Omicron
07-26-2004, 08:38 AM
A whole pile of us had a great time diving the Straits this weekend. If you've got a chance to make it up there sometime this year, go for it. The diving is spectacular. We dove with Abyss Dive Charters, and I can't say enough good about them. Their boats are great, the captains are great - a top notch setup.
We had 70+ degree weather, calm winds, sunny and flat seas. You couldn't ask for better.
On our first day, we dove the Eber Ward and the Maitland. The Eber Ward was fun - the mushroom anchor was definitely unique, and the wreck was a very fun and easy penetration. It was a great way to kick off the weekend.
Our second dive of the day was the Maitland. A neat wreck, but it wasn't extremely spectacular - nothing about it stands out in my mind really. It's not that it wasn't a great shipwreck - it was - but nothing too unique about it.
On day two, we started off with a dive on the Minneapolis - this is another great wreck. The boilers were definitely cool and it was a lot of fun poking around in all of the holes in the wreck.
Our last dive was on the Sandusky. The famed figurehead was neat to see, and I really liked the big anchors on it and all of the deadeyes along the railing. This was the perfect dive to end the weekend - great viz, fairly shallow (70-80 feet) and it was nice and bright and sunny. We had a lot fun playing around on this wreck - a few safety reels were unknowingly gathered from some people
Bottom temps were typically right around 44 degrees. There were some slightly noticeable thermoclines - the Sandusky had one right about about 70 feet or so. I think it was about 52 right above the thermocline. Viz was easily 30-40 feet on all of the wrecks. It was a great time!
I'm sure Chris and Todd will jump in here too - they were on a different boat up there with us, and saw a few different wrecks as well.
We had 70+ degree weather, calm winds, sunny and flat seas. You couldn't ask for better.
On our first day, we dove the Eber Ward and the Maitland. The Eber Ward was fun - the mushroom anchor was definitely unique, and the wreck was a very fun and easy penetration. It was a great way to kick off the weekend.
Our second dive of the day was the Maitland. A neat wreck, but it wasn't extremely spectacular - nothing about it stands out in my mind really. It's not that it wasn't a great shipwreck - it was - but nothing too unique about it.
On day two, we started off with a dive on the Minneapolis - this is another great wreck. The boilers were definitely cool and it was a lot of fun poking around in all of the holes in the wreck.
Our last dive was on the Sandusky. The famed figurehead was neat to see, and I really liked the big anchors on it and all of the deadeyes along the railing. This was the perfect dive to end the weekend - great viz, fairly shallow (70-80 feet) and it was nice and bright and sunny. We had a lot fun playing around on this wreck - a few safety reels were unknowingly gathered from some people
Bottom temps were typically right around 44 degrees. There were some slightly noticeable thermoclines - the Sandusky had one right about about 70 feet or so. I think it was about 52 right above the thermocline. Viz was easily 30-40 feet on all of the wrecks. It was a great time!
I'm sure Chris and Todd will jump in here too - they were on a different boat up there with us, and saw a few different wrecks as well.