Greetings from Minnesota!!!

[Kcollins]

Greetings group. My name is Kevin. I'm fascinated by wreck diving and all that comes with it. I have not yet pulled the trigger and gotten my open water certification but plan to next spring. Surgery has rendered me unable to enter water until I heal and the window for diving in Minnesota is rapidly dwindling down unless I can get comfortable diving under ice. LOL...

I have a friend that has gotten his Nitrox cert. over the years of going to the resorts that offer diving. Not sure if he's gotten his tech. diver cert. or not. His deepest dive he has done is 200' in a mine. The pictures and stories he has told are amazing. He lives in Iowa near a quarry that I hope to dive in the years to come to practice and just get wet. He says it's 60' deep and crystal clear.

I assume there are lakes here in Minnesota to dive as well but I wouldn't have a dive buddy up here unless my buddy came up. Which is a good possibility. Plus they don't seem to be the clearest for visibility.

So the goal is we (my wife and I) are planning a trip to Hawaii in 2024. Looking like Oahu and Maui. First time going. So between now and then I need to get my open water cert. and maybe my rescue diver cert. and practice practice practice till I'm comfortable enough to dive a wreck. Then research the wrecks around each island and figure out which one I'm going to dive. Very excited about that prospect. I am contemplating maybe a wreck dive in 2023 in Lake Superior maybe? If it's affordable enough. I'm new to this so I don't know what this stuff costs. I don't see me diving every weekend but maybe 3 or 4 times a year.

So there is where I'm at so far and where I plan to go. I look forward to gleaning as much knowledge and wisdom from the members here to make my new hobby a successful one.

 

[drrich2]

So between now and then I need to get my open water cert. and maybe my rescue diver cert. and practice practice practice till I'm comfortable enough to dive a wreck. Then research the wrecks around each island and figure out which one I'm going to dive.

Welcome to ScubaBoard. You have a well thought out plan. A few comments:

1.) After OW, you'll probably get AOW (Advanced OW). Nitrox is good, too. Rescue Diver offers valuable training, but it's generally required to do dives. It's a worthy goal. AOW is sometimes helpful in getting dive op.s in some places to let you dive deeper dives. Some places may even require it for the diving they do.

2.) You mentioned 'practice, practice, practice' till you're comfortable enough to dive a wreck. Wreck diving comes in a range of forms.

-----A.) Dive around the wreck. Basically, room around part or all the wreck, looking at the exterior, without going inside. A dive on Bonaire's Hilma Hooker wreck often looks like this. You probably need no more training than OW and maybe AOW to do some benign conditions dives like this.

-----B.) Highly prepared, guide-led 'swim through' style. A wreck that's been thoroughly prepared by removing some obvious potential hazards, and a guide leads you through benign areas. The Kittiwake of Grand Cayman was like this for me.

-----C.) Wreck penetration dives. This I have not done; you may take a reel with line, lay line as you go, and follow your line back out. This is another level of diving.

My point is, the wreck diving you do may vary in what level of training it calls for.

3.) As for researching around each Hawaiian island to decide which wreck you're going to dive, I haven't been to Hawaii so I can only speak generally from experiences in Florida, the Caribbean and similar. Dive boats may or may not have a pre-set site schedule, and if they do, it's flexible. Weather conditions, another boat getting there first, most of the other customers wanting to do another site instead, things happen.

My point is, don't get your heart too set on diving a specific wreck on a given day, because that might not work out.

 

[Kcollins]

Good advice drrich... Thanks. I am trying to keep an open mind. I plan to check with others here that have dived in Hawaii to see if I can find a good dive service and which wreck is better to aim for than others. But like you said don't get to attached any one specific wreck.

I'm also keeping an open mind regarding what kind of wreck diving I do... I'm leaning toward category "B" for right now but if over time I feel confident enough I would like very much to do Penetration Dives. Although I have heard they are highly dangerous.

But I have a lot to learn before I get to carried away... So for now I'm just going to focus on my OW cert and go from there. Get that under my belt. Get some dives in and see what I think. Who knows maybe I won't like it. I find that unlikely but you never know.

 

[drrich2]

Although I have heard they are highly dangerous.

It does not have to be. By the way, some people differentiate between vessels deliberately sunk as 'artificial reefs' vs. those 'naturally' sunk (e.g.: wartime casualties, weather-related), tending to view the latter as more authentic. If you prefer the latter, North Carolina might appear to you, once you're AOW and nitro-certified.
Morehead City, NC August 2015 - http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/no...us-dive-center-aug-9-13-2015-trip-report.html

 

[Kcollins]

Sweet... Thanks for the link. That was some good reading... Much to absorb... Most of it made since but some of it didn't... guessing it will make more since as I learn more.
But it's cool to know that I don't have to go to the tropics to get to dive wrecks. I watch a lot of wreck diving documentaries and I love the war time era wrecks and I've seen several documentaries along the cost of stories of U-boats and the like. Never occurred to me they were drivable. I want to know their history and why or how they were sunk. I think those are the type of wrecks I want to dive over deliberately sunk reefs. However I had seen a long time ago an aircraft carrier that was deliberately sunk as a reef that I think would be a good dive but I don't know if you can.

 

[drrich2]

However I had seen a long time ago an aircraft carrier that was deliberately sunk as a reef that I think would be a good dive but I don't know if you can.

Was it the Oriskany? If so, yes, you can. IIRC, it's about 20 miles out of Pensacola, Florida.

Richard.

 

[Marie13]

Sweet... Thanks for the link. That was some good reading... Much to absorb... Most of it made since but some of it didn't... guessing it will make more since as I learn more.
But it's cool to know that I don't have to go to the tropics to get to dive wrecks. I watch a lot of wreck diving documentaries and I love the war time era wrecks and I've seen several documentaries along the cost of stories of U-boats and the like. Never occurred to me they were drivable. I want to know their history and why or how they were sunk. I think those are the type of wrecks I want to dive over deliberately sunk reefs. However I had seen a long time ago an aircraft carrier that was deliberately sunk as a reef that I think would be a good dive but I don't know if you can.

You live in MN. There is absolutely no reason at all to leave the Great Lakes region for wreck diving. You’ve got the Madeira right in Superior that friends do as a shore dive. Plus tons more.

 

[Kcollins]

You live in MN. There is absolutely no reason at all to leave the Great Lakes region for wreck diving. You’ve got the Madeira right in Superior that friends do as a shore dive. Plus tons more.

Ha.... Oh my... looks like Marie13 and I are going to be good friends.

So I understand the Great Lakes are very cold to dive. Are there any wrecks on the Minnesota side of the lake or would I have to go to Wisconsin or Michigan? Where would the Madeira be located? I guess I could look that up myself. LOL...

 

[Kcollins]

Was it the Oriskany? If so, yes, you can. IIRC, it's about 20 miles out of Pensacola, Florida.

Richard.

Sweet Richard... When I first started thinking about doing this I was very narrow minded in what could be dived. Talking with you and Marie it sounds like there is a ton of opportunities.

 

[Kcollins]

Dang this is getting exciting. Split Rock is just a few hours from me. I very well could dive my first wreck next summer in 2023. With out needing a boat it wouldn't cost me an arm and leg either. How deep can I go without my AOW cert? 100'? FYI... The Madeira was a 436 ft steel hull ship that ran into Gold Rock just north of Split Rock Lighthouse. On November 4, 1905, a punishing November gale (the kind Lake Superior is famous for), claimed the Edenborn and the Madiera (a barge the Edenborn was towing) as well as five other ships, within a dozen miles of the Split Rock River. The tragic sinking of these ships fueled the demand for a lighthouse. The fog signal building and lighthouse were completed in 1909 and commissioned one year later. For 59 years, the keepers at Split Rock warned ships away from the rock and treacherous North Shore with its 370,000-candlepower beacon. In 1971, the federal government deeded the lighthouse station to the State of Minnesota to be operated as a historic site. In 1976, the Minnesota Historical Society (MHS) assumed operation of the site which included one of the most photographed lighthouses in the United States.during the storm on November 4, 1905.

The Madeira now lies in 20 to 110 ft. of water and is probably the most popular wreck dive in Minnesota. This shipwreck can be accessed from boat or shore. A special diver parking lot has been provided for shore diving. The Madeira shore access is located just North of the main entrance to Split Rock Lighthouse State Park (Minn. Hwy. 61, 20 miles northeast of Two Harbors).