Well, the morning started out gray and rainy, but cleared up. With air temp around 70-72, it was a good day for dry suit diving in the Great Lakes - the weather is pleasant, but you don't get too overheated getting geared up. We had two morning dives scheduled today before heading home, the William Young and the Sandusky.
William Young
The William Young was not discovered until 2002, when search crews looking for a jumper from the Mackinac Bridge discovered the wreck. The wrecks are now protected by law, so it has not been stripped the way many wrecks were back in the 70s. The William Young is a 148 ft. schooner barge that was lost in 1891. The deck is a little below 100 ft. and the bottom is 125-130 ft. Vis this morning was considerably degraded from yesterday, down to about 20 ft, maybe 30 at the most. It was also cloudy, so it was pretty dark down there. Water temp was about 44 F. There are two lines on this wreck - one at the bow and one at the stern. We moored to the bow line and came down the line near the bow of the wreck. We swam toward the stern and saw the wheel on the deck. I dove this wreck in 2004, and it looks like the wheel has fallen to one side since then. I did not get a chance to see much more before my regulator started breathing strangely. It had frozen up and was "leaking," not quite a free flow, but close. The download from my computer shows that this happened about 5 minutes after we reached the wreck, about 7 minutes into the dive. I showed my buddy that it was free flowing. There is another mooring buoy attached to the stern, so my buddy asked if I wanted to ascend the stern line. I was not looking forward to the lengthy surface swim, and indicated that we should return to the bow line. We beat a hasty retreat, me breathing the free-flowing regulator. It was not in full-scale free flow, but certainly was no longer functioning on a demand basis. We made a decent ascent. I breathed my tank down to about 600 psi, then signaled that I needed to share air. My buddy had a pony bottle, so I breathed off the pony for the ascent and a 4 minute safety stop. We omitted our usual deep stop. The ascent went without incident. I inflated the BC orally at the surface and returned to the boat. The whole thing had taken 17 minutes, and as nearly as I can tell from the computer download, it took about 3 minutes for the tank to go from about 2500 psi to about 600psi. Obviously, if you have a free flow, you do not have much time. I was using my Scuba Pro MK25/S600 reg, which I normally love. I know other people that have had the same problem. Two other people had the same problem today. One of them, the most experienced diver I know, switched to his safe second, ascended above the second thermocline, and got the primary unfrozen. The other guy had to ascend. I probably won't use this reg for any more cold water diving. I still have a MK20/D400 that I am going to use for any cold stuff. It doesn't breathe quite as easy as the MK25/S600, but it is still a high-performance reg and doesn't seem to have the freezing issue. Learned a lot today and had a lot to be thankful for, including a good buddy.
Sandusky
The Sandusky is probably the signature dive in the Straits. It is a 110 ft., two-masted brig that went down in 1856. It had a rams' head figurehead, which was removed for preservation and replaced with a replica. I think the original is at the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum at Whitefish Point. The wreck sits in about 85 ft. of water and the deck is at about 70 ft. The bowsprit is intact, there are deadeyes on the rail, there is a lot of hardware to see, and the masts are nearby, one leaning on the ship near the bow. There are two large anchors at the bow. The port side anchor is down in the mud and the starboard anchor is on the rail, but it is so covered with zebras and algae that I did not recognize it at first. This was a very relaxed dive and we had plenty of bottom time since we were around 70 ft. We cruised up and down the ship, crossed back and forth and went back to explore things we found interesting, mostly at the bow. The sun had come out by now, so it was not as dark as the dive on the Young. Much of the deck has collapsed. There was a boot lying on the deck, which must be of recent vintage, because it had not deteriorated much and I can't imagine that a boot would have been left there all these years out in the open. The zebra mussells have made the water so much more clear that enough sunlight is getting down to the Sandusky to grow lots of algae. I understand from guys who have been diving this wreck since the 70s that the algae is a recent development. The water temp was 42 F. We spent about 25 minutes on the wreck and ascended with air to spare and well before our computers would have told us to ascend. We had seen the wreck and it was getting a little chilly, mostly because my hands were freezing (can I just say again that I have GOT to get dry gloves). Got my weighting dialed in on this dive and was able to relax a lot more. Nice horizontal position, fins up a little, and breathing easy. A great way to end the weekend's diving.
Food and Lodging
Lodging choices in St. Ignace aren't great. The Holiday Inn Express is about as good as it gets, and it is about $120/night, which seems kind of pricey for this sort of thing. Otherwise, you've got old-style motels and a couple other budget hotels that charge as much as the Holiday Inn Express. I'll pay extra for a decent bed and no mildew odors, so I stayed at the Holiday Inn Express. If anybody's got any lodging suggestions in St. Ignace, I would love to hear them.
We always seem to eat at the same places, but they are pretty good, so why mess with it. Java Joe's, right next to the Holiday Inn Express, is kind of a funky little place run by a really nice guy with a Jimmy Buffet sort of style. There is a little porch out front and the music on the CD player generally seems to be Buffet or Bob Marley. They have great coffee and espresso and serve a darn good breakfast. Service is really good. They also serve lunch and dinner, with some sandwiches, pizzas, and other stuff. We did not sample lunch or dinner dishes. A couple of us stopped for ice cream and coffee on Saturday night, sat outside, and had a nice time.
We had dinner Saturday night at the Village Inn and some of us had lunch there today. They have a great fried perch dinner. You get a whole school of perch on the plate. Whitefish seems to be the signature dish, as it often is in northern Michigan. I love fish, but don't like whitefish, so I can't report on it. A couple of years ago, I tried the whitefish livers, a local specialty. Maybe it's just a trick they play on us trolls (people who live "under the bridge"). They were sauteed with bacon and onions and I figured what the heck, I like liver, anything with bacon and onions can't be too bad, and I like to try new stuff, so I ordered it. This was a culinary misadventure. I advise against it. Take the worst aspects of liver and the worst aspects of fish and put them together and you have whitefish livers. The bacon and onions let me try a couple of them to make sure, but it was pretty bad. The Village Inn also has good burgers and other sandwiches. Several people in our group had the onion soup and reported that it was good. The staff is friendly and attentive. Give the Village Inn a try if you go to St. Ignace.
All in all, a good trip and I look forward to going back again. The shop has another trip to the Straits in August.
William Young
The William Young was not discovered until 2002, when search crews looking for a jumper from the Mackinac Bridge discovered the wreck. The wrecks are now protected by law, so it has not been stripped the way many wrecks were back in the 70s. The William Young is a 148 ft. schooner barge that was lost in 1891. The deck is a little below 100 ft. and the bottom is 125-130 ft. Vis this morning was considerably degraded from yesterday, down to about 20 ft, maybe 30 at the most. It was also cloudy, so it was pretty dark down there. Water temp was about 44 F. There are two lines on this wreck - one at the bow and one at the stern. We moored to the bow line and came down the line near the bow of the wreck. We swam toward the stern and saw the wheel on the deck. I dove this wreck in 2004, and it looks like the wheel has fallen to one side since then. I did not get a chance to see much more before my regulator started breathing strangely. It had frozen up and was "leaking," not quite a free flow, but close. The download from my computer shows that this happened about 5 minutes after we reached the wreck, about 7 minutes into the dive. I showed my buddy that it was free flowing. There is another mooring buoy attached to the stern, so my buddy asked if I wanted to ascend the stern line. I was not looking forward to the lengthy surface swim, and indicated that we should return to the bow line. We beat a hasty retreat, me breathing the free-flowing regulator. It was not in full-scale free flow, but certainly was no longer functioning on a demand basis. We made a decent ascent. I breathed my tank down to about 600 psi, then signaled that I needed to share air. My buddy had a pony bottle, so I breathed off the pony for the ascent and a 4 minute safety stop. We omitted our usual deep stop. The ascent went without incident. I inflated the BC orally at the surface and returned to the boat. The whole thing had taken 17 minutes, and as nearly as I can tell from the computer download, it took about 3 minutes for the tank to go from about 2500 psi to about 600psi. Obviously, if you have a free flow, you do not have much time. I was using my Scuba Pro MK25/S600 reg, which I normally love. I know other people that have had the same problem. Two other people had the same problem today. One of them, the most experienced diver I know, switched to his safe second, ascended above the second thermocline, and got the primary unfrozen. The other guy had to ascend. I probably won't use this reg for any more cold water diving. I still have a MK20/D400 that I am going to use for any cold stuff. It doesn't breathe quite as easy as the MK25/S600, but it is still a high-performance reg and doesn't seem to have the freezing issue. Learned a lot today and had a lot to be thankful for, including a good buddy.
Sandusky
The Sandusky is probably the signature dive in the Straits. It is a 110 ft., two-masted brig that went down in 1856. It had a rams' head figurehead, which was removed for preservation and replaced with a replica. I think the original is at the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum at Whitefish Point. The wreck sits in about 85 ft. of water and the deck is at about 70 ft. The bowsprit is intact, there are deadeyes on the rail, there is a lot of hardware to see, and the masts are nearby, one leaning on the ship near the bow. There are two large anchors at the bow. The port side anchor is down in the mud and the starboard anchor is on the rail, but it is so covered with zebras and algae that I did not recognize it at first. This was a very relaxed dive and we had plenty of bottom time since we were around 70 ft. We cruised up and down the ship, crossed back and forth and went back to explore things we found interesting, mostly at the bow. The sun had come out by now, so it was not as dark as the dive on the Young. Much of the deck has collapsed. There was a boot lying on the deck, which must be of recent vintage, because it had not deteriorated much and I can't imagine that a boot would have been left there all these years out in the open. The zebra mussells have made the water so much more clear that enough sunlight is getting down to the Sandusky to grow lots of algae. I understand from guys who have been diving this wreck since the 70s that the algae is a recent development. The water temp was 42 F. We spent about 25 minutes on the wreck and ascended with air to spare and well before our computers would have told us to ascend. We had seen the wreck and it was getting a little chilly, mostly because my hands were freezing (can I just say again that I have GOT to get dry gloves). Got my weighting dialed in on this dive and was able to relax a lot more. Nice horizontal position, fins up a little, and breathing easy. A great way to end the weekend's diving.
Food and Lodging
Lodging choices in St. Ignace aren't great. The Holiday Inn Express is about as good as it gets, and it is about $120/night, which seems kind of pricey for this sort of thing. Otherwise, you've got old-style motels and a couple other budget hotels that charge as much as the Holiday Inn Express. I'll pay extra for a decent bed and no mildew odors, so I stayed at the Holiday Inn Express. If anybody's got any lodging suggestions in St. Ignace, I would love to hear them.
We always seem to eat at the same places, but they are pretty good, so why mess with it. Java Joe's, right next to the Holiday Inn Express, is kind of a funky little place run by a really nice guy with a Jimmy Buffet sort of style. There is a little porch out front and the music on the CD player generally seems to be Buffet or Bob Marley. They have great coffee and espresso and serve a darn good breakfast. Service is really good. They also serve lunch and dinner, with some sandwiches, pizzas, and other stuff. We did not sample lunch or dinner dishes. A couple of us stopped for ice cream and coffee on Saturday night, sat outside, and had a nice time.
We had dinner Saturday night at the Village Inn and some of us had lunch there today. They have a great fried perch dinner. You get a whole school of perch on the plate. Whitefish seems to be the signature dish, as it often is in northern Michigan. I love fish, but don't like whitefish, so I can't report on it. A couple of years ago, I tried the whitefish livers, a local specialty. Maybe it's just a trick they play on us trolls (people who live "under the bridge"). They were sauteed with bacon and onions and I figured what the heck, I like liver, anything with bacon and onions can't be too bad, and I like to try new stuff, so I ordered it. This was a culinary misadventure. I advise against it. Take the worst aspects of liver and the worst aspects of fish and put them together and you have whitefish livers. The bacon and onions let me try a couple of them to make sure, but it was pretty bad. The Village Inn also has good burgers and other sandwiches. Several people in our group had the onion soup and reported that it was good. The staff is friendly and attentive. Give the Village Inn a try if you go to St. Ignace.
All in all, a good trip and I look forward to going back again. The shop has another trip to the Straits in August.
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