Mid-Michigan Divers Seeking Buddies for Day Trips

[WreckWandererMI]

Hey ScubaBoard crew,
I’m WreckWandererMI, and my daughter(14) and I(42) are newly certified open-water divers (60’ max) from Mid-Michigan, ready to explore the underwater world. We’re looking to connect with dive buddies or groups for day trips, shore or pier dives, like clear lakes, small wrecks, or even scoping out lost fishing gear. We’ve got our own gear (minus tanks and weights) and are up for driving to solid spots in Michigan or nearby states if the dive’s worth it. Got a favorite quarry, river, or lake you hit up? Or a group cool with new divers joining? Drop a comment or DM with your go-to spots or upcoming dives. Excited to get out there and join the Great Lakes dive scene!

 

[HamTrainChickenLaser]

Welcome! You might want to join the facebook Gilboa Quarry group as there are regularly posts there of folks looking for buddies! Maybe White Star Quarry has a group too?

 

[tmassey]

I live in the metro Detroit area so I don’t have direct knowledge of mid Michigan, but I don’t believe there is a ton of exciting scuba diving in that area.

Around here, we have three common options:

One, trek down to the Ohio quarries. Most people go to Gilboa, but I greatly prefer white star. It’s so much quieter and laid-back, with much more convenient access to the water. But to each their own: after Gilboa changed ownership, I am much more likely to go there now.

Two, charters in Lake Huron. The boat that goes out the most, and has the most easily accessible seats is the Go Between, handled by Double Action Dive Charters. For new recreational divers, you’re probably going to need a little bit of mentoring to be able to do this, and you’re going to be limited as to which trips you can do: many of the wrecks are in the 100 foot range. But it’s excellent shipwreck diving relatively close.

Three, the Saint Clair River in Port Huron. These are definitely advanced dives. Extremely strong current, entanglement hazards and other issues such as having to climb a 10 foot ladder and then scramble over a fence railing! But really awesome diving: right now we’ve been having 50 to 60 foot visibility, 65° water and all kinds of exciting times.


There are other options, such as a handful of inland Lakes that allow scuba diving. But the diving is definitely lacking: 10 or so feet of visibility, cold water, and almost nothing to see. It gets you wet, but I wouldn’t go out of my way for it. However, it’s a good place to work on skills and to continue to grow as a diver.

Through the summer, I probably do a half a dozen or so charters out on the lakes, and I’m probably in the Saint Clair River once a week or so, depending on conditions. I will schlep down to White star a few times a year, but only when somebody else asks me to because they want to work on skills and things like that.

Welcome to diving, and welcome to scuba board! If you have any specific questions, feel free to reply or direct message me I’ll be happy to give you what information I can.

 

[HamTrainChickenLaser]

Speaking of the Go Between:

 

[WreckWandererMI]

I live in the metro Detroit area so I don’t have direct knowledge of mid Michigan, but I don’t believe there is a ton of exciting scuba diving in that area.

Around here, we have three common options:

One, trek down to the Ohio quarries. Most people go to Gilboa, but I greatly prefer white star. It’s so much quieter and laid-back, with much more convenient access to the water. But to each their own: after Gilboa changed ownership, I am much more likely to go there now.

Two, charters in Lake Huron. The boat that goes out the most, and has the most easily accessible seats is the Go Between, handled by Double Action Dive Charters. For new recreational divers, you’re probably going to need a little bit of mentoring to be able to do this, and you’re going to be limited as to which trips you can do: many of the wrecks are in the 100 foot range. But it’s excellent shipwreck diving relatively close.

Three, the Saint Clair River in Port Huron. These are definitely advanced dives. Extremely strong current, entanglement hazards and other issues such as having to climb a 10 foot ladder and then scramble over a fence railing! But really awesome diving: right now we’ve been having 50 to 60 foot visibility, 65° water and all kinds of exciting times.


There are other options, such as a handful of inland Lakes that allow scuba diving. But the diving is definitely lacking: 10 or so feet of visibility, cold water, and almost nothing to see. It gets you wet, but I wouldn’t go out of my way for it. However, it’s a good place to work on skills and to continue to grow as a diver.

Through the summer, I probably do a half a dozen or so charters out on the lakes, and I’m probably in the Saint Clair River once a week or so, depending on conditions. I will schlep down to White star a few times a year, but only when somebody else asks me to because they want to work on skills and things like that.

Welcome to diving, and welcome to scuba board! If you have any specific questions, feel free to reply or direct message me I’ll be happy to give you what information I can.

Thank you so much for the info! I really appreciate it.

My daughter and I did our open water cert at Gilboa so I am familiar with it, I've also heard great things about white star but have not been there yet.

I was down in Florida recently and did a dive at Devils Den near Ocala which was a lot of fun. I am a fairly regular visitor to my local dive shop and I attend their monthly scuba club. (Shout out to Dive and Glide.)

What im looking for is groups to go dive with, we are our own buddies so we're not dependant on the group for that aspect, though im not opposed to joining a dive if someone needs an extra guy for whatever reason. I simply find it more fun to do group activities.

We have a charter dive planned for next week out of Munising in the U.P. We’re doing 8 wreck dives over two days all in 40 to 60ft depths as they have an 11yo diver on the charter. So we're really looking forward to that.

I'd just like to see some cool spots that are worth the drive to check them out with someone that knows where they are so we can do it relatively safely. And most of the people in my local club don't have anyone for my daughter to buddy with as they are diving couples. My daughter is 14 so id like to meet people who also dive with their kids.

Thank you again for your reply, sorry it took so long to get back to you im not in the daily habit of checking this yet.

 

[WreckWandererMI]

Welcome! You might want to join the facebook Gilboa Quarry group as there are regularly posts there of folks looking for buddies! Maybe White Star Quarry has a group too?

Thank you i will look into those.