Rivers Rivers Rivers!
My favorite diving environment and definitely the most slept on. You know in Michigan alone there’s just as many miles of rivers as there is shoreline miles in the *Entire* United States?
Theres a river out there for everything. From treasure hunting, to clear water drifting with scuba, to lazy pools where you can get 3 hour long dives to of course my favorite. Fish, tons and tons of the most beautiful overlooked and under appreciated fish you’ll ever find. Some more than capable of competing with ocean fish for beauty.
Where does one begin? That’s where things get interesting. I highly recommend you tag along with someone who knows their particular river well. The difference between a pleasant dive and an escape by the skin of your teeth can often only be yards apart.
I would also recommend ditching your scuba gear and switching to snorkeling little rivers that are less than 3 feet deep. Learning how to ride river currents, how to maneuver, how to stop, how to handle the full force against your face trying to rip your mask off, you can learn all that in relatively safe waters and then directly apply what you’ve learned there to larger rivers you can dive in.
You will also learn exploring little rivers how to read currents. An experienced eye can spot fast waters, spot deep pools of slack water, spot safe eddies that you can just sit at and most importantly spot hazardous waters with obstructions like log jams, shipwrecks and vertical eddies that can ruin your day.
Rivers in general have wild swings in viz. these are usually wind and rain related. Generally smaller rivers are immune to wind but highly susceptible to rain bigger rivers have both rainwater and wind to contend with.
My “home” river the ST Clair for instance can have 100 foot viz days and drop down to nothing in just an afternoon if the wind blows the wrong way or we get too much rainwater.
When exploring new places for the first time you wanna put the odds in your favor as much as you can. Only try clear water days, try drifting on the surface close to shore to get a lay of the land, it’s gonna be slow steady baby steps before you can safely do say an hour long 2 mile drift. But the results when you get to that point is totally worth it
Try simple stuff and work your way up from there, keep your eyes open for invites and take them when you get them. Every river has its own little treats and rewards for those willing to explore
