Look for Lake Michigan wreck coordinates near chicago?

[car123]

I just bought a new boat and have it in Burnham Harbor in Chicago. I want to do some diving off of it and was wondering if anyone had GPS coordinates to any of the shipwrecks near Chicago.

 

[altaskier]

Look for the books by Chris Kohl: "The Great Lakes Diving Guide" and "The 100 Best Great Lakes Shipwrecks Vol. II". Have you dived in the lake before? Do you have plans for a dive buddy team and someone to stay on the boat? You could always start on some dive charters with divemasters aboard...

 

[T. Bix]

According to one of the charter captains the numbers in Chris' book are hit or miss. As far as I know most of the more popular wrecks are bouyed except the Buccaneer which is near the shipping lanes. Be careful about taking you own GPS secretly on a dive charter and marking the dive sites without the captains knowledge. They make their living off of those numbers and can be touchy about them. You may get captain Dale to chime in here with some good advise.

 

[moneysavr]

I agree with the CK's no# some will put you on shore 50+ miles, I sat drank withe the man as he's a friend of My buddy that's a writer too,The thing is most his no#s are mostly old LORAN conversions and totally useless as most of know, I wish he would print a update book but no one trust them then or would now not even his pals, heard this from a group of Chicago pals on a trip one time! the main thing is lot's of sites he never dove but wrote misleading site details due to lack of information,but he still sells books!
Most no#s are public knowledge & can be found via the web,or State ,some are not,some you have to work for trade No#s ect,,,, We have no#s for wreck's ,Planes ect dive charters would chomp at their mouth pieces for but they took time and money to locate and friend ships years in the making so to give them away would be pointless.Some clubs may help you in your area too,
Dive safe!

 

[captndale]

It can be a little frustrating trying to collect an accurate list of wreck sites. There are plenty of lists out there, but many have errors and some are completely worthless. A lot of the old lists are based on shore references or LORAN TD's. Shore references can be very accurate but you must be able to locate the land marks and often they are destroyed or obscured over time. LORAN is no longer in service and LORAN to LAT/LONG conversions can easily be off by as much as 1/2 mile. There is just no substitute for getting out on the water, going out to the area you are interested in and "mowing the lawn." My advice is to collect all the lists you can get ahold of and start comparing information. When you identify some likely starting positions, get out and check them out.

I used to have divers asking me for numbers all the time. I published a book of wreck locations that I had verified, but that was a few years ago and it needs to be revised. Maybe, if there is a demand, I may update it and publish a new addition next spring.

 

[T. Bix]

Dale, that would be a great addition to your booth at OWU or Ghost Ships!!! I don't have a boat or any desire to buy one but I would buy that book just to give me more to quench my thirst for anything shipwreck!!!