Milwaukee report

[schultz]

Four of us dove the Milwaukee Memorial Day weekend, and let me say I've never been out there when the lake was glass calm. With such great surface conditions, the expectations for the conditions below were high as we splashed in to 70 foot visibility. 35 minutes was about all George and I could handle with the temps being about 42 degrees, we got cold before we were gas limited.

[fishchaser]

Buddy and I did 2 dives on the Willie yesterday.  Great day, but we had our eyes glued to the radar picture on our cellphones, with so many rain cells popping up.  Had a late start, so found the Lender already on site.  Their divers were up before we were ready for decent.  They gave us the chilling news...40-42 degrees on the bottom.  I'm dry, but buddy dives wet, so he was quite "thrilled".  Vis was 40-50', some areas considerably less, I'm guessing due to prior divers (not complaining).  Had a great time.  Did a surface interval, watching the fog roll in and out of downtown, completely obscuring the horizon, but still >1 mile viz near us.  Then another charter pulled up, "Milwaukee Shipwreck Diving" at the start of our second dive.  It was surprising to find all of them on their ascent when we called our dive short due to cold.  I would have thought they would have outlasted us.

It was great to do the first coldwater dive of the year!

Chad

[sobfrogg]

Sounds like you saw Dan on the LockWood Explorer. He is baised out of Loves Park Scuba. Loves Park IL.
I was out with Len-Der  last weekend on the Willie. Vis was 50+ and temps were still 42. We did 1 long dive and the rest of the boat did 2 dives. Great time.

[codecruncher]

Bummer...got blown out on the Len-Der today. Seemed like awesome weather, but once you got out on the lake, the waves and esp. the swells were pretty large. And they said yesterday it was awesome. I'm jinxed.

[underwateraddict]

Well two things happened yesterday.  Work slowed down and the waves dropped.  I have been needing to dive to test the repairs to my dry suit and the new backup computer.  I slipped out of work early on a last minute notice and decided to head for the lake.  The waves were 3.6 on the mid-lake buoy when I left work with a forecast of 1-2 as the evening wore on.  When I got there the winds had changed from SE to W and the lake was almost flat calm with a remnant of SE waves so I set course for the Milwaukee.  On the way up I noticed the Neeskay and the mysterious buoy by Atwater and they had dive operations underway.  I did find and internet article about what they are up to.  The water did not look good as I approached the dive site.  It was greener than normal.  There was no current at there was an extra 20 feet of rope on the surface of the only mooring (amidships).  I could not see the submerged float when tying up.  The water was cold but once I hit 60 feet I could see the bottom and a large piece of the wreck.  I was still over the wreck and I could see the wheel house.  I went to the wheel house and set down on the bottom in front of it to test the depth alarms on the new computer.  I was using the scooter and lifted off from the bottom.  The thrust of the scooter made a huge silt cloud.  I headed off forward of the wheel house as I could see debris further out.  There is some railing and stuff further out.  I was not worried about getting lost as the cloud I left behind could be easily seen and once I got to the limit of barely being able to see it I began to circle forward of the wreck.  I also had the sonar homing system on and while I still don’t trust it I should be able to get back in this high visibility.  The Milwaukee was an impressive sight when the bow came into view as I circled back.  I drove the length of the wreck and coasted under the fantail to see the propellers then I set down on the bottom off of the starboard stern and then I saw something really unusual.  On the bottom at 118 feet in depth I could see the spot where the sun was and waves on the surface…wow!  I remember diving this wreck in the 80’s and having a hard time seeing my fins.