What gives?

[bladephotog]

Geez, you got that big mall, what more do you want? Seriously, You're a Great Lakes state so you should be included. My sister lives in Minneapolis and I used to go fishing up at Lake of the Woods. Nice walleye up there. Welcome.

 

[The Chairman]

Can anything GOOD come out of Minnesota???

Check the description, my friend. You have been added to the Union once more.

 

[moneysavr]

Yes we're further up, but spring is definitely here. The inland lakes are all still covered with ice, but too punky now for any more ice diving....which means we're in that meltdown hangtime where the only diving options are the rivers or (for me) a 1-2 hour drive to Superior. So I did a couple shore dives in Superior yesterday just north of Split Rock lighthouse on the wreck of the Madiera. A 436 ft schooner barge (steel hull) that met her end in the November gales of 1905. Air temp was around 50 F, sunny and calm. Water temp was 36 F. Gorgeous day.

If the GLWC won't have us, I guess we'll have to seek asylum with the "Ontario Fresh Water Freaks", eh?

Hey Beezwax,
Welcome to the site,A diver from up your way post's his charters and dives < I am sure this is the spot to post your trips and please do!
By the way nice trip report! I am on my way up this year to try some dives your way,
Also the major other groups with stickys and such tend to be divers in quarry's! I am not sure they are Great lake divers!!!:thinkingo as we tend to dive the Great lakes year round and post weekly trip reports of wrecks we dive!
Ah maybe we can get a few out of those mucky quarries and find out real diving is,
let us know your trips up there! keep us posted,wrecks,vis temps!
Dive safe,
Brad

 

[beezwax]

Just feel the love from all the wreckreational divers here! Moneysavr, I have to admit I am one of those folks who spends a lot of time in quarries. We're the land o' lakes here in northern MN, thousands and thousands of them, but we've also got a lot of pit lakes left over from the mining days. They're deep, cold, clear (depending on the rains and the type of cutbank), and often have fun stuff to explore, structures left over from the mining operations. There's a huge community of divers in/around Brainerd MN that dive the Crosby pits along the Cuyuna range, but I'm further north along the Mesabi range and our pits remain mostly "undiscovered" by the diving world at large. But until the pit divers incorporate into their own sub-sub-forum (Rangers, mount up!) we definitely should be with you.

Here's a picture I dug up from last summer, but it shows you where I was diving in Superior on Sunday:



It's about a 100 yard surface swim from shore (a nice pebble beach) but the bouys aren't out yet this year. The MN state park system just finished a great new parking lot to access this wreck-- the lot is gated and reserved only for divers! You have to check in at the Split Rock Lighthouse office and get the combo. Here's another pick from that same day last summer, this is me on the Ely in Two Harbors:



You need a boat to reach this one, it's on the inside of the far breakwall just across the harbor. Check out this section of the MN Historical Society for info on these and many other wrecks along the north shore of Lake Superior:

http://www.mnhs.org/places/nationalregister/shipwrecks/index.html

You also may wish to check out the webpage for the Lake Superior Marine Museum Association in Duluth:

http://www.lsmma.com/

They host something called the "Gales of November" every year which is similar to your Ghost Ship Festival-- a bunch of divers and maritime buffs who get together for talks on all things related to Great Lakes shipping. This year it will be Nov 3-4.

Oh and I almost hate to say this NetDoc....I don't know what description you changed but the sticky which introduces the GLWC still doesn't include MN in its list of states....

 

[beezwax]

Geez, you got that big mall, what more do you want?

By the way...

I don't really like malls, so I really don't like really big malls, but I just learned that you can go diving in the shark tank here at the Mall of America. It's expensive, but cheaper than flying to the Bahamas I guess. If you're curious read more here:


http://www.goingunder.net/eventsshark.htm

http://www.sharky.tv/swim.html

 

[scubapolly]

Beez-
Welcome-Sorry for the initial oversight.... glad it got all straightened out. You ought to try to come to one of our Meet N Greets this summer. We'd love to have you.

 

[Former FLL Now MSP Diver]

Yes we're further up, but spring is definitely here. The inland lakes are all still covered with ice, but too punky now for any more ice diving....

Ice still on the lakes? Damn, you must be way up there. The ice has been gone from the lakes here for ..oh.. days at least.

I asked the same question before - I vote for Great Lakes as well since half the state is on Superior.

Who wants to be a Muck Diver?

Marc

 

[Former FLL Now MSP Diver]

Can anything GOOD come out of Minnesota???

I resemble that remark.

Marc

 

[diverbrian]

Just feel the love from all the wreckreational divers here! Moneysavr, I have to admit I am one of those folks who spends a lot of time in quarries. We're the land o' lakes here in northern MN, thousands and thousands of them, but we've also got a lot of pit lakes left over from the mining days. They're deep, cold, clear (depending on the rains and the type of cutbank), and often have fun stuff to explore, structures left over from the mining operations. There's a huge community of divers in/around Brainerd MN that dive the Crosby pits along the Cuyuna range, but I'm further north along the Mesabi range and our pits remain mostly "undiscovered" by the diving world at large. But until the pit divers incorporate into their own sub-sub-forum (Rangers, mount up!) we definitely should be with you.

Here's a picture I dug up from last summer, but it shows you where I was diving in Superior on Sunday:



It's about a 100 yard surface swim from shore (a nice pebble beach) but the bouys aren't out yet this year. The MN state park system just finished a great new parking lot to access this wreck-- the lot is gated and reserved only for divers! You have to check in at the Split Rock Lighthouse office and get the combo. Here's another pick from that same day last summer, this is me on the Ely in Two Harbors:



You need a boat to reach this one, it's on the inside of the far breakwall just across the harbor. Check out this section of the MN Historical Society for info on these and many other wrecks along the north shore of Lake Superior:

http://www.mnhs.org/places/nationalregister/shipwrecks/index.html

You also may wish to check out the webpage for the Lake Superior Marine Museum Association in Duluth:

http://www.lsmma.com/

They host something called the "Gales of November" every year which is similar to your Ghost Ship Festival-- a bunch of divers and maritime buffs who get together for talks on all things related to Great Lakes shipping. This year it will be Nov 3-4.

Oh and I almost hate to say this NetDoc....I don't know what description you changed but the sticky which introduces the GLWC still doesn't include MN in its list of states....

Beautiful photos. I added a welcome to our opening sticky thread. It's the least that I can do to correct an oversight from our initial "charter".

 

[beezwax]

Scubapolly, I'm otherwise disposed during the meet-n-greet in Gilboa later this month, will there be others?

FLL Diver, yes the lakes up north are STILL mostly solid...any day now, come on wind. We seem to have an extra 2-3 weeks of winter on either end of the season over you folks in the metro area. I checked out the Midwest Muck Divers forum too, but that seems to be the southern midwest-- Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, etc. That's no place like home, toto.

Diverbrian, thanks for the welcome!