Well the ice cleared in many small southeastern Michigan lakes this past week, so it was time for a nice cold early season dive. Since there isn't much going on here online, and I have not seen too many non-commercial dive sites reported on, I decided to write-up a brief report on a local dive I did last Sunday.
I met up with some divers from an LDS in Farmington Hills, MI. The dive site is near a DNR boat launch at the Northwest corner of the lake. Offically, there is a $6 per day fee to park at the launch, but I don't know how many bother to pay this early in the season. Without any boats, the launch is unlikely to be patroled.
The bottom is mostly muck and weeds, but there are a few small underwater attractions, such as speed boats, linked by a couple of lines.
Fortunately this early in the season there aren't many power boats out on the lake, so if you can put up with the cold, the visibility is relatively good and you aren't likely to have boaters using dive flags as a slalom course. As an asside, I've been told that the authorities may or may not enforce dive flag violations for boats here as the dive flags can impeed navigation to and from the boat launch. The site may not be a tropical reef, but it's not too bad as a tune-up dive early in the season, before the big-lake dives are open.
Where it is:
Getting there: The lake is somewhat near the intersections of Intestates 96, 275 & 696 with state highway 5, So I'll assume you can find that. From this intersection, head north on M5 until it dead-ends into N Pontiac Trail. Take a right onto N Poniac Trail and a Left at the first intersection (Haggerty Rd.). Take Haggerty north until it dead-ends into Richardson Road. Take a left here. A short distance later Union Lake Road is on the right. Turn right, the boat launch is about 2 miles north on Union Lake Road.
We decided on a relatively shallow & short dive. Entry is an easy walk off the boat launch or the grass nearby. The charts list this lake as deep as 110 feet, but this area of the lake maxes out in the 40-50 foot range. This dive (mid March) had a temp of 40F, but It likely gets a fair amount warmer by mid summer.
Photos from the dive
Several divers arrived a bit later than the first group, so we were out of the water before they left.
Post-dive discussion with Chris, Dave, and Aaron.
The first time I dove at this site I couldn't find much info about it online, so here is some for those who may look into it later. As an asside, if people like these types of reports, I'll be willing to post more throughout the year.
I met up with some divers from an LDS in Farmington Hills, MI. The dive site is near a DNR boat launch at the Northwest corner of the lake. Offically, there is a $6 per day fee to park at the launch, but I don't know how many bother to pay this early in the season. Without any boats, the launch is unlikely to be patroled.
The bottom is mostly muck and weeds, but there are a few small underwater attractions, such as speed boats, linked by a couple of lines.
Fortunately this early in the season there aren't many power boats out on the lake, so if you can put up with the cold, the visibility is relatively good and you aren't likely to have boaters using dive flags as a slalom course. As an asside, I've been told that the authorities may or may not enforce dive flag violations for boats here as the dive flags can impeed navigation to and from the boat launch. The site may not be a tropical reef, but it's not too bad as a tune-up dive early in the season, before the big-lake dives are open.
Where it is:
Getting there: The lake is somewhat near the intersections of Intestates 96, 275 & 696 with state highway 5, So I'll assume you can find that. From this intersection, head north on M5 until it dead-ends into N Pontiac Trail. Take a right onto N Poniac Trail and a Left at the first intersection (Haggerty Rd.). Take Haggerty north until it dead-ends into Richardson Road. Take a left here. A short distance later Union Lake Road is on the right. Turn right, the boat launch is about 2 miles north on Union Lake Road.
We decided on a relatively shallow & short dive. Entry is an easy walk off the boat launch or the grass nearby. The charts list this lake as deep as 110 feet, but this area of the lake maxes out in the 40-50 foot range. This dive (mid March) had a temp of 40F, but It likely gets a fair amount warmer by mid summer.
Photos from the dive
Several divers arrived a bit later than the first group, so we were out of the water before they left.
Post-dive discussion with Chris, Dave, and Aaron.
The first time I dove at this site I couldn't find much info about it online, so here is some for those who may look into it later. As an asside, if people like these types of reports, I'll be willing to post more throughout the year.
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