Door County Dive Report June 8-10

[dean810]

If the weather pattern had shifted over a couple of days, it would have been a complete washout.  Instead, we had sunny weather and reasonably warm ( by Wisconsin standards) weather and two great days of diving.

We based our trip out of Gills Rock, on the very tip of the Door County peninsula.  Our dive charter was Dive Diva Charters captained by Kathy Engebose.  Her boat is a six pack that handled our party well.  It even had a flushable head, which was appreciated by all!

Our first two dives on Saturday  were on the wooden freighter, Frank O’Connor. This 301 ft. long vessel was built in 1892 and sank outside of North Bay Wisconsin due to fire in 1919. It was of particular interest to me because it was built by James Davidson, an individual that continued to build wooden ships and kept them competitive well into the age of the steel hull by making them longer than anyone else in his era. 

For a ship that sank by fire, it is amazingly intact.  At the stern of the ship, there are two gigantic boilers, a propeller screw, a huge four blade propellor, and a rudder, about the size of the room I am sitting in now.  I stayed mostly on this end during the first dive. 

On the second dive, I swam along the length of the ship, and at the bow end, found the largest anchor I have seen to date!  This was a very worthwhile dive!  But for all of us, it was cold...

Max depth for me was 61ft.  Minimum temperature was 41̊.

Our next dive of the day was in shallower water. We went to visit the ship Meridian.  This wooden schooner stranded on a rocky shoal off of Little Sister Island in Green Bay in 1873 and broke up.  The mooring line doesn’t land directly on the wreck, so I checked out the diagram.  I knew from the diagram exactly where to go, except I had it turned upside down!  I and the buddy that I bravely lead went in one direction, while the other fools went off in the other.  They found the wreck, I did not.  Oh well! Did find some debris and it was an interesting dive!.  And we were not cold on this one!

Max depth, 30 ft, min temp, 55̊.

Day two, we were all looking forward to.  This would be our deepest dive and on a very intact three masted wooden schooner believed to be  the E.R. Williams.  This ship went down in a gale in 1895 in Michigan State waters.  It is very intact, although the stern is broken.  It has much of its bowsprit and chains in place, as well as an anchor on deck.  This is the type of wreck you hope to encounter in the Great Lakes, but are hard to find except in technical depths.

Max depth, 92 ft, min temp 47̊

Our last dive was on the famous Pilot Island wrecks.  These are three schooners that broke up on this immovable navigation hazard in 1891 and 1892.  This Island reminded me of the Alfred Hitchcock movie, “The Birds”.  It is a very tiny Island dominated by an old Lighthouse, and a broken down building nearby, and now totally dominated by cormorants that fly over in droves.  A desolate and dramatic place.

You can see the remains of the Gilmore, Nichols, and Forest, all in one spot in shallow water.  You can see railing and sections of hull here.  I even did a “penetration” of one of the wrecks by swimming in under one of the hull pieces.  I shined my light in and found a school of baitfish.  My biggest fish find of the trip!

Max depth, 36 ft. Min water temp, 54̊.

This was a great trip and one I hope to repeat in the future!

Happy and safe diving to all!

-Dean

[Omicron]

Sounds like a fun time.  I haven't been diving up there for years, but that's where I dove my first wreck so I have fond memories of it