What do you think about Wreck diving?

[Tractor Tom]

The up side of Great Lakes wreck diving is there are some many of them. Some shallow enough to snorkle in the warmest part of the summer (several in Thunder Bay near Alpena come to mind) the down side is the how cold the water stays, even is August. A wet suit is really not the answer to stay warm around here... a dry suit is almost a MUST.

Frankenmuth Tom

 

[ages]

While I can understand "artificial reefs"....there is nothing better than diving a "real wreck"!! Learning the story of the wreck, and looking at the china, equipment, etc., that went down with her.

ages

 

[buff]

Just got back from diving the "Graveyard of the Atlantic" out of Morehead City in North Carolina...........INCREDIBLE.

One sad feature is the "acquiring of artifacts". Many, many interesting features have been stripped away by divers-the same items that create the "character" and "uniquness" of the wreck.

The dive shop I dove with(great group of people) took the 20mil. cannon off the U352 sub and placed it on their dock. I told one of the guys that they should have just salvaged the whole damn sub and that way I wouldn't have had to pay them the $85.00 to go down and see-it would save me a lot of hassle. Of course I was being sarcastic.

I understand that this is perfectly legal and is done by just about everyone but it sure don't leave much at the bottom to look at. The Captain said that "since the U352 is a grave site you cannot disturb the remains of the 13 sailors." He went on to say "Someone from a dive shop took a skull and put it it thier shop window, but then the German government made a big deal about it and he returned it." Judging by the eagerness with which some divers strip a wreck of every last morsel, I am willing to bet that if a diver went down and counted all the bones there wouldn't be enough to make 13 skeletons.

They do a lot of spearing on those wrecks too which I was shocked by.

People think the sea will go on giving forever.

I think the wrecks are cool but I love the marine life and how the ocean can turn something like the loss of a ship-and perhaps life-into something living again.