Trip report - Maceday Lake, Pontiac, MI

[BoneCrusher]

Just a quick note about a fun little dive I did this past Sunday. Since I wasn't able to get ANY ice dives in on the local lakes, I headed out to Maceday Lake near Pontiac, MI. Normally I ice dive this lake. It is one of the deeper lakes around here that allows a diver to get to 100ft deep from a shore dive. Sunday was a beautiful sunny day with air temps in the upper 60s. The dive itself was pretty relaxing. I did have one issue getting in as my SI dryglove ring set became disconnected from the suit on my right hand. I was already kitted up and frustrated at this point so I just ditched the dryglove on shore and dove with only my 4th element glove liner on my right hand. The water temp I recorded was 41 degrees. Since this is an all sports lake, I did tow around a dive flag. Where I dive there is a boat sunk in 75ft of water. So I went to the boat and tied off the dive flag to that and then swam around there. Nothing too much to see, a few bottles and golf balls here and there. I think max depth I got was 85 feet, with most time spent in the 75 to 80 feet. Overall the dive was about 30mins with a little bit of deco time at 20 ft all done on just air. Other than a really cold hand and slightly cold feet, the dive was extremely nice. I just love being underwater!

Safe diving!

 

[Divin'Papaw]

Dang. You have more cold tolerant hands than I do! I can't imagine a 30 min dive in 41 F water with just a liner!! I realize the 4th Element liners are more like light neoprene gloves (I own a pair myself), but wow!

Sounds like a great site. Is diving there free, or is there a fee? We have some nice lakes in Indiana but they are completely surrounded by houses/vacation homes. You have to be or know a homeowner to gain access. I wish it were easier to dive more of them!

 

[BoneCrusher]

Yeah, my hand was definitely frozen by the end of the dive (well actually frozen at the beginning, just went numb quickly!).

The lake is a little hard to dive. The main spot to dive is marked as no parking. The groups I have dove there with in the past have had good luck ignoring the signs and not getting a ticket. But, its a risk. Right near that spot however, there is a very nice homeowner that tolerates divers, so I used that this last weekend.