Great Lakes: The best way to dive them

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Not diving related, but trip related. While in Rochester, do yourself a favor and go to Dinosaur BBQ. Best BBQ I've ever had, hands down!
 
Not diving related, but trip related. While in Rochester, do yourself a favor and go to Dinosaur BBQ. Best BBQ I've ever had, hands down!

I agree with that. Dino BBQ is well worth it, Although I was at the one in Syracuse.
 
I agree with that. Dino BBQ is well worth it, Although I was at the one in Syracuse.

Started in Syracuse (NY), now are in Rochester(NY), Harlem (NY), and Troy(NY), and will be opening one in Buffalo (NY) this year!!!!!! Oh yeah baby!
 
Hooray for you!! Diving all 5 Great Lakes is a cool thing to do. I agree with all of the above posts too – especially that Tobermory is not to be missed.

Lake Erie
: we dove with Osprey Charters out of Westfield, NY.

Lake Michigan west
: lots of great dives out of Milwaukee. I’ve always found Milwaukee diving to be easy and relaxed – the rides out to the dive sites are not long, and the dive groups tend to be pleasant and easy-going folks. Our two favorite captains are Captain Jerry Guyer from Len-Der Charters. www.len-der.com and Captain Dan Johnson from Loves Park Scuba (Illinois). www.lovesparkscuba.com Captain Dan takes his boat to Lake Superior and northern Lake Michigan as well, so you may be able to dive several locations with him. Out of Chicago, there is the Divers Dream Dive Boat (they have a facebook page with lots of information).

Lake Michigan east
: Traverse City Dive Group (Facebook Group) has quite a bit of information on local shops and dives in the Grand Traverse Bay Underwater Preserve.

Lake Superior
: We’ve only ever gone to Munising, although I’ve heard great things about the other spots. Out of Munising, there are a couple of very shallow – 20’ range wrecks – as well as wrecks in the 60’ and 100’ ranges. Since some of these wrecks are in more sheltered waters, weather is not quite as much a factor as it is in other spots (which isn’t saying much). There are a couple of charters out of Munising. We dove with Captains Linda and Randy from North Star Charters: North Star Charters - Pure Michigan Travel

Lake Ontario
: Eric Cooper runs Aquaholics Underwater out of Grimsby, Ontario. www.aquaholic.ca and he has a facebook group as well. Kingston is on my bucket list, but until then, Grimsby’s not a long drive for us.

Lake Huron
: Tobermory, of course.
Alpena is terrific. Welcome To Great Lakes Divers
Port Sanilac is our ‘home base’ for Great Lakes diving. Bruno’s Dive Shop. Bruno's Scuba and Hockey Shop. Gary Venet Rec and Tec Scuba Dive Charters - Lexington Michigan, Thumb area Preserve, Sanilac Preserve Four Fathoms Diving Four Fathoms. Scuba Equipment, Training, Michigan Wreck Diving.

A Great Lakes tour is a wonderful idea! The only comment I have is that it will take patience – in all of our diving, we’ve had many charters cancelled due to weather.
Have fun!!

ps - All my Great Lakes dives have been wetsuit diving (and in an old beat-up wetsuit, at that). It is cold, but gives you street cred. Or so I'd like to think....
 
I'll probably get some grief here. I really enjoyed Tobermory last summer and am considering a return trip this year but I'm on the fence. The location was great, the wrecks were great, the dive operators were great, and the location is beautiful. However, it is a really really really really really long way from anything. I spent a lot of the ~8 hour trip each way thinking that I could have gotten in more wreck dives that weekend if I'd stayed home and dove from Port Sanilac.
 
I'll probably get some grief here. I really enjoyed Tobermory last summer and am considering a return trip this year but I'm on the fence. The location was great, the wrecks were great, the dive operators were great, and the location is beautiful. However, it is a really really really really really long way from anything. I spent a lot of the ~8 hour trip each way thinking that I could have gotten in more wreck dives that weekend if I'd stayed home and dove from Port Sanilac.

I sometimes think that way too but our diving will be limited to our backyards for the rest of our lives if we think like that. Seek new oceans and do not feel bad about the time needed to get there :)
 
Well I'll dive back in St. Lucia or St. Thomas in a heartbeaat, I didn't know
new oceans' were on the table here. I'll let the wife know! ha ha ha
 
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