For those who have never been out on Lake Huron I thought I would post some details of yesterday's trip.
What a difference a week makes. Last weekend I was diving the warm waters off Key Largo. This weekend I had quite a different adventure planned – my first Great Lakes trip of the year.
I got up early Sunday for the 85 minute trip up to Port Sanilac, a small town located on the Western shore of Lake Huron. Rec & Tec is operated by a retired Macomb County (the county where I live) sheriff with both marine and underwater recovery experience. Captain Gary's boat, the Sylvia Anne is possible the most fantastic mid-size dive boat I have ever been on. At 36' she has huge cockpit and a large enclosed cabin – critical for those days when the Michigan weather gods are not so kind. Rated for 14 divers, Gary limits out at 12; but I have never had more than 10 divers on board. For our trip yesterday we only had 4 divers & a DM on board. I don't know what kept others away (except potentially the icy water temps) as the topside conditions were perfect.
The Sylvia Anne
While it was only 43 degrees when I left the house, the bright sun quickly brought the temps to 50+ degrees by our 9:00 departure time. A perfect temperature, allowing the divers to get their themals on with out roasting. Did I mention the DM brought bakery made pastries and hot cider. Bottled water is included as well.
When I signed up at my LDS, the schedule for the dive was to hit the Regina and the Sport. Captain Gary suggested we alter the schedule a bit and do the North Star and then the Regina after noting that all the divers were quite experienced. .He also wanted to replace the mooring on a nearby wreck (the Mary Alice B). The North Star is sitting in 96', it would not have been a good choice if we had newbies on board.
Sanilac Shore wreck info:
Rec and Tec Scuba Dive Charters - Lexington Michigan, Thumb area Preserve, Sanilac Preserve
My buddy was guy I had met on my last trip with Rec & Tec who just so happened to be on this trip. With sunny skies and seas in the 1' range we entered the water. The North Star was 300' long and while broken up quite a bit, there is a lot to see (sort of) including the large engine and boilers. I was having just a bit a trouble on the line going to the wreck as I felt unbalanced (head down, feet up), aggravated by our quick pull down the line. Once on the bottom things smoothed out for me but……. The vis was lousy, clear in the 10' or so range. Good thing my buddy Bob new this wreck, I followed and while there would be a lot to see on a good day, the best part of this dive was some swim thru's created by the diving the caved in hold of the ship. No line was necessary to negotiate this wreck as the overhead portions were less than 30' long.
At 23 minutes we were back at the accent line – I truly relied on Bob for navigation on this dive. Before we hit the line I noticed my back-up wrist computer flashing wildly – my new Dive Rite computer was showing a severe O2 loading. After the dive I figured out that the computer at set itself to %50 after my last dive in KL.
After 8 minutes spent on the Accent line (including a deep stop and 5 minutes at 18') we were out of the water – the sun still shinning bright! Water temps were in the 48 degree range. Max depth was 93'.
Captain Gary did a quick dive on the Mary Alice B after throwing in a mushroom anchor at the location noted by his GPS and the readings from is fish finder. With low Vis conditions, just finding the wreck is a quite tricky; tieing in a new mooring is the easy part. Out here in the mid west the mooring balls are quite simple – Empty jugs of Tide detergent cable tied to the mooring line – cheap and effective.
After an hour+ surface interval we were over the Regina. This 250' boat was made of steel in 1907 in Scotland. It sank after turning turtle in a great November storm that sank at least 19 other ships in 1913. While is sit upside down, this is one of the Jewels of the Sanilac Shores Underwater Preserve. Bob asked if I was up for some penetration of the engine room. So with reels clipped off, we entered the water again.
This was just an awesome dive, with Vis in the 20 to 25' range and my weighting adjusted, I felt great in the water. The mooring is tied into the huge propeller. We then dropped down to the bottom where we cleaned off the raised letters designating REGINA on the stern. About 30 from the stern, right where the ship sits on the bottom we tied in and entered the engine room. This was just amazing, heavy equipment was everywhere but you could clearly see the giant connected rods of the powerful motor that once pushed this ship. There were even a few engine gages still visible if you new where to look. We then exited this room and made our way to about mid-ship where we again entered the ship, this time into the main cargo hold. This part of the ship is broken up a bit, but the structure is massive. While I was exploring, I found coils of barbed wire that were never delivered due to that fierce November storm.
My hands were really starting to get cold as returned to the stern slowly swimming over the hull plates. By the time we finished our accent I could barely clip off my computer and light as my hands no longer provided much tactile feedback. I have to get some dry gloves!
My dive time was 42 minutes, max depth 73'.
I exited the water with huge smile as this is a wreck deserving of a lot more exploration – Chrisp, you would love this ship if you could get over the numbing cold.
The trip back to port took about 25 minutes – a perfect ride on a perfect day. I will post a few top side images later today. While Sanilac does not offer the visibility of the Straits, there is no shortage of great wrecks.
