Great Lakes Diving Tour in a week

[Marie13]

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

That’s an excellent one. Now for non-diving wreck stores, Great Lakes Shipwrecks and Survivals by William Ratigan. Originally published in 1960, it was revised after the Fitz went down in 1975. This is what got me started on my shipwreck passion in 1991.

Any of the books by Michael Schumacher are excellent. I especially like his book on the White Hurricane of 1913, probably the worst storm to ever hit the Great Lakes. Something like eight lakers went to the bottom just on Lake Huron. His book on the Carl D. Bradley includes a chapter on the sinking of the Cedarville in the Straits in 1965. She and the Bradley were fleetmates. The Cedarville is a popular dive site.

For good general background, The Long Ships Passing by Walter Havighurst is good. It was originally published in the 1940s

 

[lermontov]

That’s an excellent one. Now for non-diving wreck stores, Great Lakes Shipwrecks and Survivals by William Ratigan. Originally published in 1960, it was revised after the Fitz went down in 1975. This is what got me started on my shipwreck passion in 1991.

Any of the books by Michael Schumacher are excellent. I especially like his book on the White Hurricane of 1913, probably the worst storm to ever hit the Great Lakes. Something like eight lakers went to the bottom just on Lake Huron. His book on the Carl D. Bradley includes a chapter on the sinking of the Cedarville in the Straits in 1965. She and the Bradley were fleetmates. The Cedarville is a popular dive site.

For good general background, The Long Ships Passing by Walter Havighurst is good. It was originally published in the 1940s

are the books written in some sort of order -or are they coffee table books with the best selected ones on dsplay. Im hoping to come over in a couple of years so is there a book that covers an area with the best concentration of goods wreck dives or ar they scattered far and wide . Obviously with maybe a couple of weeks to dive i dont want to spend half that time travelling around. What would be the best areas to focus on

 

[Marie13]

are the books written in some sort of order -or are they coffee table books with the best selected ones on dsplay. Im hoping to come over in a couple of years so is there a book that covers an area with the best concentration of goods wreck dives or ar they scattered far and wide . Obviously with maybe a couple of weeks to dive i dont want to spend half that time travelling around. What would be the best areas to focus on

The Great Lakes Diving Guide would be the best place to start as it actually talks about diving the wrecks. It was last updated in 2008 so stuff is going to be out of date but it’s the best place to start. You can then look online for more updated info and decide what you want to dive.

 

[rhwestfall]

The Kohl book(s) are fantastic, but the coordinates can be inaccurate... Also, around here, there are local books/magazines (covering the wrecks in the St. Lawrence River) that are really good.

I have also been seeing some amazing 3-d imagery that is part of a magnificent mapping project....

The internes is a great opportunity for some amazing information. So much more than 30 years ago...

 

[Marie13]

The Kohl book(s) are fantastic, but the coordinates can be inaccurate... Also, around here, there are local books/magazines (covering the wrecks in the St. Lawrence River) that are really good.

I have also been seeing some amazing 3-d imagery that is part of a magnificent mapping project....

The internes is a great opportunity for some amazing information. So much more than 30 years ago...

The Kohl book is still probably the best starting point. The good info will be online.

 

[Tracy]

Your goal is mostly attainable if you are looking for recreational diving and not too picky about wrecks and locations.
Running out of Munising on Lake Superior, you have Glass bottom boat tours. They have a dive boat running most every weekend during the summer and you can usually get a walk on spot with them.
In the Straits of Mackinaw you have St Ignace Scuba. Dan runs most every weekend and can usually fit somebody in. That would get you in Lake Michigan and Huron depending on the trip.
In Lake Michigan near Chicago, Double Action dive charters runs every weekend and you can usually buy one seat.
Lake Huron out of Lexington is Double Action's other boat. The seaquest runs every weekend and sells individual seats.
Out of barcelona NY on Lake Erie, you have Capt John with osprey dive charters. John runs every weekend and most of the shops booking will sell a seat.

Lake Ontario, good luck. I don't know of any operators on the US side that go out reliably on any schedule.

Any of these trips would be doable as a recreational walk on. If you are looking for specific sites, dates, or technical dives. Those operators including myself are typically booked at least a year in advance if not further.

The old Chris Kohl shipwreck guide is kind of a local bible for wreck diving. Almost none of the coordinates are anywhere near the wrecks, sometimes not even in the right lake. But the descriptions and histories are usually very good.

Good luck on your quest. The Lakes are an awesome place to dive with an immense history.

 

[Beau Holden]

I fourth and fifth Chris Kohl's book. It was the first one I got. I had a whole stack of them that got lost in the flood of 2016 down here. But I completely wore out old great lakes shipwreck guide I had. As @Tracy and @Marie13 have said the lakes are a great place to dive and the history will blow your mind. They have the greatest concentration of ships and the best perserved wrecks anywhere in the world.

 

[Divin'Papaw]

Hello, I recently passed my one year anniversary of diving and I'm hooked. For the upcoming year I plan to focus on skills while also diving for fun. One of the Divemasters I was diving with is from Michigan and he suggested the Great Lakes. After doing some research I am intrigued and have decided to go for it. My goal is to take a week and dive all of the great lakes. From the research I've done so far, it seems like many of the dive shops are only open on the weekends and for Lake Ontario and Erie I will need to take the border into consideration when selecting a dive shop. (Don't want to deal with border crossings)

For now my plan is to stay in Mackinaw City, MI as on the map it appears that it's a good central location between Lakes Superior, Huron and Michigan. I'm figuring from there I can get to those lakes and do four dives per lake over a 3-4 day period. From there, I'll take a day and make the 10 hour drive to Buffalo and from there dive Lakes Ontario and Erie, 4 dives each over a 2-3 day period.

In my searches, it seems as though many of the dive shops are only open on the weekends, which would pose a problem. I've also read that the weather can change quickly so my next question would be what time of the year would be the best to do this. I realize there are some must see wrecks but I can do those on a return trip, for this first trip it's more about the dives and getting it done in a weeks timeframe.

Looking forward to your thoughts and suggestions and comments about my plan. I have a drysuit and I have Deep, Wreck and Nitrox certifications and training. Thanks in advance!!!

I applaud your ambitions, but what you are wanting to do is not easily doable in the week. It took me years to hit all 5 Great Lakes plus the St. Lawrence. The logistics (charter availability, fills and distance) are far more challenging than I think you appreciate. Those of us that have (or in my case used to) dive the Great Lakes regularly will tell you that A LOT of planning goes into just a few weekends a summer.

Rather than drop your goal entirely, consider adjusting it a bit. Pick an area like the Straits and hit it for 3-4 days or a week. Then in subsequent years pick a different area. Then over 4-5 years you will have hit all of the lakes.

 

[rx7diver]

... Looking forward to your thoughts and suggestions and comments about my plan. I have a drysuit and I have Deep, Wreck and Nitrox certifications and training. Thanks in advance!!!

Different divers enjoy Great Lakes shipwrecks for different reasons. For me, my greatest enjoyment came from diving the wooden shipwrecks, always more about their construction and layout, rather than about their history.

I stayed a couple times in Trout Lake MI (inland, halfway between St Ignace MI and Paradise MI), which is proximal to the Straits, to Whitefish Point (Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum), and to Munising (the least challenging of the dives up there, maybe).

My most enjoyable trips up there involved staying in Paradise MI, and diving the wooden wrecks off Whitefish Point--though these are a bit deeper than "recreational deep." There are campgrounds just outside of Paradise, too.

Keep in mind that "deep and cold" is more advanced than "deep."

ETA: Paradise, Trout Lake, even St Ignace are not very far from Sault Ste Marie. Watching the Lakers go through the Soo Locks never gets old!

rx7diver

 

[Tigerpaw]

Your goal is mostly attainable if you are looking for recreational diving and not too picky about wrecks and locations.
Running out of Munising on Lake Superior, you have Glass bottom boat tours. They have a dive boat running most every weekend during the summer and you can usually get a walk on spot with them.
In the Straits of Mackinaw you have St Ignace Scuba. Dan runs most every weekend and can usually fit somebody in. That would get you in Lake Michigan and Huron depending on the trip.
In Lake Michigan near Chicago, Double Action dive charters runs every weekend and you can usually buy one seat.
Lake Huron out of Lexington is Double Action's other boat. The seaquest runs every weekend and sells individual seats.
Out of barcelona NY on Lake Erie, you have Capt John with osprey dive charters. John runs every weekend and most of the shops booking will sell a seat.

Lake Ontario, good luck. I don't know of any operators on the US side that go out reliably on any schedule.

Any of these trips would be doable as a recreational walk on. If you are looking for specific sites, dates, or technical dives. Those operators including myself are typically booked at least a year in advance if not further.

The old Chris Kohl shipwreck guide is kind of a local bible for wreck diving. Almost none of the coordinates are anywhere near the wrecks, sometimes not even in the right lake. But the descriptions and histories are usually very good.

Good luck on your quest. The Lakes are an awesome place to dive with an immense history.

Thank you, while the other replies have been helpful, this is what I was looking for. For my first time diving, I'm not picky about the wrecks, I just want to dive BUT it will whet my appetite to do more research and return and hit specific dives. The other neat thing I just discovered is that diving is possible from Rochester NY, which is where the in-laws live. Mother-in-law is GREAT, not so much the rest of the fam, so I now have an excuse to disappear for a few days. LOL