Looking for dive buddy in SE Michigan

[Wallyg8r]

Long time diver new to scubaboard looking for dive buddy in SE Michigan. I was certified in 1986 (PADI) on Guam where the UW vis is 300+ feet, but most of my recent diving has been on local lakes where good vis is more like 15 feet. I have all of my own equipment, including a 13 foot Boston Whaler to dive from, but my dive buddy moved to Cleveland, OH last fall and I've been buddy-less since. With the weather soon to cool off the visiblity normally improves around here quite a bit due to much reduced boat traffic. I'd like to get back into the water soon and try out my new boat as a dive platform. Looking for a good safe diver with some experience to explore some of the local lakes with.

Roy

 

[jah]

Living in Keego Harbor, you are really close. A couple of my friends moved out of town, too. The middle of the week during the day works best for me. However, I'll be out of town until the 3rd week in September.

 

[Wallyg8r]

Yes, I am really close. I live just west of Union Lake. I've been diving in Cass, Union and Orchard lakes, with Orchard probably my favorite.

Roy

 

[CathyS]

Living in Keego Harbor, you are really close.

Speaking of living really close...I live in Keego Harbor myself. Keego is so small, we must be neighbors.

 

[CathyS]

I've been diving in Cass, Union and Orchard lakes, with Orchard probably my favorite.

Roy,

Orchard Lake is right down the street from me. I'm a newbie diver; just got my OW certification at the end of July and have only 9 dives post-class (all at Portage Quarry). Can you give any info about Orchard Lake, e.g. visibility, average depth, anything interesting to see there? Seems like there's a lot of boat traffic on Orchard Lake - have you found that the boaters respect the meaning of a dive flag and keep a safe distance?

Cathy

 

[Wallyg8r]

Hi Cathy,

I've only been out there a couple of times, but I have noticed that the ever-present Sheriff pays attention to dive flags. We even got pulled over once in a fishing boat because we were too close to a submerged dive flag (the divers apparently weren't attentive enough of their bouy lanyard). Anyway, it's a good shore dive right out from the DNR launch. Depth is to around a 100' to the West of the DNR basin. Bottom is somwhat rocky, as opposed to the usual muck on most of the local lakes. Visability is good (for lakes in this area) at around 20'. I would say that on average the vis is better than Cass or Union, but not much.

Roy

 

[jah]

I agree, Orchard Lake is one of the better lakes to dive around here. I often dive in Sylvan Lake but the visibility is not great. However, night dives are fun with minimal boat traffic during the week. I think the best time to dive most of the local lakes is during the week. Unfortunately, I have not been diving much around 'the Lakes Area' much this year. However, there are definitely some good sites to be found

Personally, Lake Oakland is my favorite. We usually get 25'-30' of visibility with the opportunity to see quite a few fish.