Greetings from St. Ignace, Michigan, in the Upper Peninsula (eh). Diving the Straits of Mackinac this weekend with a group from Rec Diving in Royal Oak, Michigan, with Straits Scuba out of St. Ignace on the Rec Diver. Weather this morning was beautiful, so we set out to dive the Eber Ward, a 213 ft wooden steamer that went down 4.5 miles west of the Mackinac Bridge in Lake Michigan in 1909, carrying a load of corn. There are two mooring buoys on the wreck, but three other boats beat us there, so we decided to head for another wreck further west, the Fred McBrier, a wooden steamer that went down in 1890. The buoy that had been set earlier in the season was no longer there, so the captain tried to hook the wreck. After trolling for it for a while, it looked like they had it hooked, so we sent down two divers to check it out. The anchor had missed the wreck, dragged along the bottom, and was lodged in the bottom. The captain trolled a little longer, then decided to go back to the Eber Ward. One of the buoys was available now, so we moored, geared up (again) and hit the water.
The Eber Ward
Current was light at the surface, and at depth. Water temperature was about 68 F at the surface (like bathwater), about 55 at the first thermocline, and about 42 at 108 ft, several feet above the deck, which lies in about 112-115 ft. Vis was 30-40 ft, with lots of little clumps of algae in the water. We cruised the length of the wreck, between 6 and 15 off the deck, surveying the general layout of the wreck. We are doing no-deco dives, so time on the wreck was limited to 15 minutes or less. There are several open hatches down the center of the wreck and machinery visible through them. There are three anchors at the bow, a mushroom anchor hanging off the port bow, and two folding anchors on the deck at the bow. There is a porcelain toilet on the deck. The whiteness of it really stands out and it looks pretty odd out there in the open. All the deck structures were lost in the wreck, leaving the toilet in plain view. All in all, a very impressive wreck and a very nice dive.
The Minneapolis
Our second dive was on the Minneapolis, which literally lies in the shadow of the Mackinac Bridge on the Lake Michigan side. On the boat you can hear vehicle tires singing on the steel deck of the bridge. The current was quite a bit stronger at the surface on this dive, so we were breathing heavily by the time we reached the end of the granny line near the mooring bouy. We needed to catch our breath, but staying at the surface was too much work, so we began our descent and caught our breath on the line on the way down. The Minneapolis is a wooden steamer that was lost in 1894. The bow is partly broken up, and in the stern, the deck has fallen into the hold. Other parts of the deck have also collapsed. The deck is around 95-100 ft. We were able to cruise up and down the length of the wreck getting a general view of it. There are a number of open hatches and we saw a large number of fish in the wreck down at the bottom. My freshwater fish ID skills are not very good and we were looking down on them from maybe 20 ft. above, so I can't say what species. Vis was again in the 30-40 ft. range, with the same clumps of algae floating by. Temperatures were similar, although the lowest temperature I observed on this dive was about 44 F. Another nice dive.
Diving like this reminds me how much difference it makes to change diving environments. I am pretty comfortable diving in the Caribbean in a 3 mm wetsuit, but still pretty new to dry suit diving and these deeper wreck dives in the Great Lakes, so I am still working this out. Deeper, darker, colder, more gear, and the profiles really are square. Going up and down a line with nothing around you but green water and spending 10-15 minutes on a wreck at 100 ft. or so is a lot different than working your way down a reef and then back up to finish a 50+ minute dive in shallow water. I brought my camera along for the trip, but left it on the boat for both dives today. That was a good decision. I have too much work to do getting my weighting tuned in (I was TOO heavy today) and generally getting comfortable with this. Great Lakes diving takes some work.
We had a thunderstorm this afternoon, so I hope the vis doesn't deteriorate too much. Tomorrow we are planning to dive the William Young (a dive I've done once before), a wooden schooner barge lost in 1894. It was not discovered until 2002, so it has not been looted and still has the wheel, deadeyes on the rail, chains and anchors, and lots of other stuff. I am really looking forward to it. Our planned second dive is the Sandusky, one of the signature dives in the Straits. It is a wooden brig lost in 1856. It had a ram's head figurehead, something that was unusual for Great Lakes vessels. The original figurehead has been removed for preservation and replaced with a replica. This will be a new dive site for me and I am looking forward to it as well.
The Eber Ward
Current was light at the surface, and at depth. Water temperature was about 68 F at the surface (like bathwater), about 55 at the first thermocline, and about 42 at 108 ft, several feet above the deck, which lies in about 112-115 ft. Vis was 30-40 ft, with lots of little clumps of algae in the water. We cruised the length of the wreck, between 6 and 15 off the deck, surveying the general layout of the wreck. We are doing no-deco dives, so time on the wreck was limited to 15 minutes or less. There are several open hatches down the center of the wreck and machinery visible through them. There are three anchors at the bow, a mushroom anchor hanging off the port bow, and two folding anchors on the deck at the bow. There is a porcelain toilet on the deck. The whiteness of it really stands out and it looks pretty odd out there in the open. All the deck structures were lost in the wreck, leaving the toilet in plain view. All in all, a very impressive wreck and a very nice dive.
The Minneapolis
Our second dive was on the Minneapolis, which literally lies in the shadow of the Mackinac Bridge on the Lake Michigan side. On the boat you can hear vehicle tires singing on the steel deck of the bridge. The current was quite a bit stronger at the surface on this dive, so we were breathing heavily by the time we reached the end of the granny line near the mooring bouy. We needed to catch our breath, but staying at the surface was too much work, so we began our descent and caught our breath on the line on the way down. The Minneapolis is a wooden steamer that was lost in 1894. The bow is partly broken up, and in the stern, the deck has fallen into the hold. Other parts of the deck have also collapsed. The deck is around 95-100 ft. We were able to cruise up and down the length of the wreck getting a general view of it. There are a number of open hatches and we saw a large number of fish in the wreck down at the bottom. My freshwater fish ID skills are not very good and we were looking down on them from maybe 20 ft. above, so I can't say what species. Vis was again in the 30-40 ft. range, with the same clumps of algae floating by. Temperatures were similar, although the lowest temperature I observed on this dive was about 44 F. Another nice dive.
Diving like this reminds me how much difference it makes to change diving environments. I am pretty comfortable diving in the Caribbean in a 3 mm wetsuit, but still pretty new to dry suit diving and these deeper wreck dives in the Great Lakes, so I am still working this out. Deeper, darker, colder, more gear, and the profiles really are square. Going up and down a line with nothing around you but green water and spending 10-15 minutes on a wreck at 100 ft. or so is a lot different than working your way down a reef and then back up to finish a 50+ minute dive in shallow water. I brought my camera along for the trip, but left it on the boat for both dives today. That was a good decision. I have too much work to do getting my weighting tuned in (I was TOO heavy today) and generally getting comfortable with this. Great Lakes diving takes some work.
We had a thunderstorm this afternoon, so I hope the vis doesn't deteriorate too much. Tomorrow we are planning to dive the William Young (a dive I've done once before), a wooden schooner barge lost in 1894. It was not discovered until 2002, so it has not been looted and still has the wheel, deadeyes on the rail, chains and anchors, and lots of other stuff. I am really looking forward to it. Our planned second dive is the Sandusky, one of the signature dives in the Straits. It is a wooden brig lost in 1856. It had a ram's head figurehead, something that was unusual for Great Lakes vessels. The original figurehead has been removed for preservation and replaced with a replica. This will be a new dive site for me and I am looking forward to it as well.
