First of all, this was our first trip to Lake Michigan, or any Great Lake for that matter, so I'm by no means any type of an expert on the great lakes. Feel free to add any kernals of wisdom you see fit.
Getting There-
We drove and unless Southwest had a sale for round trip under $100, we would drive again. It was about 12 hours in the Suburban from Central Oklahoma, but with 3 friends, it wasn't that bad. Lots of laughs and relatively few pee stops given our age, the trip was not bad at all travel wise.
Hotels- We knew we would be diving out of Hammond Indiana on the SeaQuest. When I began searching for nearby hotels, I kept finding reviews stating "Worst hotel ever," "Drug deals in the lobby," " Blood on the sheets," "Thug parties going on all night," "No Water," and more comments that made it pretty clear that anything close to the Hammond Marina was probably not where we wanted to stay. We did find a Best Western about 15 miles away that had stable reviews and was in the area recommended by @Chidiver1, so we booked it. We had requested a rollaway bed and it was in the room when we arrived, but they charged us $502 for the room instead of $435 which was the Hotels.com booked price. The girl behind the desk was not able to make any changes, so I am still dealing with the overcharge through Hotels.com. We would stay there again but use the "pay now" feature instead of the "pay at hotel" feature to avoid the chance of an overcharge.
DRAMA!!! As we were pulling into the hotel, Captain Keith called and said the Coast Guard had issued a small craft advisory and the Saturday trip was canceled. We had driven 13 hours to blow some bubbles, so he was very helpful in giving us some local-ish dive options. He even put us in contact with the owners or operators of Haigh Quarry in case we had any questions. Definitely above and beyond. We ended up at Haigh Quarry and dove one tank to get weights dialed in and to see just how cold the water was going to be. The surface temp was in the 70s so I did not take my gloves and hood on the first dip. There was a thermocline at 50 feet or so that dropped to the high 40's and it felt like someone punched me in the face. I went up, got my gloves and hood and, dove around the deeper side for a bit. We then went to the platforms on the "training" side and since my friends were diving brand new 7mm farmer johns, played with weights until they were right. I started with 20#, dialed it back to 16 and was fine. (Transpac, 36# wing, 7 mil old full suit, and negative al100) They were good with 28# (jacket type bcds, al80's, and 7mm farmer johns) The quarry was fun and great to get everything dialed in. It cost $25 to dive and a fill was $10. Fills were quick and were a little short once cooled down, but not enough to worry about.
Home
I had sent a text to Captain Keith about Sunday and he replied all looked good. We were on the 2:00 boat so there was no rush to get around. The first person to book the boat on Divecharter.com gets to choose the wreck so we were going to the Illinois/Holly barge then the Tacoma. All are shallow wrecks, the lake was calm by any standard, and a great way to get your feet wet (yea...pun intended) for diving on the great lakes. It was actually less windy on the day they canceled the dives. go figure.
#1 Lake Michigan Dive Charters - Double Action Dive Charters
Once you pull into the marina, tell them at the security gate that you are diving with Double Action and they will either give you a parking pass or send you to the main office for a pass. The Boat is by the Casino parking garage and there are dock carts available for your gear. The release on the websight is apparently NOT the release they are using now so although we had the old release filled out, we still had to fill out the new release, show our cards, and we were good to go. Once you arrive, set your tanks in the bungee strap racks and set up your gear. There would be plenty of time to do this on the way to the wrecks, but it was much easier tied to the docks. I wasn't watching my watch, but I would say the $120 wrecks were less than 45 minutes from the dock. Suit up accordingly. The drysuit guys showed up in their drysuits. The boat will tie off to a mooring line and the DM will give a dive briefing. There is no DM in the water and you dive your own profile with a suggested dive time of no more than an hour. Following the mooring line to the wreck is a non event. Vis was around 20 feet on the Holly Barge/Illinois and the two are connected by a line. I am new to this...but I think I love sunken wooden ships. There is just a feeling I cant describe . Definitely not pretty fish, 80 degree, reef diving or looking for treasure in 2 ft visibility Oklahoma muck diving.
The short surface interval surprised me, I figured there would be a mandatory hour SI but it did not take long to get to the Tacoma and pool was open again. We had time to swap tanks, get a drink, eat a snack, and it was time to go again. We had a full boat but were the first divers to drop on the Tacoma which is a small tugboat. By the time 15 or 16 divers had dropped in the visibility went to maybe 8 feet pretty quick. Still good by what we dive at home. After a few laps around it one of our buddies decided he had seen enough and we accompanied him to the line and watch him make it to the surface. We continued the dive for a bit and decided we were done at about a 45 minute dive.
We brought a small bag type cooler with waters, energy drinks, and snacks. DA provides a water jug and cookies. There was plenty of room for our dive bags, a dry bag, and our cooler bag within the space allotted for 3 divers and 6 tanks. We had a full boat which is apparently rare, but got there early so we had our choice of seats. It did get crowded one 15 or 16 divers were on board. We also had Captain Bob on board from Milwaukee which was a great guy to meet and talk to. (a Milwaukee trip may be in our future)
The Briefing also includes what to do if you either get blown off the wreck by a current or just get lost. Surface and wave if you need help and they will come get you. I'm not sure how they come get you but I didn't see a dingy, I guess they swim out an pull you back in through a tidal wave of embarrassment.
Cost- The dives on those wrecks were $120 a day each plus a $5 fee for Divebooker, we had about $270 in fuel (26 hours of drive time, plus lots of driving while there) hotel was $470 for 3 men for 3 nights.
See part 2-
Getting There-
We drove and unless Southwest had a sale for round trip under $100, we would drive again. It was about 12 hours in the Suburban from Central Oklahoma, but with 3 friends, it wasn't that bad. Lots of laughs and relatively few pee stops given our age, the trip was not bad at all travel wise.
Hotels- We knew we would be diving out of Hammond Indiana on the SeaQuest. When I began searching for nearby hotels, I kept finding reviews stating "Worst hotel ever," "Drug deals in the lobby," " Blood on the sheets," "Thug parties going on all night," "No Water," and more comments that made it pretty clear that anything close to the Hammond Marina was probably not where we wanted to stay. We did find a Best Western about 15 miles away that had stable reviews and was in the area recommended by @Chidiver1, so we booked it. We had requested a rollaway bed and it was in the room when we arrived, but they charged us $502 for the room instead of $435 which was the Hotels.com booked price. The girl behind the desk was not able to make any changes, so I am still dealing with the overcharge through Hotels.com. We would stay there again but use the "pay now" feature instead of the "pay at hotel" feature to avoid the chance of an overcharge.
DRAMA!!! As we were pulling into the hotel, Captain Keith called and said the Coast Guard had issued a small craft advisory and the Saturday trip was canceled. We had driven 13 hours to blow some bubbles, so he was very helpful in giving us some local-ish dive options. He even put us in contact with the owners or operators of Haigh Quarry in case we had any questions. Definitely above and beyond. We ended up at Haigh Quarry and dove one tank to get weights dialed in and to see just how cold the water was going to be. The surface temp was in the 70s so I did not take my gloves and hood on the first dip. There was a thermocline at 50 feet or so that dropped to the high 40's and it felt like someone punched me in the face. I went up, got my gloves and hood and, dove around the deeper side for a bit. We then went to the platforms on the "training" side and since my friends were diving brand new 7mm farmer johns, played with weights until they were right. I started with 20#, dialed it back to 16 and was fine. (Transpac, 36# wing, 7 mil old full suit, and negative al100) They were good with 28# (jacket type bcds, al80's, and 7mm farmer johns) The quarry was fun and great to get everything dialed in. It cost $25 to dive and a fill was $10. Fills were quick and were a little short once cooled down, but not enough to worry about.
Home
I had sent a text to Captain Keith about Sunday and he replied all looked good. We were on the 2:00 boat so there was no rush to get around. The first person to book the boat on Divecharter.com gets to choose the wreck so we were going to the Illinois/Holly barge then the Tacoma. All are shallow wrecks, the lake was calm by any standard, and a great way to get your feet wet (yea...pun intended) for diving on the great lakes. It was actually less windy on the day they canceled the dives. go figure.
#1 Lake Michigan Dive Charters - Double Action Dive Charters
Once you pull into the marina, tell them at the security gate that you are diving with Double Action and they will either give you a parking pass or send you to the main office for a pass. The Boat is by the Casino parking garage and there are dock carts available for your gear. The release on the websight is apparently NOT the release they are using now so although we had the old release filled out, we still had to fill out the new release, show our cards, and we were good to go. Once you arrive, set your tanks in the bungee strap racks and set up your gear. There would be plenty of time to do this on the way to the wrecks, but it was much easier tied to the docks. I wasn't watching my watch, but I would say the $120 wrecks were less than 45 minutes from the dock. Suit up accordingly. The drysuit guys showed up in their drysuits. The boat will tie off to a mooring line and the DM will give a dive briefing. There is no DM in the water and you dive your own profile with a suggested dive time of no more than an hour. Following the mooring line to the wreck is a non event. Vis was around 20 feet on the Holly Barge/Illinois and the two are connected by a line. I am new to this...but I think I love sunken wooden ships. There is just a feeling I cant describe . Definitely not pretty fish, 80 degree, reef diving or looking for treasure in 2 ft visibility Oklahoma muck diving.
The short surface interval surprised me, I figured there would be a mandatory hour SI but it did not take long to get to the Tacoma and pool was open again. We had time to swap tanks, get a drink, eat a snack, and it was time to go again. We had a full boat but were the first divers to drop on the Tacoma which is a small tugboat. By the time 15 or 16 divers had dropped in the visibility went to maybe 8 feet pretty quick. Still good by what we dive at home. After a few laps around it one of our buddies decided he had seen enough and we accompanied him to the line and watch him make it to the surface. We continued the dive for a bit and decided we were done at about a 45 minute dive.
We brought a small bag type cooler with waters, energy drinks, and snacks. DA provides a water jug and cookies. There was plenty of room for our dive bags, a dry bag, and our cooler bag within the space allotted for 3 divers and 6 tanks. We had a full boat which is apparently rare, but got there early so we had our choice of seats. It did get crowded one 15 or 16 divers were on board. We also had Captain Bob on board from Milwaukee which was a great guy to meet and talk to. (a Milwaukee trip may be in our future)
The Briefing also includes what to do if you either get blown off the wreck by a current or just get lost. Surface and wave if you need help and they will come get you. I'm not sure how they come get you but I didn't see a dingy, I guess they swim out an pull you back in through a tidal wave of embarrassment.
Cost- The dives on those wrecks were $120 a day each plus a $5 fee for Divebooker, we had about $270 in fuel (26 hours of drive time, plus lots of driving while there) hotel was $470 for 3 men for 3 nights.
See part 2-
