bladephotog
Contributor
Made it back up to Whitefish Point last weekend for some diving with Capt. Mike Cook. Got up Friday afternoon. The weather was cold, rainy and windy. It didn't look good for the weekend. Went to dinner at Browns Fishery, sat around our now traditional campfire and called it a night.
When I awoke Saturday morning I could tell we weren't going to dive by the sound of the wind. A quick trip to the boat launch confirmed we would have to wait. So we headed to the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum which is always nice.
After a quick check with Capt. Cook on the way back to Paradise we decided the seas calmed enough to give it a try. The Vienna and Sadie Thompson were our target wrecks.
We motored out in ever calming conditions and got a great couple of dives. Not much had changed on the Vienna since last year except the bottom temp. Last year, believe it or not, we had a bottom temp of 60 F at 140 feet. On three different computers no less. No such luck this year. At 140 we had 42 F. Nice and crisp! We had three divers planning a no-deco dive while three of us had a planned bottom time of 25 minutes with a 42 min. total run time on EAN 27 with 100% O2. I bailed with the Rec divers when my camera crapped out. But we had great viz, no current and, of course, a great time on this beautiful wreck. Max depth 141.
After fixing my camera, bad battery, we splashed in on the Sadie Thompson. I no longer think barges are boring after diving this and the Munson in Kinston. The Sadie Thompson is a great wreck. There is a beautiful bell, lots of machinery, quite a few burbots, and a steam whistle I didn't see last year, among the many other items. Max depth 112 for 28 minutes
Sunday the weather was beautiful and we got out early in the morning as planned. We hit the Niagara for a cool first dive. There was a good current on this one and it was cold. Made much colder by the fact that I left my dry gloves in the motel. But now I'm glad I always keep a pair of wet gloves in my dive back in case this happens. My hands were cold with these but better than nothing in the 40 F water. This is a broken up but cool wreck. Lots of anchor chain and the rudder just sticks out of the bottom by itself. If you look closely you'll see the draft markings in roman numerals in the rudder. Also saw a broken plate, spilled cargo, and many other items. We did 32 minutes on this one. And my hands were ice after about 15 minutes! But the camera was working so I had to press on. Max depth 103
We then did the Drake. It's also broken up but with plenty to view. We dropped down on a boiler so big you can swim through it! There is a really cool propeller drive shaft and other items. It's shallow so you can take your time and see everything. Max depth 47 for 29 minutes.
We then got a bonus dive. Capt. Cook took us to a newly discovered wreck, the Saturn. It was found in July by Darryl Ertel (sp?) according to Mike. It is only in about 25 feet of water and is pretty broken up. But how could we pass this opportunity up? Only about a dozen people had been on it before us according to Mike. What is cool is to pull up on it, look down and be able to see the wreck. Then back roll in, deflate and you're on it! Pretty tough to get lost. There is a lot to see on this one. The draft markings at the bow are awesome. Spilled iron ore cargo everywhere. And numberous artifacts. It's still cold at 43 F. Max depth 23 feet for only 18 minutes as it was getting late and people were low on gas.
We saw lots of burbots on this trip. And again, no zebra mussels. One of our divers did see a goby, though, I didn't.
All in all it was a tremendous trip as on the drive up we thought we'd be lucky to get one dive in and we ended up getting 5 in. Capt. Mike Cook runs an excellent charter and I highly recommend him. He's been great two years running now.
And Whitefish is a great place for those that love shipwrecks. The diving is awesome, there is the museum and how can you beat the Up North experience?
I tried to post some pix here but I can't get it working. I have a gallery from this trip on my website so you can check that if you like. The gallery can be found here.
Thanks!
When I awoke Saturday morning I could tell we weren't going to dive by the sound of the wind. A quick trip to the boat launch confirmed we would have to wait. So we headed to the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum which is always nice.
After a quick check with Capt. Cook on the way back to Paradise we decided the seas calmed enough to give it a try. The Vienna and Sadie Thompson were our target wrecks.
We motored out in ever calming conditions and got a great couple of dives. Not much had changed on the Vienna since last year except the bottom temp. Last year, believe it or not, we had a bottom temp of 60 F at 140 feet. On three different computers no less. No such luck this year. At 140 we had 42 F. Nice and crisp! We had three divers planning a no-deco dive while three of us had a planned bottom time of 25 minutes with a 42 min. total run time on EAN 27 with 100% O2. I bailed with the Rec divers when my camera crapped out. But we had great viz, no current and, of course, a great time on this beautiful wreck. Max depth 141.
After fixing my camera, bad battery, we splashed in on the Sadie Thompson. I no longer think barges are boring after diving this and the Munson in Kinston. The Sadie Thompson is a great wreck. There is a beautiful bell, lots of machinery, quite a few burbots, and a steam whistle I didn't see last year, among the many other items. Max depth 112 for 28 minutes
Sunday the weather was beautiful and we got out early in the morning as planned. We hit the Niagara for a cool first dive. There was a good current on this one and it was cold. Made much colder by the fact that I left my dry gloves in the motel. But now I'm glad I always keep a pair of wet gloves in my dive back in case this happens. My hands were cold with these but better than nothing in the 40 F water. This is a broken up but cool wreck. Lots of anchor chain and the rudder just sticks out of the bottom by itself. If you look closely you'll see the draft markings in roman numerals in the rudder. Also saw a broken plate, spilled cargo, and many other items. We did 32 minutes on this one. And my hands were ice after about 15 minutes! But the camera was working so I had to press on. Max depth 103
We then did the Drake. It's also broken up but with plenty to view. We dropped down on a boiler so big you can swim through it! There is a really cool propeller drive shaft and other items. It's shallow so you can take your time and see everything. Max depth 47 for 29 minutes.
We then got a bonus dive. Capt. Cook took us to a newly discovered wreck, the Saturn. It was found in July by Darryl Ertel (sp?) according to Mike. It is only in about 25 feet of water and is pretty broken up. But how could we pass this opportunity up? Only about a dozen people had been on it before us according to Mike. What is cool is to pull up on it, look down and be able to see the wreck. Then back roll in, deflate and you're on it! Pretty tough to get lost. There is a lot to see on this one. The draft markings at the bow are awesome. Spilled iron ore cargo everywhere. And numberous artifacts. It's still cold at 43 F. Max depth 23 feet for only 18 minutes as it was getting late and people were low on gas.
We saw lots of burbots on this trip. And again, no zebra mussels. One of our divers did see a goby, though, I didn't.
All in all it was a tremendous trip as on the drive up we thought we'd be lucky to get one dive in and we ended up getting 5 in. Capt. Mike Cook runs an excellent charter and I highly recommend him. He's been great two years running now.
And Whitefish is a great place for those that love shipwrecks. The diving is awesome, there is the museum and how can you beat the Up North experience?
I tried to post some pix here but I can't get it working. I have a gallery from this trip on my website so you can check that if you like. The gallery can be found here.
Thanks!
