Trip Report: Presque Isle (Lake Huron) & Whitefish Point (Lake Superior)

[macado]

I just got back from a week of diving in Presque Isle (Lake Huron) and Whitefish Point (Lake Superior). One week is not enough! I'm planning on dedicating two weeks next year and hoping to get up to Rossport, ON to dive the Gunilda

I posted a detailed trip report here but I'll re-post abridged version in this thread.
Great Lakes Diving: A week of diving in Presque Isle & Whitefish Point - wrecklessdiver.com

We used Shipwreck Explorers (Molly V) with Capt. Jitka Hanakova. She has a nice setup. It's a 28ft aluminum Marinette with a nice ladder & swim platform. Although smaller than a lot of boats I'm used to it's well organized and fits 6 technical divers with two bailouts without any problems.

PRESQUE ISLE
Monday was blow out day but we managed to get out on Tuesday as the winds settled down considerably.

Tuesday
Our first dive of the trip was the SS Norman, a steel steamer that sunk in 1895. She sunk when the Canadian steamer Jack collided with her in fog just off Presque Isle. The Normans hull is broken just forward of the boiler house with the majority of the ship listing hard to port. A yawl boat sits on the lake bottom just off the amidships section. She’s an awesome wreck and one of my favorites in Presque Isle.

SS Norman
Max depth: 201ft
Runtime: 102 minutes
Visibility: ~75-100ft
Water Temp: 38f bottom & 62f on deco above 50ft

Our second dive was also an old favorite of mine from last year, the Cornelia B. Windiate. She’s an intact three-masted schooner sitting on the bottom at ~180ft. She is pretty unique because unlike a lot of schooners in the Great Lakes her cabin is still fully intact.

“For many years, the story of the Windiate’s disappearance was a mystery. It was thought to have gone down in Lake Michigan, since it was spotted there in a fall gale and was never seen again. More than 100 years later, the wreck was discovered deep in Lake Huron’s waters. The ship is in nearly perfect condition with masts upright, cabin intact, and the yawl boat lying alongside the stern. The Windiate is now thought to have sunk because heavy seas covered the decks in ice causing it to settle slowly to the bottom of the lake.” (Source)

Cornelia B. Windiate
Max depth: 185ft
Runtime: 92 minutes.
Visibility: 50-70ft.
Water temp: 38f on bottom and 63f on deco.


Wednesday
Sadly the winds picked up but we managed to sneak out and get in one dive on the Kyle Spangler before it got too rough. I kept my runtime purposely shorter due to some seasick (lake sick?) people on the boat. She’s a little closer to shore than some of the other wrecks so we didn’t get beat up too badly. The Kyle Spangler was a two-masted schooner carrying corn when she collided with schooner Racine and sunk in approximately 180ft of water on November 7th, 1860.

Kyle Spangler
Max depth: 177ft
Runtime: 75 minutes
Visibility: ~75ft but dark today with no sunlight
Water temp: 38f on bottom

Thursday
The winds died down beautifully making Lake Huron look like a mill pond and afforded us the opportunity for two stern tie-offs. The day started off a little foggy and rainy but cleared up nicely. Our first dive was another favorite, the SS Florida. She was a steam ship that sunk in 1898 in approximately 200ft of water.

“During a dense fog the steamer Florida was sunk by collision with the steamer George W. Roby off Middle Island. The ship went down in deep water and was nearly cut in half by the collision. Florida sits upright on the lake bottom and still contains much of its package freight. The Florida was discovered by Ed Ellison.” (Source)

SS Florida
Max depth: 190ft
Runtime: 105 minutes
Visibility: A dark 50-60ft maybe a tad more
Water temp: 39f and 62f on deco above 50ft

Our last dive on Thursday was the wreck of the Typo, another three-masted schooner. She’s also an awesome wreck like all the others up in Presque Isle. The Typo has an intact bowsprit, two of the masts still standing (one snapped off 20 ft up) and lots of items on the deck. Due to being metal, not brass, the bell was not salvaged and remains in place. She sunk on October 14, 1899 in collision with Ketchum.

Typo
Max depth: 189ft
Runtime: 83 minutes
Water Temp: 39f
Visibility: 50ft+/-

 

[macado]

WHITEFISH POINT
We ended Thursday by packing up all our stuff, helping Jitka put the Molly V on her trailer and began the ~3 hour drive, crossing over the Mackinac Bridge to Whitefish Point, Lake Superior in Paradise, MI for more Great Lakes diving.

Friday
Lake Superior was absolute glass in the morning in Whitefish Point. Our first dive was John M. Osborn, a wooden steamer that sunk in 1884. She sits in approximately 180ft of water.

John M. Osborn
Max depth: 175ft
Runtime: 81 minutes.
Water temp: a very brisk 38f with no thermocline until about 30ft where it warms up to 43f and finally 52f around 20ft.
Visibility: 30-40ft+

Second dive was John B. Cowle, a 480ft bulk freighter that sunk in 1909 and sits in approximately 220ft of water.

John B. Cowle
Max depth: 208ft
Runtime: 86 minutes
Visibility: 30ft or so
Water temp: 38f and a “warm” thermocline of 54f at 30ft.

The detail on these wrecks are remarkable due to no zebra/quagga mussels. You can see the wood grain and carvings. Visibility is good just dark. I kept my runtimes shorter for the first day since I did not have the tropical thermocline of Lake Huron to warm me up. I ended up adding more layers and saving the heated vest for deco for the rest of the week and I was in much better shape.

This was my first time in Lake Superior and I was blown away. The visibility is slightly better than average visibility in New England but with fully intact wrecks and artifacts littered everywhere. I’m still not sure if prefer Presque Isle or Whitefish Point. They both have awesome wrecks with a lot to offer.

Saturday
We decided to do a double dip on the SS Samuel Mather since she’s a little further out than some of the other wrecks. She is large (~250ft long) and interesting enough to warrant two dives. She sits in approximately 175ft of water. The Mather sank in 1891 after she was rammed by the steel freighter Brazil in heavy fog in Whitefish Bay 8 miles (13 km) from Point Iroquois, ending the Mather’s 4-year career. Her intact wreck is a rare of example of wooden freighters that plied the Great Lakes (Wikipedia).

SS Samuel Mather
Max depth: 170ft
Runtime: 101 minutes
Visibility: 25ft+
Water Temp: 39f and 55-56f on deco

The Mather is awesome. For my second dive on the Mather I played around in the engine room and tried to play pretend photographer with my Fischer Price camera.

SS Samuel Mather
Max depth: 168ft
Runtime: 81 minutes.
Water Temp: 39f on bottom
Visibility: 25-30ft

Sunday
On Sunday we dove the Comet and the Vienna.

She sits in approximately 230-240ft of water. The Comet was built in 1857 as a wooden-hulled propeller-driven cargo vessel that was soon adapted to carry passengers. She sunk in 1875 causing the loss of ten lives. She became known as the only treasure ship of Lake Superior because she carried 70 tons of Montana silver ore when she sank.

Pottery, and china, machinery liter the entire deck and in the debris field. There are also piles of pig iron ingots lying in the hull.

The Comet also presents a rare chance to see intact hogging arches on a shipwreck. These are the arches that run the length of the ship that for a short time in ship construction history were added to stiffen the ship. Unfortunately they also made loading and unloading more difficult so were soon replaced with steel re-enforcing straps imbedded in the hull under the planking. The hogging arches on the Comet are intact and are a great example of how these structures were built. (Source)

Amazingly after 142 years on the bottom you can still make out the name “Comet” that is painted ornately on one of the cylinders of the engine.

SS Comet
Max depth: 219ft
Runtime: 105 minutes
Water Temp: 39f on bottom (52f-56f on deco above 40ft)
Visibility: Maybe 20-25ft

The SS Vienna was built in 1873 during the era when steamers were built with sail rigging. She had a 19 year career marked with maritime incidents including sinking when she was just 3 years old. Finally, she sank for the last time in fair weather in Whitefish Bay in Lake Superior after she received a mortal blow when she was inexplicably rammed by the steamer Nipigon on 17 September 1892.

SS Vienna
Max depth: 147ft (Apparently I found an extra 7ft in the mud).
Runtime: 82 minutes.
Visibility: 25-30ft
Water Temp: 39f on bottom (balmy 63f on deco at 20ft!)

Monday
Everyone else in my group left on Sunday night but I opted to stay an extra day and get one more dive in before flying out on Tuesday afternoon.

John M. Osborn
Max depth: 168ft
Runtime: 85 minutes.
Water Temp: 38f on bottom
Visibility: 25-30ft

Deco excited to see Jitka after her dive..
Overall it was another fantastic week of Great Lakes diving. Even though we lost one day of diving in Presque Isle we still had a great string of weather and got some quality diving in.