Water temps today off Milwaukee were 65F all the way to the bottom. Vis was 25 - 30 feet and where we were there was a fairly substantial current. Winds out of the NE make for warm, silty water, a switch to SW winds will bring back the thermocline and cool the bottom temps quickly back into the mid-40's and clear things up a bit. Conditions on the SOM are probably about the same, maybe a tad warmer and usually there is less current. Check the
NOAA NDBC for up to date information and guesstimates.
If anybody knows exactly what happened to the starboard upper deck wall on the SOM, other than it happened this past winter, they aren't talking. Speculation is that it was hit by a heavy freighter, although the SOM was intentionally scuttled outside of the shipping lanes. That would require a very deep draw but it's possible, otherwise a cable attached to a heavy freighter might have been the culprit. Nobody who seems to know anything about these things thinks this was natural - 45 feet of water and 1" plate steel and all. We'll probably never know what happened because any Cap't. that admits he hit it is going to have to answer for his position. Options are currently being considered for removing that piece, but it's a big (and expensive) job. If you've got a spare couple of grand, PM me and I'll put you in touch with some folks who will be happy to name a room after you - placque and all.
As far as the cut-outs on the deck go, the Coast Guard required that those holes be cut to vent air as the ship went down (remember the Speigel Grove turtle?) and the intention is to remove the beams so that divers will be able to enter/exit the wreck through them. The Coast Guard wouldn't let the structural beams that underlaid the missing decking be removed until the ship went down because they were afraid that the ship would rack under the stresses and break up. Several more hours with a Broco torch and the job will be done. Ka-ching!
Fixed lines have not been placed inside the ship and there are no plans to do so. A part of the idea for scuttling the SOM was to create a training platform for penetration divers and permanent lines kind of ruin the drill. Don't be fooled by the apparent ease of entry and the shallow water on this wreck - it's got more than it's share of dangers. There are lots of corridors too narrow to turn around in, swinging and hanging doors (including a boiler door that's hanging by a dream and liable to fall on some unsuspecting sap), sharp edges, silty areas, dark crevasses, things to fall over on top of you, etc. The engine room (not the boiler room) is fairly safe for untrained divers to stick their noses in. Avoid crowds, be careful and definitely don't pass through any of the doors leaving the engine room unless you have substantial wreck (not cave) training.
There are a couple of bottles of wine hidden on the wreck - find one and you'll get your 15 minutes. There's also a 30" burbot that lives down by the rudder, he's been getting fat lunching on alewives and whatnot and has been known to follow divers around if you move slowly and calmly enough. If you're lucky enough to be there on a day with a little current. come over the lee edge of the wreck slowly and be prepared to see schools of hundreds of thousands of alewives shimmering as they dart back and forth.
It's the end of July - if you're waiting for conditions to get better on the SOM, you're liable to end up missing the chance this year. Time to get wet!
