I would wait until another trip. As others have mentioned, the lake will be quite cold. I checked my log for some wrecks further north (Two Rivers, WI) and the temperatures were 35°-39° top to bottom the first week of May.
Diving from Chicago in early May
- Thread starter LMac8806
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If you don't have a car, you might like this: You can rent tanks, etc. from Double Action's dive shop partner (owned by the same family), Dive Right in Scuba. With 3 days notice, they will bring your rental gear to the boat. Last year the fee was $35. You will have to check to see if that's changed.
You say you've never dived with just a buddy. Great Lakes diving is unlike what I've heard tropics diving is like (I haven't dove the tropics yet. No desire to). There isn't a guide to lead the entire group together. You descend on the mooring line to the wreck, and you and buddy do your own thing. The Double Action boats are different from what I've been told about other Great Lakes boats. They often have a DM on board. DM helps folks get geared up, in the water, etc. They will often dive themselves, but they don't lead the group. They might buddy with someone on the boat by themselves.
No buddies for hire on the boat. You can buddy up with someone on the boat. I've done it myself. Just be honest about your experience level.
The wrecks are pretty straightforward. Descend on the mooring/anchor line and have at! Make a note of where the mooring/anchor line is located on the wreck. There are a couple of the shallower wrecks that have holds you can swim through - if you have experience doing such things, such as the Material Service Barge, and the Holly Barge. But since you are a newer diver, I am going to strongly recommend you not do that until you have more experience.
Have you ever been in a 7mm before? If not, you need to take a 7mm and yourself out to Haigh Quarry in Kankakee and get used to it. As I've posted on SB several times, I have seen experienced warm water divers be unable to do their Lake Michigan dives because they are not used to all the neoprene. You will also need a hood and gloves. I prefer 3mm gloves when diving wet for more dexterity. But that's your choice.
Bring a light. It helps to get a better look at stuff. Don't expect tropical visibility. If we have 30-40ft viz, that can be a good day.
Great Lakes boats have fin-on ladders. Center post with rungs coming out from the sides, aka Christmas Tree ladder. You leave your fins on! Don't take them off!
Take whatever your favorite anti-sea sickness meds the night before AND the morning of the charter. Waves on the Great Lakes come much closer together than on the ocean. That chop feels differently than ocean waves, I am told. If the waves are more than 3 ft, the boat doesn't go out. I've lost one too many dives to feeling a bit "off." I just take Bonine before ever charter now.
Wrecks for you: Material Service Barge, Tacoma, Louisville. The MSB and the Tacoma are around 35-40ft, the Louisville is 60ft. You want the $120 wrecks out of Hammond as those are the shallow ones.
This season is going to be interesting. I've been used to DA's 6 pack boat, SunDog. But they just got a 47ft boat that's coming up from North Carolina, the SeaQuest II. It can handle 16 divers. This will be a new experience for even the regulars.
As for finding buddies, you can post on the Chicago Scuba Meet Up's FB page. This is especially good if you want to hit Haigh and need a ride. People will post they need a ride for Haigh, and will pay the driver's admission fee ($25). The Double Action FB page is also a good place to find a buddy. The Great Lakes Wrecking Crew FB is another place.
If you let me know ahead of time when you'd like to dive the lake, I'm willing to dive with you if you let me know ahead of time, if I'm in town, and don't have a buddy already arranged. I have a season pass for the boats, so I'm out on the boat most weekends, both days.
Please let me know if you have any more questions. PM if you like. I'm not trying to scare you off. Just being honest and laying it all out there. There's nothing I like more than diving my beloved Great Lakes wrecks. It's actually bordering on an obsession. If people let me, I can go on and on.
You'd probably find this thread I did on Great Lakes diving last year helpful.
Great Lakes diving for beginners
Great Lakes diving for beginners
If you don't have a car, you might like this: You can rent tanks, etc. from Double Action's dive shop partner (owned by the same family), Dive Right in Scuba. With 3 days notice, they will bring your rental gear to the boat. Last year the fee was $35. You will have to check to see if that's changed.
You say you've never dived with just a buddy. Great Lakes diving is unlike what I've heard tropics diving is like (I haven't dove the tropics yet. No desire to). There isn't a guide to lead the entire group together. You descend on the mooring line to the wreck, and you and buddy do your own thing. The Double Action boats are different from what I've been told about other Great Lakes boats. They often have a DM on board. DM helps folks get geared up, in the water, etc. They will often dive themselves, but they don't lead the group. They might buddy with someone on the boat by themselves.
No buddies for hire on the boat. You can buddy up with someone on the boat. I've done it myself. Just be honest about your experience level.
The wrecks are pretty straightforward. Descend on the mooring/anchor line and have at! Make a note of where the mooring/anchor line is located on the wreck. There are a couple of the shallower wrecks that have holds you can swim through - if you have experience doing such things, such as the Material Service Barge, and the Holly Barge. But since you are a newer diver, I am going to strongly recommend you not do that until you have more experience.
Have you ever been in a 7mm before? If not, you need to take a 7mm and yourself out to Haigh Quarry in Kankakee and get used to it. As I've posted on SB several times, I have seen experienced warm water divers be unable to do their Lake Michigan dives because they are not used to all the neoprene. You will also need a hood and gloves. I prefer 3mm gloves when diving wet for more dexterity. But that's your choice.
Bring a light. It helps to get a better look at stuff. Don't expect tropical visibility. If we have 30-40ft viz, that can be a good day.
Great Lakes boats have fin-on ladders. Center post with rungs coming out from the sides, aka Christmas Tree ladder. You leave your fins on! Don't take them off!
Take whatever your favorite anti-sea sickness meds the night before AND the morning of the charter. Waves on the Great Lakes come much closer together than on the ocean. That chop feels differently than ocean waves, I am told. If the waves are more than 3 ft, the boat doesn't go out. I've lost one too many dives to feeling a bit "off." I just take Bonine before ever charter now.
Wrecks for you: Material Service Barge, Tacoma, Louisville. The MSB and the Tacoma are around 35-40ft, the Louisville is 60ft. You want the $120 wrecks out of Hammond as those are the shallow ones.
This season is going to be interesting. I've been used to DA's 6 pack boat, SunDog. But they just got a 47ft boat that's coming up from North Carolina, the SeaQuest II. It can handle 16 divers. This will be a new experience for even the regulars.
As for finding buddies, you can post on the Chicago Scuba Meet Up's FB page. This is especially good if you want to hit Haigh and need a ride. People will post they need a ride for Haigh, and will pay the driver's admission fee ($25). The Double Action FB page is also a good place to find a buddy. The Great Lakes Wrecking Crew FB is another place.
If you let me know ahead of time when you'd like to dive the lake, I'm willing to dive with you if you let me know ahead of time, if I'm in town, and don't have a buddy already arranged. I have a season pass for the boats, so I'm out on the boat most weekends, both days.
Please let me know if you have any more questions. PM if you like. I'm not trying to scare you off. Just being honest and laying it all out there. There's nothing I like more than diving my beloved Great Lakes wrecks. It's actually bordering on an obsession. If people let me, I can go on and on.
Thank you for such a thorough reply.
I'd happily pay a fee for gear delivered right to the boat. Hopefully that remains an option.
As for the buddy diving, your description of lake diving is what I was imagining based on my reading. My experience besides training has always been a dive master at the dive shop with the boat leading a group of divers on the dive in terms of route, depth and bottom time, pointing out stuff and checking in with divers if necessary.
I always had some peace of mind with that arrangement, but I'm also not opposed to diving with just a buddy who presumably isn't a professional provided they are at the minimum as experienced as me!
The typical wreck dive you described is something I have some experience with in terms of descending to depth on a mooring line, including in somewhat choppy surface conditions. I don't have any burning desire to do any tight swim throughs, I'll just be happy to be in the water.
I did my PADI AOW training at Haigh quarry several years ago and it remains the only time I've worn a wet suit. I had no issues with the wet suit in terms of the diving, found them to actually be fairly comfortable at depth. The worst part for me was how hot it was on the surface in the summer, that and donning and doffing.
I'm all for the shallow wrecks, deeper isn't inherently better for me, I figure more bottom time. I'll look into the FB group, already "applied" for the Meet Up group that was mentioned just earlier.
All that and I'm certainly not scared off! I'd love to dive with someone who is willing to post such extensive information to help a random person on the internet. I was hoping to get a few comments and maybe a couple telling me to use the search function haha.
When it’s hot on the surface, you get into your suit and hop in the water. I dive dry now and I do that all the time, even at Haigh. Hop back on the boat, get geared up and jump in.
JPipes
It's cool to be a mouth breather.
Great information and write up, thank you. I may be in the area at some point this summer and would like to try to see some of these sites. I may have to use some of that resources as an out of towner needing an insta-buddy.
The Texan in me wants to know when those temps start getting more approachable. Thinking of picking up sometging thicker for winter Texas diving that may equate to GL summer.
The Texan in me wants to know when those temps start getting more approachable. Thinking of picking up sometging thicker for winter Texas diving that may equate to GL summer.
I’ve had 74 degrees at 60ft on the Louisville in late July. That was too danged warm for me!
Expect 60ish something in August and September. October gets cold again and the weather is too iffy.
Expect 60ish something in August and September. October gets cold again and the weather is too iffy.
JPipes
It's cool to be a mouth breather.
74 at 60 is great for me!
Dean810
Contributor
Been a long time since I wrote on here! Some great advice. Double Action is a very well run charter. There is another further north in Winthrop Harbar, Go Deep (Go Deep, LLC. | The Midwest’s Premier Scuba Dive Charter Service for The Great Lakes) that is also very good. What ever the case, diving in May will be cold as mentioned previously. Material Service is a great wreck to dive, but is dependent on the weather. Visibility goes way down after bad weather, so I usually recommend that wreck later in the year. Please check out Chicago Scuba Meetup at chicagoscubameetup.org. Plenty of dive buddies there!
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