Great Lakes Diving Tour in a week

[rhwestfall]

I know a fellow diver who was "rooting" in the silt on a certain wreck (I won't mention either the diver or the wreck). When he felt something, he grabbed it, retrieving what turned out to be a femur... that changes you forever....

It was Pete (Chairman) who once said the term "screamer" labeling the wrecks that went down by acts other than intentional sinking. Every dive I do on these wrecks leaves me impacted.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

There's a wreck in Erie that is my favorite of all wreck dives I've done in fresh and salt water. She sits in about 160 ft of water is perfectly upright on the bottom. The last time I dived her one mast was still standing. She went down at night in 1870 with 22 men aboard. No survivors. Most of them were probably asleep in their bunks. The St James still has deadeyes and rigging laying on the deck. I bought this pen and ink drawing of her at a show in Columbus, Ohio I used to attend. This was my Helitrox graduation dive and I have never forgotten the first sight of her and how it felt knowing the history as I swam around the hull and over the deck.

 

[Beau Holden]

This is a wreck, in Lake Michigan, I was first on sometime around 2005 or so. Had a good friend that lived in Grand Haven with a pontoon boat. This was a wreck we would get together every year and dive and just spend the weekend drinking cold beer and cooking out. Got to know this wreck very good and you notice every year she was going down. I did my first deco dive on this wreck. Several more I have fund memories of. Not just the dives and wrecks, but also the people and friends I met. I met a guy out of Indy diving this wreck, then 4 years later ran into him doing my intro to cave at Peacock.

Ironsides | Michigan Shipwreck Research Association

www.michiganshipwrecks.org

This is another wreck in Lake Erie I have more dives and time spend on this wreck than any other wreck in the lakes. I was a part of MAST doing the archeological and mapping work on it. I think I spent 3 seasons on this wreck.

Shipwrecks and Maritime Tales of Lake Erie Shipwrecks - an Ohio Sea Grant website

ohioshipwrecks.org

 

[Tigerpaw]

Many of the dive charters on the Great Lakes are booked by dive shops/private groups/dive clubs for their own trips. These trips are often booked months in advance. Hoping to book one seat on a charter often doesn’t happen, unless you know someone.

Charters are usually long weekends -Friday through Sunday or maybe just the weekend.

Your timeline is too ambitious. Probably impractical.

Lodging can book up quickly and trying to get last minute rooms is often a bust. June through a bit after Labor Day is prime Great Lakes wreck diving time. Some may go into early October but it is very weather dependent.

I have two weekend trips booked in the summer. The Straits and Alpena. I’ve dived both before. One is a trip put together by a friend (he usually doesn’t advertise as they full up quickly) and another through a dive club. I also hope to be doing local diving on Lake Michigan.

Dive shops are open all week, but if you’re taking about the boats only running on weekends, yes, that is usually the case.

Thank you for your reply, it has been helpful, especially the best times to go. By that info, it looks like Summer of '24 will be my target date. This has taught me that different parts of the country and the world are different, all of the places I've dived before, I haven't had any issues diving, regardless of the day. It looks like for the Great Lakes that's different. Diving logistics is truly a learning experience. Thanks again for your input, I appreciate it.

 

[Tigerpaw]

I don't think you realize the size/expanse of the geographic area.....

It would be overly ambitious to think it possible in a month, let alone a week....

Yes I'm aware of the vastness of the geographical area. It was one reason why I wanted to stay at Mackinaw City, MI (It's the center, between Lakes Superior, Huron and Michigan) But I now understand that getting on a weekend charter can be difficult and that I may have to make multiple trips to complete my goal.

 

[Tigerpaw]

Don’t get me started on the folks who can’t be bothered to do any research at all before wreck diving.

I've ordered a Great Lakes Wreck book from Amazon, so I do plan on researching the different wrecks and their histories. Right now I'm just doing preliminary work, just to get an ideal how feasible my plan is. I would be content to diving 3 of the 5 lakes and getting my toes wet on the other two, with the intent on returning.

 

[Marie13]

Thank you for your reply, it has been helpful, especially the best times to go. By that info, it looks like Summer of '24 will be my target date. This has taught me that different parts of the country and the world are different, all of the places I've dived before, I haven't had any issues diving, regardless of the day. It looks like for the Great Lakes that's different. Diving logistics is truly a learning experience. Thanks again for your input, I appreciate it.

Glad it was helpful. To give you an idea of how quickly things can book up, I read in another post here recently that a liveaboard charter to Isle Royale in Superior is booked up for the next several years at least, maybe longer.

 

[Marie13]

I've ordered a Great Lakes Wreck book from Amazon, so I do plan on researching the different wrecks and their histories. Right now I'm just doing preliminary work, just to get an ideal how feasible my plan is. I would be content to diving 3 of the 5 lakes and getting my toes wet on the other two, with the intent on returning.

Which one? Some books are better than others.

 

[lermontov]

ive wanted to dive here for some time - like the gunilda -ill get there

 

[Tigerpaw]

Which one? Some books are better than others.

Great Lakes Diving Guide (2008) by Chris Kohl. If you or anyone has any other suggestions, I'm open!