would find each other and everything was ok. I have also been in situations where I have been teamed up with two other people which eventually ended up being a solo dive for me. Those incidents didn't bother me so much. But this was a little different and took away from the dive.
These are shallow dives, none more than 35'. The Tacoma is a wooden tug, built in 1894 and sank with no lost lives in 1929. The Illinois Dredge sank in the same era. The Holly Barge was scuttled near the Illinois in 2000.
Viz was very good for both dives, at least 40' if it was an inch. This was such an improvement over the last time I dove this same dive earlier this year. So much easier to see and explore. One thing puzzled me a little, although there were plenty of gobies and a few crawfish hanging around, there was a lack of any other kind of fish. Not even a single bluegill, and they usually love me!
My biggest problem this time was my dive buddy. Never met him before I dove with him on this trip. He told me topside that he liked taking things easy when he dove, and I told him that suited me fine.
The dive on the Tacoma was ok. Everyone pretty much stayed in the same area. The Holly Barge and Illinois was a different story. After we got down to depth, we started along the side of the boat. I stopped to look inside a hatch, and my buddy took off. When I noticed him leaving, I decided to see what he was up too, figuring "what are buddies for?" Before I knew it, he was heading out away from the boat and into the muck. I was wondering what the hell he was doing, but thought I should follow along, since he was now alone, and maybe out in nowhere. When I looked down, I realized we were following a line. I lost sight of him, but kept on the line knowing it was heading to the Illinois. Got there, found him briefly, but then he took off again, this time back to the Holly. Caught up with him again there and wrote on my slate why he was going so fast. He indicated he was cold, so I wrote on my slate that we should find the mooring line. I went off in the direction I thought it was, and he followed for a short distance, but then he took off the other way. I decided to follow him again and he was right, that was the way to the mooring line. By that time, I was in no mood to go up, since I had plenty of air left and really didn't see that much, but he was ready.
Apparently, he was actually following a team that was ahead of us. I believe they got in the water first and he was trying to keep up. I, on the other hand, had no idea what he was doing at the time. He communicated nothing to me.
I have been in situations before where I have lost a buddy for a short time, but then we would find each other and everything was ok. I have also been in situations where I have been teamed up with two other people which eventually ended up being a solo dive for me. Those incidents didn't bother me so much. But this was a little different and took away from the dive.
