Almost July & h20 is still cooooold!

[TCDiver1]

Is it just me or is the water staying colder, longer this year?

Did a dive in Bowers Harbor (west arm Grand Traverse bay) yesterday thinking low to mid 50's at sixty feet. We had a good breeze blowing in the warmer surfaced water. Threw on my seven mil & froze my noogies off with a bottom temp of about 45 degrees.

Normally, with a good breeze, that would be closer to 55 degrees at that depth. Anyone else noticed that this year?

 

[Tractor Tom]

Is it just me or is the water staying colder, longer this year?

Did a dive in Bowers Harbor (west arm Grand Traverse bay) yesterday thinking low to mid 50's at sixty feet. We had a good breeze blowing in the warmer surfaced water. Threw on my seven mil & froze my noogies off with a bottom temp of about 45 degrees.

Normally, with a good breeze, that would be closer to 55 degrees at that depth. Anyone else noticed that this year?

...but Tobermory was the same temps last weekend that we saw a month earlier last year. About 38 degrees or so on the Niagara II in 80 feet of water or so.

Just in passing, my buddy Dave (Cldwdiver) leaned to dive in Bowers Harbor and that area as he is a Traverse City Native. He knows all the neat places to slop around in Traverse Bay....

 

[TCDiver1]

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Just in passing, my buddy Dave (Cldwdiver) leaned to dive in Bowers Harbor and that area as he is a Traverse City Native. He knows all the neat places to slop around in Traverse Bay....

Really, i'm a native too, as in Traverse City native. When did he get certified? I might know him or his instructor.

I think that temp is pretty typical for Tober at that depth this time of year. In the Bays here in TC, it not unusual to get a 10 degree or so warm up at 60' if you have a wind blowing in the warmer surface water.

Mid forties is cold for this time of year under those conditions. Or maybe i'm just turning into a bigger wuz.

Probably some of both.

 

[Tractor Tom]

Really, i'm a native too, as in Traverse City native. When did he get certified? I might know him or his instructor.

I think that temp is pretty typical for Tober at that depth this time of year. In the Bays here in TC, it not unusual to get a 10 degree or so warm up at 60' if you have a wind blowing in the warmer surface water.

Mid forties is cold for this time of year under those conditions. Or maybe i'm just turning into a bigger wuz.

Probably some of both.

...taught himself with gear his uncle left to him, along with a book. Read the book and then learned to dive when he was a teenager. Finally got checked out in the 70's when the dive shops wouldn't sell him air any more. So I kind of doubt that you know his instructor if you don't know him.....

 

[TCDiver1]

...taught himself with gear his uncle left to him, along with a book. Read the book and then learned to dive when he was a teenager. Finally got checked out in the 70's when the dive shops wouldn't sell him air any more. So I kind of doubt that you know his instructor if you don't know him.....

Well Tom, you never know. Traverse City was a pretty small place in the 70's. And it was much, much smaller if you were a diver. I got certified in the late 70's for the same reason as your buddy.

Ask him if he ever got a fill at Bilmar sports. They used to fill tanks w/o a c-card, for a few years after Scuba North refused to.

I go back a little ways also.

 

[cldwdiver]

Hi gedunk,

cldwdiver (dave) here.

Yup, I grew up in TC. TCHS class of 1976.
However, I finally got certified after I had left college and moved to the Flint area.

Spent a lot of time at Scuba North. Bought my first snorkeling gear from them when I was in grade school and they were still in the old board shack right on the edge of the highway.
Went on charters with him or one of his crews for years.
I have not checked in a while to see if Jack has any new wrecks he goes to now. I should probably do that.
Bought lots of equipment from him or at their annual used SCUBA gear sale.

Yes, I got MANY tanks filled at Bilmar's. They forgot my old double 50's while filling them one time and blew out the over-pressure button. Scared the bejeezus out of the poor guy that was doing it. Sometimes I got them filled at the old Fire Safety store on 8th street too.

Dive Safe, Type at you later....

 

[SwimJim]

Heck, its only June, whatcha beefin about. I dove the Lumberman on saturday and the bottom temp was something like 48. Bathtub conditions. I dove the Niagara, off Belgium Wisconsin Sunday. 38, a wee bit chillyer. If you don't have to cut a hole in it's warm I always say. Come mid to late July the great lakes warm up. They will be that way until the second week of September. Thats just the way they are and have been since at least the late seventies since I started diving. A little patience and everything will be JaKe.
If you really want to do the great lakes, consider getting a dry suit. If you dive wet, make sure you have warm water available. Get it in your suit before you dive. It will exend your dive time and you will be more comfortable. There are people on this board that say that doesen't work. I can tell you from experience it does. Before I got a dry suit, I used to ice dive wet. "preheating" makes all the difference. It really does work.

Jim

 

[TCDiver1]

Hi gedunk,

cldwdiver (dave) here.

Yup, I grew up in TC. TCHS class of 1976.
However, I finally got certified after I had left college and moved to the Flint area.

Spent a lot of time at Scuba North. Bought my first snorkeling gear from them when I was in grade school and they were still in the old board shack right on the edge of the highway.
Went on charters with him or one of his crews for years.
I have not checked in a while to see if Jack has any new wrecks he goes to now. I should probably do that.
Bought lots of equipment from him or at their annual used SCUBA gear sale.

Yes, I got MANY tanks filled at Bilmar's. They forgot my old double 50's while filling them one time and blew out the over-pressure button. Scared the bejeezus out of the poor guy that was doing it. Sometimes I got them filled at the old Fire Safety store on 8th street too.

Dive Safe, Type at you later....

Hi Dave,
Super great, 78 ... that was us. I had a brother in your class. We played on the football team that went to the first state championship, i was a sophomore at the time. We lost that game remember?

That compressor at Bilmars was scary. I think my Craftsman shop compressor at home is better than that old hunk of junk was. We are both still here though so the air must have been sweet enough.

Nice meeting a fellow Trojan!

 

[TCDiver1]

Heck, its only June, whatcha beefin about. I dove the Lumberman on saturday and the bottom temp was something like 48. Bathtub conditions. I dove the Niagara, off Belgium Wisconsin Sunday. 38, a wee bit chillyer. If you don't have to cut a hole in it's warm I always say. Come mid to late July the great lakes warm up. They will be that way until the second week of September. Thats just the way they are and have been since at least the late seventies since I started diving. A little patience and everything will be JaKe.
If you really want to do the great lakes, consider getting a dry suit. If you dive wet, make sure you have warm water available. Get it in your suit before you dive. It will exend your dive time and you will be more comfortable. There are people on this board that say that doesen't work. I can tell you from experience it does. Before I got a dry suit, I used to ice dive wet. "preheating" makes all the difference. It really does work.

Jim

LOL, thanks Jim but it was more of a rant than a beef. On this side of the pond, in the Grand Traverse Bays, 48 degrees at sixty feet, can be unusual this late in the year. Especially when you have warmer surface water being blown in.

I know you folks on the cheese coast side of Lake Michigan don't typically benefit from prevailing winds which bring in the warmer water. Its not unusual to see a 10-15 degree rise at that depth when that happens. Especially in the bays.

Considering the situation this year, i'll make sure i wear my drysuit this weekend.

 

[SwimJim]

Well I guess I'll just have to dive your side of the lake and gain some more experience. Thats okay by me ( ;

Jim