Hi, Phil,
I dove the Appomattox two weekends ago. It's worth doing.... once. Nice cos it's a shore dive and shallow but it's a lot of legwork for a fairly boring wreck. Long surface swim and a lot of stairs to do up and down with gear. The beach is nice and safe and there's a white buoy marking the wreck.
Here's a report I posted elsewhere:
"I drove down to Milwaukee this past weekend, where I dove in Lake Michigan on a shallow wreck with an old friend.
The wreck is the Appomattox, a wooden freighter that sank off of Atwater Point in 1905. It is reputed to be the largest (300+ feet) wooden ship ever to ply Great Lakes waters. Sounds impressive, but after seeing it underwater in its current state, I'd say it has seen better days. The dive itself, while in only 20 feet of water, involved a lot of legwork - literally. We had to assemble and haul all of our gear from the car down about 300 steps to the beach. It took two trips. After suiting up, we had to swim out to the wreck buoy, which is about 300 yards offshore. It was a long backstroke, but peaceful in a way, except for the occasional rogue wave that spills overhead and washes your face with a bracing slap. My friend was towing a camera in a huge u/w housing attached to a tripod. Not easy.
All that is left of the ship is a huge skeletal keel and ribs, like the remains of an ancient whale. The wreck is covered in algae and seaweed, which sways in the currents. Underneath the hull and between the "ribs" live many small fish - mostly gobi (an invasive species) - and I saw a rather large striped perch. Just beyond the wreck, the seabed is a soft, white sand. When the sunlight streamed down from above, it looked like a scene from the Caribbean. Alas, the water was a chilly 48 degrees and I was wearing a hooded 7mm wetsuit, booties and thick gloves. My friend was in a drysuit. So the tropical scene is a short-lived illusion.
We managed a 40 minute bottom time on less than full tanks, swimming up and down the wreck, before surfacing and facing the long swim to the beach. It was fun to trudge onto the beach, filled with sunbathing families and kids flying kites and playing frisbee, in our full dive regalia. You can imagine the looks and questions. Storm clouds built as we lugged the gear back up to the car (two trips again) and drove home for a well-earned beer."
Best of luck!
